I don't know about you, but I'm a total cheapskate! I hate paying full price for things. As a result, I really love buying things gently used at thrift stores, flea markets, etc. I often find brand new things with the tags still on at Goodwill, but I pay a tiny fraction of the price! I recently bought a cute black sweater that had been $20 at Target, but I only paid $4! I paid $6 for a cute striped Converse button-down that had cost around $25 originally.

But enough about me! What I want to know is about you! More specifically, your feelings on buying used things, thrift stores and the like, and most importantly: the best treasures you've ever found there! "Thrifting" is a bit like a game to me - dig through all the junk to find that unique piece you'll love forever. So tell me about your best deals, your favorite places to find them, or even the worst things you've ever found (used underwear? A stained shirt? A disgusting couch?). And I hope that even if you don't like shopping used, you at least donate or sell your gently worn clothing to such places so someone else has a chance to enjoy them! :)

I like finding antiques and curiosities to flea markets. I'm not cheap per se, (although I'm sure there would people laughing at that remark if they read it), but sometimes you can find some really awesome things there...

Man, I LOVE thrift stores, flea markets, and craigslist! Granted that I've come across some pretty weird people on CL but I've also gotten some great deals, especially on aquariums and other pet supplies. The best deal I found on CL was two 75 gallon aquariums for $75. The guy also threw in a stand, lids, a waterfall for reptiles, and about 12 UV lights, which were well worth over $75 on their own.

I mostly use CL for aquariums since they tend to be a bit expensive in stores.

I also buy clothes from Good Will, Salvation Army, and the Church run thrift store here. I can never find anything in normal clothing stores so I always go to thrift stores for clothing.

Thrift stores are great for used CDs and records as well. There's some interesting things that people just give away.

I tend to wear my clothes out until they're not wearable so I haven't donated much besides books or other house hold items that I never used.

Alexandra - I don't often come across actual antiques that I like at the places I shop, but when I do, it's great! I found one of those wooden purses shaped and painted like a house at one once. A school house, actually. It's hand painted, and just so adorable!

Mystic - Hmm, I rarely ever have any luck finding CDs I'm interested in. I get them used on Amazon all the time, but at thrift stores and the like, I've only ever found three worth buying. It's usually all "they got rid of it for a reason" type things. :lol:

There's a church-run thrift store near me too! The elderly couple that works there is so nice, and the prices are just rock bottom. I can usually come out with a bag full of stuff and have paid less than $6!

Ahh, I wish I could get that much use out of my clothes! Usually after a few years I tend to look at a shirt and think "what was I thinking?" and off to Goodwill it goes! :lol:

Ebay FTW!!!

I don't bother with charity shops, even though this town is heaving with them, because they're full of "old lady" stuff and would be a lot of wasted time for just the odd bargain. But I LOVE Ebay.

My biggest bargain so far is a linen Marks & Spencer's jacket that will have retailed for around £60-70, that I got for...*drumroll*...50p!!!!

Originally Posted by Cherry Flavored Antacid

Alexandra - I don't often come across actual antiques that I like at the places I shop, but when I do, it's great! I found one of those wooden purses shaped and painted like a house at one once. A school house, actually. It's hand painted, and just so adorable!

There was one flea market I used to go to that had all sorts of weird and wonderful things to see on a lazy Sunday. They had antiques. They had Britain's toy soldiers (I collected those, so it was a treat). They had toy cars and moose figurines (another weird thing I used to collect). I always said that place was made just for me -- all the quirks I had back then were there in one convenient place!

There is another one I went to recently, they had some old violins -- I almost bought one there, but I thought it best to get one somewhere else that made a little more sense to find one. There are some smaller places that have some great things -- it's just not always easy to find them...

I don't find things I like in thrift stores that often, but I do shop a lot at used book stores. In fact, last winter I got a huge stack of books (probably about fifteen or twenty) with some of my Christmas money at one nearby for only about $40, when that many books would have cost me probably at least $150 or so new.

I also buy a lot of books used online, normally from Amazon. I tend to buy most of my CDs used, too, because literally nowhere in real life sells CDs by the bands that I listen to (probably because most of them are from Europe, and no one here really listens to the kinds of music I like).

I also get some of my clothes at Plato's Closet occasionally. I've been to Goodwill before, but I can't really find clothing I like there because the one near where I live has practically no junior's clothing at all. I also go to garage sales a lot in the summer, and I got two tops that I really like at one last year for like two dollars; people are always amazed when I tell them that I got them from a garage sale. xD Honestly though, I tend to like clothing I find in odd places better than most of what they sell in the stores at the mall and such, because everything you buy there tends to all kind of look the same.

Oh, and I get things at car shows sometimes, too; my dad always drags my mom and I along to them, and we shop at all the little booths set up while he looks at the cars. I actually found this one last year that had a lacy black jacket that I really wanted, but unfortunately they didn't have it in my size. I also like to get jewelry from places like that as well; it also tends to be somewhat different and more interesting than you would find other places, in my opinion.

Alexandra - That sounds like a wonderful flea market! I'm jealous! I should look harder for some more in my area. The only one I know of is a local one that they only host twice a year. It's basically a community yard sale in the park.

NorthEast - Finding clothes at thrift stores can be a challenge, yeah. Mostly it seems like frumpy, unattractive things. I've found some real gems, though. But you're right, I don't see much in the way of junior's clothing outside of T-shirts. Doesn't bother me much since I'm not big on junior's clothing, but sometimes it's frustrating when nothing has a "young" fit to it! Lemme show off my waist, shirts! :lol:

I can find CDs I want at one used game and CD store near me, but it's always more expensive than if you were to buy it used on Amazon... even once you factor in shipping charges! So I normally don't bother with the stores.

That is a FANTASTIC deal on books! I don't know of any used book stores near me, but Goodwill does have a few bookcases dedicated to selling used books. They're normally not very interesting, though... But I did just find Kelsey Grammer's memoir there last week, and I'm enjoying that. :) Aside from children's books (I like to collect ones with pretty illustrations), I think that's the first book I've bought at a thrift store in years. :lol:

Originally Posted by Cherry Flavored Antacid

Alexandra - That sounds like a wonderful flea market! I'm jealous! I should look harder for some more in my area. The only one I know of is a local one that they only host twice a year. It's basically a community yard sale in the park.

Some markets are often well-kept secrets -- sometimes you just have to look in the oddest places. If there is tourist information where you live, you can look that up -- and you might be shocked at the events going on that outsiders flock to town to see that you never heard of...

jellysundae: - Bah, your post didn't show the last time I was in here! Curse you, live post!

Aww, not into treasure hunting? :lol: I love digging through crap to find a treasure. Sometimes it can be a pain, but others it's really worth it.

Do you have any tips for browsing ebay? It seems like you can't just browse, you have to be searching for something in particular. If you just try to look at cheap women's clothes, you get page upon page upon page of $1 thongs from some factory. :/

alexandra - That's a good point. Unfortunately, my town is a tiny little one with nothing in it. Even people who live right by it don't know it exists! :lol: But there are larger cities nearby, I should check them! Off to google I go!

HIM goes missing inside sale rails. Yes you heard right INSIDE them HIM goes and ventures in them and sometimes gets strage looks when HIM comes out the other side.


The worst thing HIM's seen appart from BRAS at CARBOOTS the antique crap which is so rusty you can't tell what it is anymore. At a chairty shop for bras is fine because they refuse to take any soiled items but at a carboot HIM doesn't even want to think about where they've been.


HIM's best bargins so far......Leather jacket for £8 because it had a water mark on it which rubbed off.

Alexandra - Ha, you were right! With barely any googling at all, I found a weekly flea market in a city near me. :) Thanks for the idea!

HIM - You mean the racks they hang clothes on?

Bras I suppose aren't too gross if they're lightly worn... I wouldn't buy a used one, though. But a thrift store near me sells used boxers! Uhm, gross. :gonk:

Whaaaaat? You don't want a rusty hunk of what? You crazy!

Espeically if they're the roundish ones they're the best clothes rails to get in. If it's a straight one HIM appears out of the other side because they normally put two right next to each other so HIM has a rest in the middle.

I love looking round fleamarkets and so on, but there's never any in this town, and the charity shops are generally full of ugly tatt :lol:

Hmm, Ebay tips...yeah, you do need to drill down on what you'd like to see, or the results are a bit overwhelming. I have a bunch of saved searches. A few are for specific brands that I know and trust. I'll always narrow a search down by making it for my size, and removing any types of garment that I'm not interested in, like shorts or whatever.

Some are for particular items, like cardis. That search I made sure to remove colours that I don't wear from the equation, then I chose particular materials. Removed acrylic from the options, that got rid of a lot of the cheap and nasty stuff.

I got some leather knee high boots recently. My search for those specified black, leather, and knee high, medium heel height and new. That got rid of a lot that I didn't want to look at.

All searches have a big amount of choices for narrowing things down to help you out.

Originally Posted by Cherry Flavored Antacid

[alexandra - That's a good point. Unfortunately, my town is a tiny little one with nothing in it. Even people who live right by it don't know it exists! :lol: But there are larger cities nearby, I should check them! Off to google I go!

Small towns are filled with great events -- they often have more things happening than the larger ones. It's just they don't always have the funds or the means to advertise them and sometimes great things get axed because there wasn't enough awareness about them. I love to go to small towns just for that reason -- if you are ever are near a hotel where you live, stop in and go to the brochure rack they often have in the lobby -- you will be floored at the studio tours, festivals, conventions and special events going on. Sometimes looking up things at your local chamber of commerce, arts groups, and even City Hall will point you in the right direction.

Let me give you a couple of examples -- I live in Ontario -- and there is a small town about 40 minutes from where I live that, every Saturday from Spring to Fall has a morning farmer's market -- they close off main street and all the vendors are there in the middle of the street. I have been going here for years -- but I know people who live there never knew about it!

There is another small place a few hours north from me that has a huge gem and mineral show every year -- it is, in fact, the largest such show in Canada -- not in Toronto or Montreal or Calgary or Vancouver -- but in little Brancroft. I drive there when I can...and on the way, I stop in another small town that is out of the way, but has internationally recognized cheeses -- not the place you expect to find it, but their cheddar is second to none.

Small towns have so much awesome packed into them -- but what they often lack is publicity, and even people who live there don't know what hidden gems they have...

Where HIM is we has the largest antiques and collectables fair in Europe so every Tuesday and Thrusday the flea market appears and it gets more random when it's getting nearer the antiques and collectable fair time.

There was a gas mask going round.

Oh! An additional Ebay tip. Don't try looking for cheap stuff, it's not worth it. Because there really is a WHOLE LOT of absolute garbage that people try to sell.

The joy of Ebay is that you can get good quality brand name garments, that you couldn't afford otherwise, for thrift shop prices. I LOVE the auctions that start at 99p, and there's a lot of them because listing is free if you use that option. If I'm bidding on something and others are too, and the price goes over £5 then I'll generally just walk away :lol: Because another joy of Ebay is that if you miss out on something, you'll find it up for sale again sooner or later :) And I'll not normally pay more than £5 for something, postage included.

Unless it's a larger garment like a coat, or a big buy now thing. I got a Cath Kidston quilt cover, king size, for £45. Brand new. Those retail at £75 :)

Jelly - Yeah, I suppose I have to be more specific in what I'm looking at. I'm just hesitant to put restrictions on the search because of all the people who can't properly list an item to save their life so it's not in any of the proper categories. :lol: I shouldn't worry about that so much, though, it just ends up causing headache...

Bidding is another thing I need to do. I always search just for the buy now options, which rarely turns anything up. I don't like bidding! :lol: But I really should look... thanks, I'll do some browsing there later! Hopefully I'll find something nice and cheap and shipping won't make it expensive.

alexandra - My town has a few things. It sends out a calendar once a year with that year's events. We have a farmer's market, a twice-yearly flea market, and some movies shown in the park (but they never tell you which movies! That's silly. :lol:). One I'm looking forward to is just in a few weeks. The day before Easter they have an egg hunt for children in the morning. But then in the evening they have one for adults! I've never done that before, but that's an awesome idea, and I'm going to participate in that one. :) Although I do have childhood memories of easter egg hunts at the YMCA where some kids were kind of mean and would push you out of the way or snap up an egg you were already bending over to grab, but I'd hope that adults are a bit more mature about that... but then, you never know. :lol:

I think a Walgreens (of all places!) in the larger city near me has some brochures on the area. I should pick some up.

HIM - I hope you bought that gas mask.

I was scared to bid at first. But now I rarely ever use Buy Now, as it's too expensive. I've snapped up SO many bargains from bidding, specifically stuff that no-one else has bid on. Though I can be a mean sniper too :ninja:

I'll wait until there's just 30 seconds left, then put in a bid that's high enough to hopefully prevent anyone else from being able to top me by getting another bid in in the last few seconds.
But if someone's set a "high" maximum bid and I get instantly outbid then I'll just shrug and be pleased that I helped the seller get a decent price for their item :lol:

The auto-bidding on Ebay is good :)

Say an item is 99p and has no bids yet, and the seller has set the minimum increment at 50p. You can bid £2.50 on that item, but your bid will actually be 99p. If someone else comes along and bids at the minimum bumping the item up to £1.49, you will automatically outbid them because you set your max bid at £2.50, you see? Ebay emails you if someone tops your max bid. But if no-one else bids you'll get the item for 99p, even if you bid a higher amount on it, it's neat :)

I will say that my average spend for something like a top, is £2.50, including postage. When these items are things that retailed for £35-£50, then that makes me a very happy bunny :D

Not at the price they were asking for it. I could probibly have got a new one for that price.

I haven't ever gone to too many thrift stores or anything. I've gone to a few. The town where I'm going to college at has a ton of flea markets and antique stores and thrift markets that I would love to check out sometime. Currently I don't have a job though, and wouldn't have time for one until the fall maybe.

But yes, you can often find some neat stuff sometimes. There was once where my mom went to an auction to look for a few things and came back with a huge trailer full of stuff. XD There were quite a few neat little things in there. Out of it, my mom gave me this little porcelain box, this little metal owl shaped box, the hinge on the lid is broken on it though, some old books, and a bunch of old music tapes.

Jelly - Yes, I love those autobids! They use them on Listia (if you like bidding, I'd recommend checking that site out - free stuff :D), so I'm used to them.

Whoa, you seriously get deals like that? Okay, this is my jealous face. I need to go ebay pronto. :lol:

HIM - Aww, really? Well, if it was cheap, I hope you would have. :P

Kay - Sounds like your mom (and through her, you) got a good haul!

Yeah, being unemployed can definitely put a hamper on the fun... but if you DO need to go clothes shopping, it's definitely cheaper than buying new, which is good for the unemployed! :lol:

..This thread feels right at home<3

Lol. I love going to flea markets! Mostly because it's so much fun finding other people's junk. I'm a sculpture artist, so flea markets beat micheals and hobby lobby any day.
I mostly go to thrift stores for vinyls and old mod dresses. ;D I found a lot of Simon and Garfunkle at the near by thrift store, so that was a lot of fun.

So you use stuff in your sculptures, you mean? That sounds cool!

Mhm, like most of the winter Texans come down to the flea markets and empty their junk. :3

So I usually buy a bunch of random items and make sculptures out of them. It's pretty fun finding different things and making one piece that unifies them together.