Shopping Green: "Goodwill not landfills"

Note: The title/phrase of "Goodwill not landfill" comes from this post, a photo essay of the journey clothes go through when you donate them to Goodwill.

Before I get into going on about challenges, I wanted to post this because I went thriting today with one of my best friends and wanted to announce to the world how much I love thrifting!

I love thrifting. It's one of my favorite things to do. I love that I can find things that wouldn't often be in mainstream clothing stores. I love the fact that I need to look for it to find a treasure, I guess it makes me feel good about shopping there. I never feel guilty because it's so cheap! I love the fact that it's environmentally friendly! Brands I could never typically afford suddenly become widely available to me.

I discovered thrifting in the summer of 2010. I did a lot of research about it [if you know me well enough, you'll know that I do a lot of research about anything that might interest me]. So I started to venture out to do it. I've tried a bunch of vintage, consignment, and used stores. I love used bookstores because I always find great books, even if they're not the latest books I might want, for really great prices.

I tried Garment District and thought it was cool that they had a $1 a pound clothing. By the way, the Garment District is AWESOME for their Halloween collection. So if you ever want a cool Halloween costume, get it there. They have a huge selection at great prices! I tried higher end consignment prices but couldn't stomach through the prices when I could wait for deals at Macy's or something and get something just as great and new for the same price. Places like Poor Little Rich Girl, Second Time Around, and Buffalo Exchanges are pricey. The tradeoff is that they typically have nicer stuff with lots of brand names and they are of higher quality. For instance they will almost never be stained or ripped. I have found decent stuff at Second Time Around though, however I've never walked away with anything because when it's at a decent price and great looking, it doesn't fit!

In the end, it became between The Salvation Army and Goodwill. My best experiences comes from Goodwill. I tried The Salvation Army once and have sworn to never do it again. They're very similar but with a few key differences. They both organize by garment and by color. But in my personal opinion, The Salvation Army will always be the most run down thrift store I've ever been to. A key difference is that The Salvation Army doesn't have a set range of pricing as Goodwill. For instance some random garments I find at the Salvation Army will be at a different price. I love Goodwill. It's widely available and the prices are generally set. BUT BE WARNED! Goodwills near hip trendy places will have higher prices than your average Goodwill!

The first time I went to Goodwill, I was blown away by the sheer amount one store contained. There is only space to walk around and push your shopping cart around. But every space where a rack could be put, it was. And each rack contained the max amount of hangers! Since Goodwill arranges everything by color, it felt like I was witnessing a rainbow. Lol. I typically go by garment and then by color. So if I wanted a red shirt, that's where I go. Sweaters and T-shirts and tanks are all jumbled around. Some Goodwill I've gone to do discriminate against blouses and charge a different price for them than other tops. You need to dig. I push things all to one side and go through each and every hanger and pull out things that might catch my eye. I've also found great stuff in places they wouldn't be. For instance my favorite and only pair of yoga pants was found in front of the dressing room on a rack for dress pants. 

Here's a picture of ALL the stuff [ok...minus two sweaters and a purse only because I re-donated them back] I've gotten from thrifting since I started!

*Express Vest
*Express black blazer
*Ann Taylor blue dress shirt
*Ann Taylor Petite tan blazer
*Champion yoga pants
*2 Abercrombie tanks
*Nameless yellow top
*H&M jacket/hoodie


Other tips for thrifting:

1. Don't be afraid.- You're going to get dirty. People who don't thrift might think you're weird for doing it. Thrifting isn't for the weak hearted. You'll need to have the patience and guts to get dirty and dig around. Sometimes people give things like bikinis and lingerie, things no one would ever buy. So you need to get over a lot of stigma about it before you'll like it.
2. Wear gloves or bring hand sanitizer
3. Bring cash and set a limit- Sometimes you get so overwhelmed by how cheap it is that you might buy something you don't really want. Bringing cash and setting a limit forces you to look at things clearer and sort out things you love and really want from things that are mediocre and things you might not wear.
4. Don't be too narrow minded- Don't go in hoping for yoga pants and leave when you don't find it. Browse! Look at shirts or other pants, something! The stock changes EVERYDAY! Who knows what's in there that might be an awesome find?!
5. Come often! - Things come in and go everyday. For instance, the last time I went, a man delivered a table with a sewing machine inside. It was being sold for $20! Another time I went, a man dropped off a cool shelf that I would've gotten but someone else had purchased it 5 minutes after it was priced!
6. Set a lot of time to go- There's just a lot going on in thrifting. You'll want to have the time to look around. 
7. Look carefully!- Once my friend found this awesome dress shirt and she was about to go buy it. It didn't have any stains but when she looked closer, she discovered pit stains. Gross!
8. On that note, DON'T BUY ANYTHING STAIN! - No, you can't wash it off. No, you can't "hide" it. I'm sure that whoever owned the item before it got to Goodwill tried it and since it didn't work, they chucked it off. 
9. Be careful of cleaning care! - Check to see if things are dry clean only. Typically things that ARE dry clean only though can be washed [hand wash option only!!!] but NEVER can be thrown in the dryer!
10. Wear comfortable clothes- a tank, a fitted t-shirt, loose pants or leggings. Sometimes there aren't dressing rooms so you should throw things over your clothes to try on.
11. Bring someone with you! - Second opinions are great!
12. Look at other sizes- Things that might've been given away is because they shrunk or expanded. So don't turn away things like a medium size or a too small of a size. The yoga pants I got were an XS but they fit perfectly. My friend bought a dress shirt that, if new, would've been too big for her but was perfectly fitted to her.