Alena Moon

I'm not much of a shopping person but I love getting things in cheap prices or on sale like how everyone else does. So I have been thrift shopping a lot lately and you know the perks of it, not only it's fun but getting gooood quality items for cheap prices!!

So this blog post will show you the items I bought from thrift shops and the tips on how to effectively do thrift shopping.

I'm the person who never reads a book twice. When i'm done reading, then it's done unless I reallyyyy liked the book and want to read it again few years later. So spending money on books isn't really for me because I feel like I'm not getting the most out of it. I did use libraries a lot but because most of the book I like are all fully requested, it takes forever for me to borrow it. 

One day I went to a family store (op shop) and found The girl who has a dragon tattoo series and they were soooo cheap. Like $3 cheap. Ever since then I started buying books from family stores because they so cheap and the conditions weren't too bad. Obviously I don't always find books that I want but sometimes I get lucky.

I haven't finished reading the books that I bought but at the moment I'm reading "Salvation of a saint" by Keigo Higashino who is a very famous japanese mystery writer. I was so happy to get this book for $1 because I always wanted to read his books but I knew it would be hard to find english translated versions. So I've got whole bunch of books to finish and I'll probably forever continue searching for good books.

White pants $8

All the clothes I bought were in very good condition when I got them. Most of the clothes costed around $10 and probably the most I spent was the first cardigan which was $30? 

But in generaly I'm very happy with the clothes I got and I do wear them pretty often so I'm making the most out of them!

So as you can see, I have been splurging at thrift shops and I'd like to share the tips on how to effectively do thrift shopping! 

1. Visit them often! 

80% of the times I never find anything nice. But the more often you go, more chance of finding something nice. The shops go through changes so often. You there might be something nice today but few days later, it will most likely be not there. This mean something new might pop up today and it might be taken on the same day.

2. Don't buy it if you are uncertain about it.

My mum bought $40 worth of curtains and she realized she didn't really like the patterns. Because they don't do refunds (most likely) it took forever to exchange them with different items. Not only it took time to find something nice to exchange, all the items were like $1 or $2.  I never realized how hard it is to spend $40 at thrift shop... So if you are uncertain about whether to get an item, I'd just you to just leave it there, unless it's really cheap (but don't get it if it's $40).

3. Make sure clothes you are getting are in good condition. 

Most likely, it won't be in perfect condition but what I mean by good condition is, clothes that doesn't have any holes, stains or any big damages. If it's something small that you think you can mend it, then it's all good. But make sure it's got all the buttons etc before you get it. 

4. Be creative and see the potential of changing or using an item differently.

Don't see the items as how it is but imagine how you can turn them into something new and interesting. I bought a weaved basket which was $5 and used it as a plant pot and another time I bought tiny glasses and used them as candle glasses. There are so many different ways to be creative and use it differently. You just have see them differently and be imaginative!