Shopping at thrift stores is an often recommended piece of advice for those who are looking to save money. I don’t often shop at thrift stores since most of them I’ve encountered are dirty, poorly-organized, and the prices aren’t much cheaper than what I’d find on the clearance rack at a discount store. I did recently happen to find a thrift store to my liking though. I’ve been needing some hiking shorts and decided to check out a nearby thrift store while my GF was shopping. I was hopeful when I walked in because the store was clean and the stock was well presented. After checking the prices I knew I had finally found a decent thrift store. I was able to find two pairs of like-new hiking shorts priced at $2.30 each. The store was having a 50% off sale so I ended up getting both pairs for that price. This was much cheaper than I would have paid for these new and exactly what I needed.
As good as deal as the thrift store is it still doesn’t have prices as cheap as many garage sales. The drawback to shopping at garage sales is that it can be difficult to find what you want. Shopping at a community garage sale makes it much more likely you will find what you want. I went to a community-wide garage sale this weekend and there were over a hundred different garage sales. I didn’t really need anything and just bought a few books for 25 cents each. That may not have been a savings since I usually just get books for free from the library. Some of the books, like the two Calvin and Hobbes collections, are ones I will want to read again though. If I had been looking for something specific I had my mom and several aunts and cousins there shopping so they probably would have found it.
Be careful when buying things at garage sales and in thrift stores because some of them might have bedbugs that you might unknowingly bring into your home and get infested before you clean the item thoroughly. Otherwise, great tips on getting reduced price items.