My five rules for being successful at thrifting:

1. Never Give Up – The easiest thing to do is throw your hands up in the air and say, “I’m done with this $%@#”. Sometimes I will go for days without a score and in some cases weeks at specific thrift shops, that does not mean I stop going entirely. In the end I always go by the anecdote that“thrifting is like gambling… you gotta keep feeding the slot machine for the big payout!” Except for in this case you are saving money when you go thrifting and find nothing.
   
   
2. Know The Schedule – People at Thrift Shops have work schedules that surround the daily activities of store operations. Some people are in charge of putting product out and others are in charge of pricing product. You need to observe when they put the containers and/or rolling carts out to be stocked. Every thrift store runs by these principles, the only difference is each one does it at different times. What I will say is that I rarely see anyone stocking shelves at a thrift store after 5:00 pm. It’s all about timing!!!!
   
   
3. Know The Staff – If you go out of your way to be friendly and know the staff by name they will go the extra mile for you. One of the big differences in my thrifting style is that I know the majority of the workers at our local thrift stores. I don’t just say “Hi”, I say “Hi Bernadette. How are you?” In return, I am able to ask for discounts, they will always take care of their regulars, or if you’re lucky they will save items for you because they can’t wait to see what you think! Once they saved a beautiful vintage 1950s Prom Dress for only $12.00 because they thought it looked like the stuff I wear!
   
   
4. Furniture is the First Clue – All thrift stores will put furniture out first because it is big, bulky, and a nuisance! They want to get that stuff out as soon as possible because as they will get more the next day and the following days. If they received furniture from the time period you are seeking that means that more often than not, they also received smalls from that same period. The smalls typically will take a day or two to process before they hit the floor. So, if you see some ugly 1960s colonial furniture, for all you know they had a “Starburst Kitchen” and an amazing Tiki Mug collection. This guarantees a return visit!
   
   
5. Don’t BUY to BUY – When you’ve spent the entire day, and you have gone to twenty-eight places without finding anything exciting, it becomes a temptation to find anything “old” and convince yourself it’s worth buying. Don’t! You will be sorry! Save the money and more importantly the space for something fabulous that you will eventually find. This is definitely something it took me a while to learn, and to be perfectly honest something I still catch myself trying to fall back into from time to time. But trust me, I can’t open a single drawer at my house without something vintage popping out and lots of it is cool stuff I’m happy about, but there are still some wacky thrift choices lurking, reminding me NEVER to BUY just to BUY!

After much trial and error, these are my top five guiding principles I use in my thrifting. I have found them to be helpful even when thrifting in unfamiliar areas. One of my favorite things to do in the whole world is take road trips across the country with my husband and thrift! We have made it from Buffalo, NY to Kansas City, KS, all the way back home to San Diego, CA. I love seeing that different brands and styles tend to be more prevalent in different regions, but the keys to finding them seem to be the same.