Dorm thrifting

While on the college search most people are concerned about class sizes, the layout of the campus or how much it will cost. But for me, when touring schools my first question was always about the dorm rooms. I wanted to know how many people I’d be sharing a room with, how big my room would be, if i would have my own bathroom etc. I was so excited to decorate my room! Whether it be scrolling through countless Instagram pages or pinning thousands of post to a Pinterest board, I was always looking for inspiration on how to decorate my dorm room when I moved in. I can vividly remember that I was most excited to set up my room and post pictures to show off all the hard work I had put in. As each year passes, and my room gets bigger, I am still constantly looking for new things to add to my space. As we all know, college already cost an arm and a leg to attend, so decorating my room was the last place I needed to be spending large amounts of money. On Pinterest I was very fortunate to find DIY crafts that would fit in well with my room. I was able to save money by finding most of what I needed at various thrift stores. One of my favorite pieces was a giraffe coat rack (pictured above). This makes a great accent to my safari themed room. Since I love giraffe’s I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it in Goodwill. Since it was only $10 I thought it was a steal! I am not sure of the exact purpose of it, but I use it as a coat rack for the winter. This is my favorite decoration in my room and I am so glad that I was about to get it from a thrift store for such a low price.

December 4, 2018 0

Inspiration and Influence

Many times you pick up a hobby because you saw someone else doing it and you thought it might be fun. As a child some of my hobbies included playing soccer, scrapbooking, and helping my mom bake. My friends and family got me into hobbies where we shared the same interests. As the years have gone on my interest and hobbies have change. I now spend most of my free time crafting or thrifting.

In the past couple of years I have become greatly interested in thrift shopping. I love the thrill of finding something great at Goodwill. Though I have been highly influenced by others, I mainly credit my mom for getting me so interested in thrift shopping. For as long as I can remember my mom used to love taking my sister and I to garage sales on the weekends. I believe this is where my love for “finding treasure in someone else’s trash” began. My mom loved that we could find something cool and exciting at a garage sale because she would only have to spend some pocket change on it. For a while I forgot about garage saling with my mom and all of the great things we used to find. A couple years back she mentioned it and how much fun it would be to do again. This time instead of going to a garage sale, we decided to visit a couple local thrift stores. It was a blast! Though we didn’t find many things worth purchasing, it was all about the experience and memories. For me that is what thrifting is all about, the experience.

November 14, 2018 0

Five Do’s and Don’ts of Thrifting

Know what you are coming for!
Walking into a thrift store can be overwhelming, especially if you are new to the scene. They tend to be a bit unorganized and all over the place. Unlike a department store, they don’t have a large quantity of the same merchandise. It is difficult to sort through and organize, this is where you come in. If you know exactly what you are looking for before entering, you wont get so lost in the chaos.

DON’T forget the little things
Make sure to check small details such as rips, zippers, and buttons. If you are not willing to repair them yourself than you might as well toss them back.

Be aware of further discounts
Most thrift stores offer sales on specific days. Goodwill has something called color days, where they offer 50% off items marked with the specified color tag.They also offer senior citizen and military discounts. Make sure you know what days they are running sales because these are the days that you can score some great finds.

DON’T be grossed out
A majority of the things you find at thrift stores have been used before. Whether it be clothes or a furniture piece, the point is to make use out of something someone else could not. No matter what you purchase it can be cleaned!

Have a lot of time and patience
You can spend hours just thumbing through the racks at your local Goodwill. Since there is so much to see make sure you leave yourself a lot of time, this is no place to rush. In order to find your best deals be patient and never get discouraged, there’s always something.

October 23, 2018 0

Show off your thrifted finds

Money, money, money! It seems like everyone nowadays is watching how much money they spend and are trying to find ways to cut down on their spending. That’s one of the great things about thrift shopping, it’s cheap! Sharing your finds is a great way to get others in on the thrifting trend. There is no need for a fancy camera, it can be as simple as snapping a quick picture for your Instagram. In partner with this blog, we run a Instagram called @southjerseysecondhandstyle where we showcase some of our thrifted finds. Sydney, who runs the Instagram, does an amazing job of photographing the pieces for each post. In each post she shows the item and how it can be used in her own home. In one post she uses a cute duck mug (pictured above) that she purchased to hold her paintbrushes. It appears that the mug is placed on her desk with some books and bottles of paint. Showing her items in their simple everyday use makes it a lot more relatable for viewers. Make sure to give our Instagram a follow to see all of our amazing thrift store finds!

October 18, 2018 0

Creating your own style!

Don’t ever let someone tell you that looks don’t mean anything. Your style and appearance can be a way to show your character and who you are. Showcasing your personality through what you wear can be really fun! Finding a style that suits you can be hard, that’s why I am here to help. Here are five helpful tips for creating a style of your own:

Sort & Discard
The first step to revamping your closet is to go through what you already have. Keep pieces that will still fit your style but discard anything that you won’t wear anymore. You can even bring your useless clothes to a thrift or consignment store or donate them. Not only does that help you make space in your closet for new clothes, but your donation could be a perfect fit for someone else’s closet.
Influence is key
Whether you love the way your favorite actor/actress dresses, or you just gather some inspiration from online this will play a huge role in your style choices. This will allow you to see what you do and don’t like, and give you an idea of where to start.
Keep your lifestyle in mind
Your ideal wardrobe should only consist of things you will wear on a regular basis. Space is precious and there is no room for closet fillers in your new and improved style! If you lead a minimally professional life there is no need to have multiple dress pants in different colors just because you think they may be useful somewhere down the line. Fill your closet with items you know you will get the most use and wear out of.
Never too many accessories
Adding accessories to your look can spice up any outfit. Simply adding a chunky scarf to jeans and a plain sweater can make your look so much more festive, or even a pair of cute boot heels for a nicer occasion.
Seek help!
Never feel embarrassed to ask for the help or opinions of others. Help is right at the tip of your fingers and you may not even realize it. Store associates are always out walking around the floor of the store, use them! It is there job to help you, and it’s totally free.

October 16, 2018 0

What is thrifting? And what it means to me

Thrift shopping is a widely growing trend that I am insanely interested in! Thrifting is all about saving money, one definition of the word according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “careful management especially of money.” Shopping at thrift stores benefits more than just yourself. Not only are you saving money, you are also typically giving money back to a smaller community rather than just a worldwide retailer.

Who doesn’t love saving money? The prices may be one of the main reasons I love shopping at thrift stores. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting a new pair of expensive shoes as much as the next girl, but a $2 simple t-shirt is totally up my alley. You can get a similar t-shirt at a department store for usually almost four times the price which makes no sense to me.

Another reason I love thrifting is all the weird things you find along the way. I never fail to find something weird or funny at the thrift store. From a t-shirt with a funny saying to a picture frame containing a weird image there is always something new. With each visit you come across new inventory coming from all different places. I love being able to see something at the store and try to come up with a story of where it came from and who it might used to belong to. Last week while my friends and I were thrifting we had a competition about who could come up with the craziest story about an item. Mine was about an old clock that I pretended was from a queen in another country. Next time you are thrift shopping with your friends you should try this too, it is a lot of fun!

October 8, 2018 0