I enjoy your writing and I also love the thrill of the hunt both at thrift stores and retail stores.  

Finding what is needed for a family member brand new at 80-90% off is just as thrilling as finding it at a thrift shop plus you don't have to worry about the condition of the clothing that you are buying.  I love "The Hunt" regardless of which kind of shop I'm at and NEVER buy full price unless it's an emergency item that can't wait; which in my experience happens maybe once a year.

Look. I bought a pair of jeans at "sale" price of $15 I went to the nearest thrift store and both aother pair for $5. If you can save ten dollors buying stuff that'a new! (all flawed clothes go to thrift stores in the nearest area.) Then why not? You can strech your buck even futher!

My favorite thrift store find is picture frames. Usually frames are priced based on whats in them. I recently got a metal frame shop frame for $2 at my local thrift store, because the ugle hockey print inside of it was in terrible shape. If i had to buy the frame for retail it would have been at least $20 for that quality. Plus I get the satisfaction of knowing that I reused something instead of perpetuating the landfill and consuming nature of buying new.

I bought a brand new  Oakland Raiders jacket at the Salvation Army. It still had the original price tags on it from Macys for $8.00  The tag said the price was $149.99  Sorry if that makes me cheap in some eyes, in others I look smart and stylish and I still have a fue dollars in that jacket pocket.

Sam,

I shop at both discount stores and resale stores and there are differences.  

Let me put it this way, used clothing has generally made it past a few tests: 1. someone thought it was good enough to buy in the first place. 2. someone thought it was good enough to pass along to a resale store instead of just throw out. 3. someone at the resale store thought it was good enough to resell.  

Meanwhile, new discount clothes are basically there because no one wanted to buy them at the original price in the first place.  Sometimes it's not the fault of the clothes themselves, but often enough it is.  I find a lot of really cheaply made clothes at discount stores, even from "good" names -- and by "cheap" I mean that the sewing and materials are just awful, which affects not only how long the clothes last, but also how they look and especially how they fit.  

Either way it's a gamble, but there's reason enough to shop both, especially if you live near a really good resale store.  

Why did you waste your time reading and writing a response then?

I just started shopping at a dollar tree by our house.  There are these white sponges the sell there I SWEAR will take any mark off the walls, that I haven’t seen anywhere else.  They sell the same make up, shampoo, and everything else everyone has for WAAAYYYY less.  My husband is an E4 in the Navy, and I have a decent job.  In all honesty we are really blessed right now, but with our first baby on the way, money is not going to be what it is without kids.  You can bet I will be reading more of these and finding a way to save so we can do well for our future child! My husband is 20 and I am 21, we still have name brand clothes, and look pretty good if I do say so myself, but I shop at Plato's Closet.  My husband still has his Diesel jeans, and I still have my AE that I love, but the prices there are so cheap, and you would never tell the clothes were used!  I got an $80 pair of jeans from A&F for $5.  I don’t think they had ever been worn.  Yeah, I would say it’s worth it.

It's fine by me if some people look down on shopping in secondhand stores.  I've found several valuable first edition books,  antique carnival glass bowls, and vintage board games in my shopping trips, all of which promptly sold in auctions.  More income for me :)

What cracks me up are the people complaining about second-hand thrift stores being cheap, and then mention five-dollar sweaters at Wal-Mart or the like.  Let's see, a shirt being less expensive because it's a designer piece that someone wore a few times?  Or a shirt that costs less because it's a low-quality, sweat-shop manufactured piece of crap that will fall apart during its first go in the washing machine?  To say nothing of the fact that if you aren't intelligent enough to catch on the first time, you'll go back to the same store to replace it, thereby spending more.  

Another thing worth smiling about is the fact that thrift store shopping has caught on so widely that there's a great chance that a number of you naysayers out there have actually (unknowingly) received gifts from thrift stores.  A lot of things in thrift stores are still in their original packaging...think about it.

I can give you a whole host of reasons why you should buy used goods from thrift shops, as opposed to new gifts from places like Wal-Mart, regardless of price.  1) You are supporting a 100% local economy.  2) You save perfectly usable items from being dumped in a landfill.  3) You can find a gift that is relatively unique instead of giving your recipient something that he/she could just buy off of any rack.  4)  Non-profit thrift stores like Goodwill and the Salvation Army actually help disadvantaged and disabled employees to support themselves, whereas Wal-Mart actually contributes to employee hardship by not providing a living wage and health insurance.  Unlike the thrift stores, however, Wal-Mart can afford to provide for its employees, but won't!    Do you see what I mean?

yup yup yup , its the thrill of the hunt and also putting hard earned money to its best use