What was your first time

[Tammy]

Can you remember the very first thrift store experience you had?  Mine was going with a friend who was looking for Christmas presents for her kids.  We were going into what was then one of the probably first Goodwill's in Peoria.  Talk about rundown!!  I hate to admit it but while I was interested, I was also rather ashamed to be seen in there probably due to the ""poor people idea.   

I think several years after that, I remember going into one of my now favorite Sal Army stores alone.  I remember walking briskly not really wanting anyone that knew me to see me going in there.    

Of course since then, I'm totally hooked, not at all embaressed and LOVE thrift shopping.  I will hit a thrift store to look and buy before I hit a retail store.  Hmmm, our microwave (that we bought earlier this year at Sal Army for $10) bit the dust last night.  Wonder what they have on the shelf today??   

Tammy

[ChrisMiss]

Yes, I remember the first thrift store experience.  Back in the 70's, stinky, dirty store, Salvation Army.  Not really much in the store to look at either but it was the only thrift store in the neighborhood.  I didn't go again until the late 90's either.  I'd do yard sales but never a thrift store.   Then a friend told me that her clothes were from a thrift store and they looked so nice so I started looking around and was pleased that the stores had improved so much.

[superiorgirl]

In the 60's, when I was a kid, it was farm auctions. In the 70's I found flea markets and garage sales. In like, 1979 or 1980 I went to my first ts on a military base with a friend. Then in 81 or 82 the first ts opened in my town and I became a regular. From there it expanded to antique shops. I still go to them all. Jeepers - it's been a life long habit!! Just think of all the stuff I've re-purposed and all the money I've saved. yay!

[Good Buddy]

I went with a chick I used to date in about 1988. I didn't really go nuts with my thrifting until about 1992 with a friend Patty.
The store is still open and Cookie and I have found many a bargain there.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Hmmmmmmmmmm, let's see:

Early 70s, swap meets in Arizona.

[LadyinRed]

When I was a little girl and we would go to "the big city" (Denver) my mom would always hit a couple of different thrift stores.  They would always smell awful to me, some of the people would give me the creeps, they were usually too hot, and they would give me a headache.  By the time I turned 12 or 13 I was able to tolerate them, and then it probably wasn't until I was 14 or 15 that I began to enjoy them.  (Incidentally, that's also when I began to notice that I wore "off brand" jeans, while the other kids wore the expensive brands.)

Once I got to college and had to furnish first my dorm, and then my own home, I really got into thrifting.  Plus, actually living in "the big city" I have dozens of store to choose from, unlike back home in the small town where most of the stuff in THE thrift store was donated by us or someone we knew (always awkward when they recognize you wearing something that used to be theirs!).

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Heehee, LadyinRed, I know what you mean about buying things and being afraid that the person who donated them will recogzine the items when you wear them. I have a comeback to any comments I might receive:

"O, was this yours?  You've got great taste! (obviously!) Let me give my number and we can eliminate the middleman--you can just drop your next donation off at my house!"

Yes, I've used it, when people have said--"I used to have a -----like that, in your size"

When it comes to clothes, several women and I have given each other stuff when we've cleaned out our closets. If what we've traded doesn't fit us, we pass it along to someone else.  I've gotten one or two great pieces that way.

[genuineimitation]

When it comes to clothes, several women and I have given each other stuff when we've cleaned out our closets. If what we've traded doesn't fit us, we pass it along to someone else.  I've gotten one or two great pieces that way.

those are organized now.. you pay $25, get a massage and a glass of chardonnay, and paw through the racks with your girlfriends. not very thrifty, but i guess it takes some of the stigma of second hand shopping out of it if there is a cover charge!

oh - and my first time was as a small child. my mom bought me a ball gown. i still remember the price: i couldn't believe that a thing of such beauty could be only 25 cents! it was light blue chiffon and had layers and layers of fabric. i felt like a dream.. for just a quarter.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

genuineimitation, thanks for educating me, lol. I agree with you, as long as it's organized and it costs something, it must be "OK" with "them".  You know, "them"? "They"?  "They" who do not like thrift shops; "they who cannot do something unless it is approved by "them". " Get my drift? I'm sure you do, lol.

The 19th century beauty Lily Langtry used as her motto this saying (below--I do not know the original attribution):

Say they?
What, say they?
Let them say.

[LadyinRed]

Say they?
What, say they?
Let them say.

Very well said Se So, Lily Langtry, and author unknown!

I, too, love the get together swap.  My friends and I often do it after Christmas and exchange unwanted gifts.  Everything always ends up being wanted by someone else (except the orange plastic ashtray my friend Anna received from her Grandmother last year).

[genuineimitation]

ok.. i have to comment on the ashtray:

when we were married, my husband received from his grandfather (whom he wasn't close with) the FAMILY ashtray! it was a huge china ashtray, with the initial in the middle and plenty of room for the family butts... they were giving it to him as an heirloom gift. he quit smoking soon after that, though i'm not saying that had anything to do with it.javascript:void(0);

UGH! it was so gross - we are still disgusted by it's memory, but at least we can laugh about it now. i think that ended up in a thrift store. or maybe it got broken - oops.

[alexandra]

This is like therapy!!!

I had a friend whose mom owned a second-hand clothes store.  My mom wouldn't let me buy anything in there as she was too snobby (don't know why... we had no money!).

In college (550+ miles away from home -- the furthest I could manage to be and stay in the same state!!!), some friends went to the Salvation Army (I still shop at that same store now), I noticed all the high-end brands of clothing that other kids at school wore (but that we couldn't afford).  I helped them pick out the good stuff and then was the girl everyone called when they wanted to go to the thrift store.

Even then, I could take one look at a piece as say "toss it" or "take it."  It did take me many years, though, to aquire a taste for vintage linen, china, flatware etc.  I'd have to say some of it is the influnce of our Jen of TSR and Rebecca of Thrifty Goodness!  And Seso is always the lady I think of when I am "label hunting!"

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

I've been thinking about this question ever since it was posted. I honestly can't remember the first time I was in a thrift store, as I was quite a little a kid. I do recall duck-and-covering so my elementary school classmates walking past the building wouldn't see me, and get even more reasons to go all Scut Farkas on me.    But I don't recall the beginning of thrifting.

Alexandra, you've found some GREAT linens and goodies. You can certainly take full credit for your thrifting skillz.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Alexandra, you are one of the bestest and the mostest in the thrifting field. It is my privilige to learn from you!   

We need to go shopping together someday...

xo,
SeSo

[Scott]

I think the first time I went to a thrift shop was sometime around 1985 or 86. I was in high school and looking for "cool" clothes. It wasn't until the early 1990's that I really got hooked, though. That all started when a friend of mine and I got an Atari 2600 video game system and a bunch of games at a yard sale, and we decided to see if we could find more games for it. We started thrifting for games, and it snowballed from there.

Who am i kidding? That snowball was more like an avalanche!