Category: Thrift Stores

Looking for a new activity to shake up your weekend? How about a thrift store challenge?

Savvy shoppers know that thrift shops in Destin, FL are the place to find clothing, accessories, and home goods at affordable prices. They also know part of the fun of thrifting is finding interesting and unusual items you can’t get anywhere else. Making thrifting a “challenge” by making up rules and setting a budget or time limit only adds to the fun!

Whether you’re a pro or new to thrifting, try one of these fun challenges on your next thrift shopping trip:

Dress a Friend

Thrifting is even better when it’s with a friend! Grab your bestie and plan an afternoon at a thrift store. The challenge is to split up in the store and pick out a creative outfit for the other person — it could be serious or silly!

Thrifty Date Night

For a totally unique date night, challenge your significant other to choose your outfit from a local thrift store. Set a budget ($20 per person usually more than enough) and a time limit (20 minutes) to choose what you’ll wear on your date. Maybe it’s a matching couple outfit, a vintage-inspired look, or something stylish but outside of your comfort zones. Have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to try something different. You may find a new style you would never have tried otherwise!

Thrift Store Scavenger Hunt

This last challenge is great for families. Start by making a list of some specific items you can usually find at thrift stores. Here are a few examples:

• Tie-dyed clothing
• “Throwback” CDs or movies
• An item that makes you laugh
• Artwork you’d hang in your home
• A book you’d like to read
• Animal figurines
• Board games or puzzles for family game night

Once you’re at the store, look for the items on your list. The person who has the most photos after 20 minutes wins!

Making your clothes last as long as possible is an important part of living a sustainable lifestyle! It’s also a great way to save time and money. If you’re looking for ways to keep your favorite clothes looking good as new, we have some tips!

Here are five ways to extend the life cycle of your clothes:

Wash with care

Clothing can be damaged when it’s not washed properly. Always try to follow the instructions on the labels of your garments. When in doubt, wash your clothes in cold water with a mild detergent. Bleach should only be used in special circumstances! If you have delicate fabrics, like lace or wool, you may be better off washing them by hand to prevent damage from the washing machine.

Ditch the dryer

We’ve all been there: your favorite sweater somehow ends up in the dryer, where it ends up three sizes smaller than it should be! To avoid heat damage from the dryer, always hang up delicate or shrinkable fabrics or lay them flat to dry. Your clothes will last a lot longer, and you’ll save on energy bills by cutting back on dryer cycles.

Use quality hangers

Make sure you’re using the right hangers for your clothes. Wood hangers are best for heavy jackets, like suit coats. Use padded hangers with rounded corners for dresses and sweaters. Plastic hangers will work for other types of clothing, like t-shirts! Try to leave room between your clothing items in the closet, so they maintain their shape and don’t get wrinkly.

Store clothing properly

When it’s time to store seasonal clothing, be sure you’re cleaning your clothes before you pack them away. Use a plastic or cardboard storage container to keep your clothes out of direct sunlight and away from moisture and insects. Another smart storage option is an empty suitcase! Fold your clothes carefully, using acid-free tissue paper to protect delicate items. You can also place a few dryer sheets in the container to keep your clothes smelling fresh.

Donate your clothes

Another great way to extend the life cycle of your clothing is to donate gently-used items to a thrift store in Destin, FL. You may not need those items anymore, but someone else is sure to appreciate them!

Your donations will be resold in the retail stores, where they’ll generate funds that support life-changing job skills training and employment services for individuals with disabilities and veterans.

Anyone who loves to thrift shop will tell you that the thrift stores in Panama City Beach, FL are the best ones to find unique clothing, accessories, and home goods at affordable prices. But did you know that you can also find rare and even highly valuable items when thrift shopping? It’s true!

The key is to shop frequently and know what to look for. If you see these items while thrift shopping , don’t pass them up!

First Edition Books

When they’re brand new, hardcover books are usually priced higher than paperback books. If you find used hardcover books in good condition at a thrift store, it can be a great deal! Keep your eyes peeled for autographed copies of books from popular authors, which make wonderful gifts for book lovers.

As you browse through classic books at a thrift store, check the edition number on the first few pages. If you see the words “first edition” or “first printing,” you could be holding a rare and valuable book! With a little online research, you can find out the value of the book.

Vintage and Retro Kitchenware

Goodwill always has a great selection of dishes, glassware, and other kitchen supplies. Be on the lookout for these rare and potentially valuable items in the glassware section:

Porcelain teacup with white and pink flowers

• Jadeite — Mint green dishes, cups, and serving trays were popular after World War II and now carry a lot of value.
• Pyrex — These colorful, patterned mixing bowls, storage containers, and oven-safe dishes were all the rage in the 1950s through the 1980s. Look for collectible patterns and styles while thrifting!
• China sets — Teacups, saucers, and other china pieces are highly collectible, especially if you come across a vintage pattern. Even if you don’t find a complete set, it’s fun to mix-and-match china pieces to create your own collection.
• Vintage canning jars — The blue-tinted versions are sought after by collectors, but even the plain clear glass jars are always a functional way to decorate your home!
• Retro cookie jars — Cookie jars representing cartoons and other whimsical characters are fun and nostalgic collectibles. Not to mention, they’re a great place to store sweet treats!

Luggage and Trunks

A gently-used luggage set can be used for your own travel, but you can also get creative and repurpose luggage into stylish home décor! Look for vintage-style suitcases and trunks that you can cover with a new coat of paint or decoupage with fabric. Stack your collection of suitcases in a corner, use them as shelves, or turn them into easy storage for family photos, holiday decorations, craft supplies, and more.

Designer-Label Clothes

Designer clothes aren’t necessarily rare at thrift stores — you can usually find many well-known and popular brands at your local Goodwill store! But if you’re searching for vintage pieces, pay close attention to the labels.

If you don’t recognize a brand name on the label, it could very well be vintage! Many times, vintage fashion will have a “union tag,” which has the acronym “ILGWU.” Clothing produced before the 1980s may also have labels with an American flag or “Made in U.S.A.” Because vintage sizing is very different from today’s sizes, it’s important to keep an open mind and try to search through every section!

Old-School Electronics

Retro stereos, walkmans, DVD and VHS players, video game consoles, cameras, and other old-school electronic accessories are always fun to find at thrift stores. Many people like to collect these gadgets to remind them of years past, whether the devices are in working condition or not. Turntables and vinyl records are also making a huge comeback, and you can often find great deals at a thrift store!

As we get ready to welcome 2021, now is a perfect moment to think about what changes you want to make in the year ahead—especially when it comes to living sustainably. After all, there’s no time like the present to reduce, reuse, recycle, and protect our planet!

Reuse, Upcycle, Sustain.

Thankfully, living an eco-friendly lifestyle doesn’t have to take a ton of time, effort, or money. Here are some small changes you can make in 2021 to live more sustainably:

Use less plastic. Make simple swaps, like choosing reusable straws, utensils, bags, and water bottles over plastic. You can even find reusable “paper” towels, sealable food storage bags, and makeup removing wipes!

Be energy smart. Reduce energy use by turning off lights and the TV when you leave a room, washing your clothes on the “cold” setting, and taking shorter showers. These simple actions will help you save on electricity bills while you do your part for the planet!

Repurpose whenever possible. A lot of product packaging can be repurposed around your home to reduce waste! For example, you can wash and reuse empty glass or plastic containers to store leftovers, coffee grounds, or even potted plants. Used paper bags make great gift wrapping or scratch paper for crafts. You can also use cardboard boxes to keep books, paperwork, photos, and mementos organized!

Donate your unwanted goods. Get a fresh start in the new year by cleaning your home and donating anything you don’t need or want

Go thrift shopping. One big benefit of cleaning out your closets is that you’ll make room for the clothes you really love. When you need to replenish your wardrobe, the eco-friendly move is to go thrift shopping! Not only is thrift shopping more affordable than traditional retailers, but it’s also much more sustainable. Shopping secondhand at a thrift store in Panama City Beach, FL extends the life cycle of gently-used clothing, and that keeps our planet beautiful!

Kids grow so quickly, don’t they? If your children are outgrowing their clothes faster than you can keep up, thrift shopping can be a smart choice for your family. Not only is thrift shopping more budget-friendly than traditional retail stores, but it’s also more environmentally friendly. Thrifting for your kids is a win-win for you, your family, and the planet!

Ready to start shopping secondhand for your little ones? Here are some tips to make your next thrifting trip a success:

Size up

Buying brand new clothes is expensive, especially when your child is only able to wear an outfit a few times before it no longer fits. Save money (and time!) by sizing up when you go thrift shopping. Even if an outfit is too lare now, it will likely fit in a few months!

Shop early for holidays

It’s smart to plan your kids’ outfits for holidays and special occasions like weddings well in advance. If you wait until the last minute, you may not find what you’re looking for! Get a head start by visiting your local thrift shop in Panama City Beach, FL where you can find a great selection of kids’ clothing for every occasion. If you see something you like, consider getting it early — just be sure to plan ahead for any growth spurts!

Mix and match

The great thing about kids’ clothing is that there are no fashion “rules.” It’s particularly fun when young children start to show a personal style of their own! When you go thrift shopping for kids’ clothes, you can feel free to experiment with different prints and patterns. If you stick to one color palette, it can be a lot easier to mix and match and create multiple outfits from a handful of pieces. Because kids grow so quickly, you’ll often find many kids’ clothes in like-new or even “new with tags” condition at thrift stores!

Stock up on staples

Everyone needs wardrobe staples, including kids. There’s no shortage of amazing deals on essentials like jeans, t-shirts, and jackets at your local store! You can find these items (and more!) at a fraction of the price you’d pay when purchasing new. Plus, secondhand clothes make great play outfits. Instead of worrying about your child getting messy in a brand new outfit, you can let them do what they do best — play!

The beauty of thrift shopping is that when your child outgrows their current wardrobe, you can simply donate those clothes right back to thrift stores. Your donation and shopping support keeps our cycle of success in motion, helping people and our planet!

Online shopping in a small town

That is how I began my unexpected foray into the world of “slow shopping for the modern age”, as fellow writer Lloyd Alter described it when I told him this story. Over the few weeks, I have made a few necessary purchases. One was for my son’s upcoming birthday. I sent a Facebook message to the local toy store to inquire about a specific toy I was looking for.

The owner responded immediately with pictures of various options and suggestions for similar items. After several exchanges, we settled on a stomp rocket and a dinosaur coloring kit. I e-transferred the money and he dropped it off at my back door the following morning.

A day later, I realized I hadn’t yet bought any Easter chocolate for my kids, so I visited the Facebook page of a local chocolate shop. It listed several bunnies and foil-wrapped eggs, which I then ordered over Messenger. I received a call back, my credit card number was taken, and I was given a pickup time slot. When I arrived, an arm reached out the door, set my order on a stool, and I took it home.

Then I realized on Good Friday that I no longer had any bread pans, as my husband had thrown out the old rusty ones, and I was ready to start making Easter bread with my kids.

So I sent a Facebook message to the owners of a boutique kitchenware store. They responded promptly, we chatted on the phone to discuss the various pans they had in stock, and then I drove to the store to pick up my pre-packed order, which they handed out the door. I had two shiny new bread pans within the time it took for the dough to rise.

Why does this matter?

This has been a fascinating lesson for me. First, it underscores the power of the Internet (and social media) for shopping locally, even though we usually think of it as a tool for making purchases further afield. If it weren’t for Facebook, I wouldn’t know how to contact these businesses because they’re not answering phones as usual.

Second, the local supply chain is more reliable than relying on shipping from afar. I received all of these items much faster than if I’d ordered them online. It only took six hours from the time I messaged the chocolate shop till my pickup slot, and the toy store owner came to my door 12 hours after we’d settled on a purchase.

I had the bread pans within two hours. That’s far better than Amazon Prime, which has slowed down these days anyway, completely inundated with orders. (My kids never would’ve gotten Easter chocolate if I’d gone that route.)

Third, because I’m having to chase down individual vendors for specific items, it’s forcing me to think long and hard about what I actually need. There’s no perusing the aisles and picking up random additional products just because they look appealing. Whether I pick up or it’s delivered, my order is packed, paid for, ready to go.

I’ve had to pay more for certain products than if I’d bought them second-hand from the thrift shops in Panama City Beach, FL, but I justify it as a way to help support my community at a difficult time, almost like a donation of sorts.

Finally, I’m realizing that if it’s possible to support local “Main Street” businesses at a time like this, it’s possible to support them anytime. We really need to stop making excuses for why ordering stuff online from faraway monster corporations is a better option than going to nearby business owners.

I challenge readers to try to provide for their needs by sourcing items from within their own communities. Before logging on to Amazon, take a moment to ask yourself which local stores might sell those same products, and then reach out with an inquiry. All it takes is a message or a phone call, a credit card number exchanged, and those items could be on your doorstep in a matter of hours. Give it a try; it’s deeply satisfying.

Hand-me-downs. The very thought brings terror to any new parent who remembers the taunting children suffered for the sin of not having new possessions. We are uncertain already in the face of the daunting task of raising a tiny life to health, wealth and wisdom, without even the benefit of an owner’s manual! How do parents react? Consumerism. Buying new for the baby is a ritual of modern childbirth: new nursery, new carseats, new clothing.

Think again. The German Bundesinstituts für Risikobewertung (BfR, or National Institute for Risk Assessment) has warned that newborns need better consumer protection advocacy. Pediatrician Axel Hahn of the BfR explained: Many parents completely remodel the room for the nursery, without giving thought to the amount of harmful substances newborns face from the new furniture, paint and carpet.

The conclusion? Second hand–even for baby clothing–is often the healthier choice.Second hand articles which are present at the thrift shops in Panama City Beach, FL have had time to naturally lose the dangerous chemicals which are most easily emitted or leached from the articles to which babies are exposed.

New furniture, much of which emits formaldehyde from the glues and particle board constituents or chemicals added as flame retardants, will have rid itself of most of the harmful emissions by the time it comes up for second hand sale.

Baby clothing has been through enough wash cycles to ensure the chemicals added during textile manufacturing and distribution are gone. And who can remember being upset by a few smudges in the paint or carpeting of their nursery?

The discussion was raised in the context of the seventh Forum for Consumer Protection in Berlin. Children are especially sensitive. They have a much larger ratio of skin surface to body size, respirate more quickly and have faster metabolic rates. Attendees of the forum were unified in the opinion that risk assessments done for adults can no longer be applied also for children.

Specialists at the Forum also discussed better labelling of chemical contents. Currently, only toxic product recipes are required to be reported to the BfR, for example from cleaners. But often the risks of chemicals are due to the sum amount of the exposure, of to exposure to a combination of different substances. The BfR proposes a coded system of disclosure of all chemicals in the products.

There are some tricks to the trade.

“Shop second-hand” is a message often touted by eco-minded individuals, myself included. “It’s good for the planet! It’s good for your wallet!” we say, which is all good advice, but usually that’s where it ends.

For someone unaccustomed to thrift shopping, it can be daunting to go from new or fast fashion shopping to vintage. The former offers seasonal trends and curated looks, while the latter seems like a hodgepodge of random pieces, vast and confusing.

Fortunately, some professional guidance for navigating thrift stores is at hand. The latest episode of the ‘Slow Your Home’ podcast features an interview with Emily Stochl, a veteran thrifter and host of the ‘Pre-Loved Podcast,’ a show that’s all about shopping second-hand.

Host Brooke talks to Emily about why she thinks second-hand is so important, and Emily says it comes down to embracing a slower, more ethical form of fashion, one that forces you to be more intentional about what you buy:

“I made this commitment that I only wanted to buy things that were already in our consumer world, rather than have things made new, so that I would be reducing my impact and reducing that harm in any way that I can.”

Emily offers some concrete tips for people who might be new to second-hand shopping, want to refine their approach, or have an urge to slow their rate of consumption.

– Know what you need so that you don’t get swayed by what you want. She keeps a list on her phone of pieces that she needs in her wardrobe and uses it as a guide when shopping.

– Know what you like. Without mannequins and trends to guide you, it’s important to have a sense of personal style. Emily saves pictures she likes to a private collection in Instagram, which helps to keep her on track.

– Know your measurements. Knowing your bust, waist, leg, and hip measurements offhand help you to shop more efficiently.

– Look for high quality pieces. Sift through the heaps of fast fashion clothes to find the treasures. These are identifiable by construction, fabric and materials, brands, fit and feel, etc. Check for holes and stains, and make sure seams are solid.

– Look for natural fabrics. Natural fabrics are easier to repair, age well, and do not release plastic microfibres into the water like synthetics do.

– Get a professional tailor. Forging a relationship with someone in your community who can help to spruce up second-hand treasures is a worthwhile investment.

Emily’s tips are perfect advice for all of us, an antidote to the fast fashion frenzy that has taken over main streets, shopping malls, and social media feeds the world over. We’d all be wise to slow down, consider what our fashion values are, and pursue these in a second-hand setting.

As Emily said, many people feel they lack control over how things go in the world, but one thing they can control is what they buy. Thrifting at a thrift shop in Destin, FL can be your way of saying you care about conserving resources, saving money, and respecting people’s work.

Recently, I went from thrift store to thrift store with my friend Dana . I was looking to see if the stores seemed any different than usual — if the items seemed more abundant or of better quality than normal.

I’ve been reading that thrift stores are seeing an uptick in donations due to the Netflix show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the program, Kondo uses the method she wrote about in her 2014 book, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” to help people de-clutter their homes. Her main advice is to keep the items that “spark joy” and get rid of most everything else.

I read the book more than a year ago, but I didn’t put what she calls the “KonMarie method” into practice in my home. I may consider it at some point, but today wasn’t about tidying up. Today was about seeing if the thrift stores that Dana and I frequently haunt seemed like they had an abundance of items that someone else found joyless.

Roaming thrift store aisles

My first stop was a thrift store in Destin FL. I frequently visits stores over there. I noticed that the store was fuller than usual with some better-quality items.

We asked one of the employees if she knew if there was an uptick in donations specifically because of the Netflix show, and she said she didn’t know. She had never heard of the show and no one had mentioned Kondo to her.

We headed next to a large thrift store that carries clothing, housewares and toys. The store was very organized. Every shelf was full and every rack had clothing from beginning to end. It’s one I hadn’t been to in a while, but Dana goes there frequently. She said she didn’t notice a difference in the quantity or quality of items we saw today. We moved on to a small thrift store — one with a few racks of clothing and a few shelves of housewares, books and jewelry. It was full, but no more than usual.

I was going to ask the cashier about Marie Kondo but right as we started to make our purchases, the fire alarm went off and everyone was whisked outside. By the time we were let back in and able to finish the transaction, it slipped my mind.

Our conclusion was that the stores were full, but not necessarily full of excellent quality items you’d expect if everyone in the region has started to donate their possessions that didn’t spark joy.

What did seem unusual, however, was the sheer amount of people out shopping midday on a Thursday at these stores. Granted, I tend to thrift on the weekends, but the stores were incredibly busy. I wish I had the nerve to just call out, “Is anyone here because they read that the thrift stores have an abundance of good things because of the Marie Kondo Netflix show?”

Still, I wonder, even if the stores aren’t seeing an increase in donations because of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” are they seeing an uptick in customers hoping to find joy in something that did not spark joy in its original owner? If people are choosing to buy used instead of new because of the show, it’s a win either way.