10.29.2014

The Minimalist Approach to Thrifting [29/31]


When thrifting, there's a temptation to purchase everything in your cart because it's cheap and why not? This kind of reasoning has the likelihood to fuel some serious hoarding tendencies. Two dollars here and five dollars there may seem minuscule, but can certainly add up over time.

I recently listened to an episode of The Art of Simple podcast entitled "Freedom from Stuff". In the episode, host Tsh Oxenreider interviewed Joshua Becker, the blogger behind Becoming Minimalist. Becker shared a story about an entire day he spent cleaning out his garage when it was time he could have been spent with his kids. Of course, this hit home for me.

If you need a motivational kick in the pants to get rid of some things or prevent you from even bringing those unnecessary things into your home, do yourself a favor and listen to that podcast episode.

I am also going to refer back to Tsh regarding another potentially life-changing thought: Think of the thrift store as a storage unit with a small, pay-per-use fee.

Consider it. How often do you hold on to an item "just in case" when it is something you could easily find on any given day at a charity shop? The best example of this for me would be serving trays & platters. They take up a lot of cupboard space and I almost always see them (nice ones, actually) at Goodwill.

One small rule I've tried to implement is to get rid of an item in exchange for buying a new one. This especially helps keep my closet in check, which is why I love the idea of capsule wardrobes so much.

Keep a list of the items you are looking out for. This can save you time you would spend scavenging aimlessly and money you would spend on thoughtless purchases.

Truly, these rules don't just apply to thrifting. But life is short. Don't waste your time being a Stuff Manager.

[Image credit: Elisabeth Heier]

I am linking up with The Nester every day in October for #write31days. 
You can find a list of all 31 posts as they are published by clicking here.

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