How to Shop at Goodwill like a Pro

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Growing up in a low income house shaped me in to the person I am today. Although, growing up I wasn’t aware of our income status. I thought our lifestyle was normal or that we did stuff a little differently because it was more fun.

All of my clothes came from garage sales, hand-me-downs, or thrift stores. It wasn’t until high school, that I really appreciated shopping at these used clothes stores. I had to start buying clothes for myself and with a job of just mowing lawns, I needed to keep up on the latest trends on a very low budget.

It wasn’t until college when I started really telling people that I was buying all my clothes from Goodwill. Everyone was so surprised and jealous. They wanted to know how I got the cute poke a dot Nike Pro Spandex at Goodwill for $1.99 or my Rock Rival jeans for $6.99.

Well, here are my tips on how I buy all my clothes from Goodwill and still keep up with the latest trends.

1. Look at Everything

When I go to Goodwill I can spend over three hours in one Goodwill. I look at everything. I don’t worry about the size on the tag. If I like it I will put it in my cart. It is not unusually for an extra large shirt to get shrunk in a dryer and it than end up fitting like a medium.

I also will look in the sweater rack way to big for me because who doesn’t like the extra big winter sweater to wear on a cold snowing night. If I find name brand pant that say they are too small or too large, it doesn’t hurt to try them on and see if they have been shrunk or stretched out.

2. Shop at Multiple Different Goodwills

A tradition in my family is spending the day going to as many different goodwills as we can. We all spread out and cover a section. My mom the home goods, my older sister the mediums, my little sister athletic clothes, and I the smalls. We look for ourselves but also each other.

My sisters and I also go in one dressing room. This is so we can make sure things look good on each other. We also end up trading clothes if one doesn’t like a shirt or decided they were buying to much another one of us can scoop up the cute shirt.

We than repeat this process over and over again at multiple different Goodwills in the same day. We usually can go to about 5 different Goodwills in one day.

3. Shop in Wealthy towns/cities

When we shop at multiple different Goodwills. We will drive and hour to an hour and half away from where we live to shop at the best Goodwills. We shop around big wealthy cities. This is where we regularly find main brand gently used clothes.

The wealthiest cities are usually suburan area’s outside of a big city. I grew up in Minnesota. The best places to shop were outside of the twin cities such as Edina, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Hopkins, Chanhassen, ect.. We were also able to pick out which were the best by going and trying them all out.

If we found a lot of main brand stuff, we would maybe try it one or two times on other trips and than cross it off our list if we never found anything. We would always visit the Goodwills where there was always stuff to find.

4. Shop Often

Growing up we would go Goodwill shopping at least once a month. This was something my family did as a bonding activity. We also switched up different Goodwills, so we weren’t seeing the same things.

This may sound weird but I also like to shop at Goodwills when I travel. I think it’s fun to see how Goodwills are treated in different states. They often have different sales or deals. I have found that some states are considerably cheaper than others where as other states carry more main brand clothes.

Minnesota Goodwills buy Targets stock when they are getting rid of there stuff. I have found new target jeans, shirts, and home goods that you would buy at target at a discount price at Goodwill. Wisconsin Goodwills sell brand new stuff of their own as well, but I’m not a big fan of the collection. I haven’t found anywhere else that does this.

On a trip to North Carolina, we stopped at a Goodwill specifically to find tourist shirts because we were to cheap to buy them brand new. I found one that featured the Blue Ridge Parkway with North Carolina on it. My sister found some UNC basketball stuff that she loved! All in all, we saved money and got our souvenirs.

5. Have a Mental Organization of your Closet

My older sister is a pro at this. When she finds a pair of pants or a shirt, she can verbally describe five different outfits she could pair this with in her closet. If she can’t, she won’t buy it. She also says to herself where would I wear this? How would I wear this?

If you can’t think of how to wear it or it doesn’t match with the rest of your closet, it is better to pass and find something you are going to wear a lot. I believe the worst feeling is when you buy something you think is cute but never wear or only wear once to that one event. Some of the best purchases have been something simple like my white short sleeve crop top that I can wear with anything!

6. Shop on Sale days

You didn’t know Goodwill prices could get any cheaper? Well many different Goodwills have sale days. Depending on what state you live in there are several different discounts. Most Goodwills have at lest one day when a certain color price tag is half off. Now it depends on the state but a lot have a color tag half off all week. Others (cough, cough, Minnesota) only have two days out of the week that a color tag is half off. I’ve been to a couple Goodwills in North Carolina where they have bins that everything in them are less than a dollar!

My favorite time to go to Goodwill is on a Holiday. A lot of Goodwills will make their whole store 50% off during a holiday such as President’s Day, Columbus Day, Black Friday, and more. These are fun because you don’t have to look at price tags because you know everything will be so incredibly cheap. I usually go a little crazy on these days and buy bags and bags full of stuff but I usually always end up spending less than $100 which is amazing!

How to Shop at Goodwill like a Pro