Not only is secondhand shopping good for the environment, but you find insanely good deals on furniture, clothes, and toys. Go ahead and do your little happy dance when you find you’ve saved a lot when shopping a kids’ consignment sale. Here are tips for shopping your first secondhand sale.
Make an Essentials List
When shopping secondhand, you may notice there’s more than you need, and you may not realize how much you bought until later. As much as your experienced used shopper friends love a good sale, the first rule they follow before diving into the racks is to make a list of essentials. Then, you can dive in without consequence.
Ensure you buy items you need—whether it’s new seasonal clothing, furniture, or used toys to give as a baby shower present, make sure you write it down. Also, list how many pairs of clothes you need, like five pairs of jeans, two short-sleeved shirts, and one summer dress.
Measure Every Child
Every outfit you come across is adorable but may not be the correct size. So, be sure to record your kid’s measurement ranges, and buy a size up if they don’t have the exact size you want. Recording these measurements assists in determining the best sizes.
Bring Your Own Bags
As much as you’ll love shopping at kids’ thrift stores, you’ll love bringing your own bags to sort everything. Also, you can avoid grabbing more carts to throw in more things. Reusable bags make sorting later better and faster.
Sort and Separate Purchases
Sorting’s essential, especially if you need to put back any impulse purchases. Don’t put back any items you need unless you have too many, then give them to an associate to place back on the floor. After sorting, place them into your reusable bags, and ensure each bag has a name attached if they’re going to separate houses.
Grab the Priority Items First
It’s better to buy priority clothing items secondhand, especially if you need newborn clothes. They’re easier to clean and fun to style your little one in. Grabbing priority items first makes the shopping trip go by faster, and you become a smarter shopper.
Shopping at a kids’ consignment sale is loads of fun, but having some tips in mind is essential to control your spending. Only update the closet and playroom when needed, and try to stick to buying what’s on your “to-get” list first before buying anything else.
