Decluttering Part 3: Garage Sales and Thrift Stores

One of my favorite things to do with my sisters is to go to garage sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. It is like a treasure hunt! We usually spend an entire Saturday perusing other people's junk to find a few items that we love!

(My husband does not like this hobby; he thinks that I am going to bring home bedbugs or some such thing. I respect this opinion and stick mostly to hard-surface purchases rather than upholstered items and non-machine washable clothes. I also clean the items very well before integrating them into my home.)

Over the years, my sisters and I have become masters at finding good deals, haggling prices, and filtering out the junk. The thing to remember with second-hand shopping is that some of the stuff IS junk. You cannot lower your quality standards just becuase it is second hand. This is especially true when buying clothes second hand. If you buy a pair of pants at a garage sale that only looks good becuase it is next to a pair of stained, high-waisted pants from the 1940s, you are not getting a deal. A chipped mug is still a chipped mug, even if it only costs you a quarter.

Ways to avoid filling your house with garage sale clutter:
1. Keep your standards high. Only purchase items that are like new.
2. Spend only what your first instinct says to spend. Decide what an item is worth before you start haggling. Under (almost) no circumstance should you pay more than that original price.
3. Decide what you are going to do with an item before you buy it. If there is not a place in your home for a beautiful armoire, do not buy it.
4. When your car is full, go home.
5. Take a coffee break mid-day. This will help you regroup and recalibrate your standards. It will also give you and your shopping buddies some time to discuss the items you have already purchased. You may even find that you have bought enough for the day.