If you know me, you know that I love thrift stores, flea markets, and swap meets. Something is so satisfying when you find a really good deal. Thrift shopping isn't for everyone, but don't mind me while I'm rocking the same adorable purse as you, but I got it 3X less than what you paid.
When I go thrifting, I try to look for certain pieces or colors to make it easier to actually have a successful trip! If you have no idea what you're looking for before you walk in those doors, you'll quickly get overwhelmed with going through an endless amount of options. Or if you're anything like me, and don't set a boundary, you'll spend way too much money. Normally I look through the jeans, specifically looking for vintage high-wasted jeans, just because that's the style I like. The brands I look out for are Levi's, Calvin Klein's, Lee's, and Tommy Hilfiger, but sometimes the coolest pairs are brands that I've never even heard of. Of course not every pair you find will be your size, which is always sad but that's life. Don't forget to look in the men's section either, I have found some of my favorite pairs there, and only very few pairs in the women's section.
I've even acquired a cool new tip while looking for jeans/shorts without trying them on, take the waist of the jeans and wrap them around your neck, if they fit with maybe just a little wiggle room they are about your size! A few more items I always look for are t-shirts, sweaters/cardigans, and like I said earlier, purses! Depending on the thrift stores you go to, most have a little show case or certain area for the name brand items they have, I always find pretty decent things in there for cheap. There are a couple different things I look for when I find something I like, I watch out for stains, rips, stretching, discoloring, and holes. I also try to imagine 5 different ways I could style the piece, if I can't then it goes back on the rack. Although I try to sound stern, there has been things that I just could't live without at the time, and have only worn them once to this day. So I strongly encourage you to stand by this rule!
Fully depending on each pair of jeans I buy, I either leave them as jeans, or I cut them into shorts. I usually distress them quite a bit to make them look a bit more grungy and unique. If you know me, you know that I really love my cut off shorts, but there is nothing better than finding a vintage pair of jeans that fit you perfectly in all the right places. At that point, it's kind of hard to cut them!
On this trip, I went to Goodwill and Plato's Closet. At Goodwill I found a cool cheese board, a record, black leather booties, a perfect pair of Lucky jeans, and a mirrored box. From Plato's I brought home the most adorable plaid skirt, pink suede booties, and a long black dress.