Minimalist Thrifting Secrets

All right, we just got to the thrift store. We have a few things on our list, but what's number one on our list that we're looking for today? Swap pants. What did you guys just start doing? Taekwondo. Taekwondo. And so you guys both wore those pants last night to your first lesson, which was fine. They just wear regular clothes for their lessons, but we were hoping to find a little more athletic style clothes today, huh? So we're going to go first into our favorite thrift store, see what they have. And then if we have to go across the street to Goodwill, we'll do that too. I have a couple other things on my list. I know myself now, I have to go in with very specific things. Otherwise I still get caught up on all the stuff that's in there. So we're going to try and stick to the list and only get that stuff today. What do you think? Can we do it? Are you going to be distracted by the toys? Uh, yeah, but I'll get through it. It's bigger than you remember? Yeah. All right, let's go this way over to the clothes. Okay. Okay. So some very specific things that we're looking for are some athletic clothes for the boys to wear for Taekwondo class and for Maggie too, if we find it. She doesn't need it quite as much as they do. I'd also like to find another butter dish and then maybe like one piece of Easter decoration. We have no Easter decorations, I've realized. And so we'll just, we'll just look and see what they have. So I'll be honest, I'm still really careful about going into thrift stores because I am still susceptible to impulse buy in there because things are often really inexpensive. Like, I mean, luckily prices in some of the thrift stores have really crept up. So then I don't impulse buy as much, but man, I am still like dishware is my weakness. Cute little furniture. Those are big. I think you're in the XL. I think we had to come back this way. Corbin, Corbin right here. I don't do so much clothes anymore because I've just learned with that. But more like the housewares, that'll still get me. So even before we headed in, I was talking with the boys, I'm like, okay, like if you could each find two t-shirts and two pairs of like athletic style pants, then I think we'll be good. And then if something is a little too big or a little too small, we're just going to leave it there or not quite what you want. Cause I think that's the other thing that we've fallen into in the past too is kind of like, well, it's close, right? And then you think you're not going to find anything else or it's such a good deal. And so I kind of tried to set the scene of like, we're not going to settle. We're going to look stuff that fits well right now. And we like this thrift store because the prices are really reasonable. And we know that all the money they earn stays right in the community and they share it with different organizations and everything in the community. But mostly because it's inexpensive. Like you can still get t-shirts for a dollar, which a lot of thrift stores isn't even a thing anymore. And so I really appreciate that. So the first pair of sweatpants that Corbin found were $3, but they were literally brand new. And then the other pair he was looking at, I think were $4 and they were almost like brand new too. So I was totally fine paying those prices. And then the t-shirts they were looking at were like one and $2 each. So again, that's not bad at all. And I was just going to grab the stuff and head out, but Corbin wanted to try them on. So I was like, well, that's fine. I mean, that's very wise shopping, right? So he tried on the black sweatpants, but then he decided he didn't want to try it on the other ones. And then Gage had to get in on the action too if Corbin was trying something on and he had to try on as well. Now the other thing that I mentioned that I was looking for is a butter dish, because I've noticed that our butter dish doesn't get washed very often because when the butter runs out, there's just a little bit left. Someone puts a new stick in. And so my thought is if we have two butter dishes that when one starts to run out, that one can get used up and washed and just pull out the new one and put the stick in while the other one is going through the dishwasher or getting hand washed or whatever. So that's my thought. The only thing is I really like this butter dish that I got from Walmart that is more like the actual dish style. It'd be very hard for me to go back to a regular style butter dish. Although I did see this one from the Pioneer Woman at Walmart and it's only like $4.99 or $5.99. And even though it's still more traditional butter dish style, it has kind of a wide bottom to it that I think would still be okay. And it's just really pretty. And I think it would look nice sitting on our open shelves. What did you find? What is it? Oh, it's like a little treasure chest. How much is it? Do you want to spend your own money on it? Okay. You can get it then. Oh, look at this cake dome. Corbin, can you see how much that is? I'm going to think about that. So I'm trying to decide, like, should I just buy one at the thrift store or should I get this pretty one from Walmart or should I get one just like the one we already have? Because it really does work well. Only 98 cents. Oh, that's a good deal, huh? Yeah. I mean, this is super cute. Not really a practical size, but I don't know, there's something about the white that's really pretty. And I always like these little dishes too. Nothing you can actually do with them, but I always think they're so pretty. So I actually registered for a cake stand like this when we were first married and we got it for our wedding. And then when we were moving out of our first house, it broke. But I just, I like the kind of vintage style. I don't actually need it except, I don't know, I just think it's so pretty. It's $12.89 though. So I think this is one of those that we'll probably leave here and I'll think about it a little bit more. Well, not always. I don't see a single butter dish though. So I think we're going to check out and head over across the street now. Aren't these pretty too? I think they're really pretty as flower vases. They're kind of narrow as a cup. But there's four of them. I don't know if I can break up the set. $1.49. I'll have to come back. I have plans to grow a lot of cut flowers this year, so I feel like I'm going to need more things to put them in. I don't know if this is a common thing. Do you all put the butter in the microwave to soften it when it's cold out? Here in Minnesota, our butter, like a good chunk of the year, room temperature is not soft enough to spread on toast or whatever you're doing, right? Well, it's also because I keep the heat really low in our house, but people are constantly putting it in the microwave to soften it, which we've got a lot better at. It doesn't normally get totally melted in the bottom of the dish anymore, but it still is known to happen. So this style of dish works really well. Anyways, so that was my thought around finding another butter dish. But at this thrift store, I did not see a single butter dish, but man, all these cute little dishes, I just, I think they're so fun. And I'm like, Oh, that would look cute on our open shelves or I could decorate with that. But none of them are really practical and I don't actually need any baking or serving dishes. So the trick I play with myself is I'm just going to leave it here and if I really can't get it out of my mind, then I can come back and get it. This store isn't that far out of our way. And so I'm always trying to be like, let's just leave it at the store. And then if I really want it, then I'll come back and get it. So that usually seems to work and then I forget about it. You have to be in this one too, Gage. Okay, are you bombing every... All right, so we found two pairs of pants and a t-shirt for Corbin. Oh, Gage is pretty excited about his treasure box, huh? That's really neat. And then Gage got one t-shirt. We found one pair of shorts for Maggie and Corbin found a denim jacket for Maggie. It's brand new. It's Old Navy brand. And I think she's gonna love it. She's wanted a denim jacket, hasn't she? Good find, buddy. That was awesome. Thanks for thinking of her for that. Cause I didn't even cross my mind when I saw it. So thank you. And we spent, so we spent a total of $21. I didn't impulse buy the cake stand. I know it's here if I want to come back for it. We also saw some puzzles for Grandpa that we passed by too, but we can always come back, right? I think that's a good idea. All right, we're going to head across the street to the other thrift store now. So then we headed to Goodwill, which is just across the road. Two things I don't like about Goodwill anymore is that they actually took out the fitting rooms. There are no fitting rooms at this location. And the prices, $6.99 for a kid's shirt is just a lot to me, even if it is brand name or almost like new, like that's like $7. That's a lot, right? Oh, look at it. These are super cute. Oh, it's only $2.99. Oh, and it's a music box. Oh my. Oh, that's really cute. Look at the little bunny on the house. Oh, that's cute too, isn't it? That's cute. So we're pretty selective, but it seems to be that their pants are cheaper. I don't know. So we started out by looking for pants and stuff for the boys. Gage luckily found a pair of athletic style pants since we didn't find any at the other thrift store for him. And so he found a pair right away. And then Corbin, of course found a camouflage pair of athletic style pants. At first, I was like, buddy, you're literally wearing camel pants. We're looking for gym pants. And then he was like, no, mom, look. And then I'm like, oh, they're like starter brand athletic style pants. And so he was in love. So even though we had gotten two pairs for him at the other store, I was like, okay, we can get these too. And then he had found a t-shirt at the other one too. And then we looked at the t-shirts for Gage and we didn't really find anything that he really liked. So I was like, you know, let's not, if we don't love it, we're just not going to get anything here. And he probably is fine with the t-shirts he has at home. And really in the past I would have been like, oh wow, they're starting this new sport. They're going to go multiple times a week. They need a bunch of new clothes for it. And now I know they literally could have one or two pairs of pants. Like Gage would actually be fine with the same pair of pants for a while. And then we can just keep our eyes out for another pair. And so I really have a much better idea of how much inventory we actually need when it comes to kids' clothes and that kind of stuff. And then I did make a quick pass looking through for any kind of clothes for Maggie and I was finding nothing. So I don't know if it's the time of year, but there was just really not much for athletic style clothes for girls or boys at really either of the stores. And so it's fine. I think she has enough and she's kind of getting to the point too, where she likes to pick it out herself. Sometimes I can get away with it, but she's gotten a little particular. So probably it'd be good just to take her shopping too, to look for stuff. But there is another Goodwill that's not too much further from us and they, it's a much bigger store and they usually have a lot more inventory. And so probably we would just try to go to that one next time because at least I know now what's there and what isn't. And then we actually talked about toys before we went into the store, because I know at Goodwill the boys can get sucked into the toy aisle. And so we talked about our experience of buying toys at Goodwill because in the past, a lot of times I'd be like, it's fine if they spend a few dollars on a toy, I know they're probably not going to play with it long and they'll probably just end up getting donated back to Goodwill. Right? And like, but even if it keeps them occupied for a couple of days, then it's worth it. But now that they're older, they're eight and 10, we talked about how the toys that they've gotten there in the past haven't lasted, or they're not the ones that they keep over the long run. And we just went through their bedrooms. And so we talked about how it's their Legos and their RC cars that they really enjoy playing with now. And so unless we saw something like that that would go along with those two things and that they wanted to spend their own money, that we would probably leave the toys at the store. They did wear me down though for getting a treat, but it's consumable. So I was like, okay, I'm fine with that. So then I did also look for butter dishes at Goodwill. I knew they would have some. I found this white one, but I'm like, $4.99? I would just get the pretty one from Walmart then. And I go back and forth cause I'm like, I don't want to always buy new inventory and bring more inventory into the world. But I'm also like, well, for $4.99, that just seemed like a lot for a used plain white butter dish, right? Then I found another white one. I actually had that other white one. Maybe it's the one I donated. It was many years ago. When I first became a minimalist, I got all the white dishes at Ikea. I had everything white. And it was kind of when the white stuff was coming in style too. And then when we moved into this house, I was like, I need color. And so I donated the white dish. And, um, I mean, the one I have now is white, but it's, it's because of how it functions or whatever. Um, so I saw that one and I'm like, no, I can't. Um, and then there was this other cute one that was more the dish style, but it didn't have a lid. And I really do like to have a lid on it. Otherwise random things fall into it, right? And so no luck with the butter dishes at Goodwill, but that is totally fine. I really like these black pots, but I don't know. 15 inch round, $8.99. I just, I don't know if that's a good deal or not. So we'll leave them here and then maybe we'll just think about it and come back for them. I like the cat back there. Isn't that cute? Oh, that's cute too. Yeah. Isn't this cute, Gage? So then we checked out and headed home. The boys were very excited to get their new clothes washed and then so they can wear them tonight. And we do, we do a mixture. I would say like 90% of their clothes are secondhand. They're either hand-me-downs, which we're always so grateful for or from garage sales or thrift stores. And you know, we fill in a few pieces with new stuff once in a while. So they do still get to once in a while pick out new stuff. But mostly it's secondhand and it doesn't really bother them. I mean, they have just as much fun going to Goodwill as if we would've went to Target or Walmart. And so I'm really glad for that. But I think often about how can I help my kids manage inventory as they get older, especially now that they have their own money and they can buy their own things. And I mean, my kids are still like yours. We go into a store and they're like, Oh, this is so cool. Can I have that? Can I have this? Can I go on Amazon? Can I look at something? And so there's two things that have been really helpful. One is that my friend Dawn had said that their family does a buying day once a month. So it's not like we can go shopping all the time or go on Amazon all the time. It's set for once a month. So we've kind of split it up because they want to look beforehand before they actually buy. So they can look once a week, like if they want to look at something online, like on Amazon or something, and then we buy once a month. So they can put it in the cart, they can let it sit there, but we only buy once a month. I mean, we also add in some others, like after Christmas or after a birthday, if they have extra money that they want to spend. So it ends up being a little more frequent than that. Or when we're on vacation, they can bring their own money and they can buy souvenirs or whatever if they want to. But kind of roughly we do that. And that has made a huge difference because otherwise I felt like every time we went to a store, they were like, well, can I buy this? And I'm like, I have money. And I'm like, I know you have money, but I don't want you to make an impulse decision. And so I'll be like, Hey, I will take a picture of it and you can think about it. And then on buying day, if we want to come back and get it, we can totally do that. And in the beginning they'd be like, well, but you'll forget about it or we'll forget about it. And I'm like, no, I have a picture. And they do forget about it though, right? I mean, it's pretty rare that we go back and get something from a store that they've seen previously. But if they do, then that's good, right? That means they've really been thinking about it and they really want it. And then the other thing I've thought a lot about, like knowing that they're living, like they're growing up in this world where you can have Amazon. I mean, some of you live in areas where you can have Amazon the same day. Like Diana was like, Oh my goodness, I just ordered Amazon this morning and it came this afternoon, right? We don't have, we're still two-day where we live, which even that is too soon. I try to make myself wait for the prime day once a week or whatever. Oh my goodness. But I'm very aware that our kids are growing up in this world. Like we didn't grow up in it, right? Like this is new to us, but they are growing up where everything is at their fingertips. And I'm like, how do I help them navigate this? And to make wise decisions and to not fall into consumerism, you know, just for the dopamine rush to feel good and to buy things and all of that. And so what I've really come to is that, you know, really, I mean for all of us, it's like, well, if you can afford it, you can get it. Now we talk about when they get money that comes in, we talk about, you know, giving and saving and then having an amount that you can spend. So we're trying to help them have it go into these different categories, right? But you are allowed to have spending money, right? As adults, we get spending money, you know? And so it's like, well, if you have your amount of spending money and you want to spend it on something, then that's okay, right? If we're not, you know, you're not going into debt for it or whatever, then you get to decide that. And I've shared this before, but I decided if my kids want to buy stuff from the dollar store, I let them. Was most of it not good quality and it would break and they would lose interest? Yes. But I wanted them to have that experience. They don't really ask to go to the dollar store anymore. Now they'll go to Five Below and then we have a similar experience, right? And we'll talk about like, Oh, did that stuff last or what are you noticing about quality and how long things last? And also not even just that, how much fun did you have with that? You know, a lot of times we'll talk about this. A lot of times we'll get something and it's really fun right away. And then it's not really so much fun anymore. And helping them to recognize that so then when they're in the store, they can think through past experiences and I'll sometimes help jog their memory like, Oh, remember Corbin, you bought that remote control helicopter at Five Below before and it only lasted one day before it broke and you were really bummed out about that. So do you think it would be a good idea to buy that again? And guess what he did? He bought it again. And that's fine, right? Like that's his experience to have. I'm just here to guide and help ask questions. But ultimately he gets to learn and have these experiences. And I don't want to deprive them of that, you know, and be like, Oh, you only buy things that are good quality and you only buy, you know, whatever. So I do want them to have those experiences. And then I guess a third thing is we still have them use cash. So a lot of times they would be like, Oh mom, will you just pay for it and then I'll pay you when we get back home. But I've learned, I mean, you've probably heard if you've done budgeting stuff and everything that like, there has to be that value exchange. Like they have to feel the pain of losing their money. And I know there's like debit cards and things for kids now, but I just wonder if it doesn't create enough of the experience of losing something, right? If it's not really real enough. So I don't know, at least for us for right now, I'm really committed to having them use cash, but it also helps us stick to our one buying day. Cause I'm like, Oh, well you don't have your money with. And as I'm saying this though, I just realized that I let Gage buy that little treasure box. And I told him that he could pay me back when we got home. It was only $2.49. So I think that's why. If it would have been a higher dollar item, a lot of times the kids would be like, Oh wow, could you just pay for it and I'll pay you back when we get home? And most often, unless I'm like, Oh, I know that's a deal we can't pass up. I'm like, no, we'll just come back and get it on buying day or whatever. And something that stood out to me a while back, my brother, who's, I mean, he's 38, right? But he, it was so wise when he said, he's like, I'm realizing there's very few emergencies in life. And stores are so good at making us feel like, Oh my goodness, there's only one and it's such a great deal and you'll never get it again. And the truth is that it doesn't usually happen that way. And so I also want to teach them that, hey, we can think about something and come back nine out of 10 times, it's still going to be there. If I decide I really want that cake stand with a glass lid, most likely it's still going to be there if I go back for it. And if it's not, then what do we say? Oh, it's a sign. I don't know if it actually is a sign, but I'm trying to teach them to be kind of open-handed with this stuff as well of like, there's very few emergencies. We can come back, it's okay. Or we can find that deal again another time. Sales run on a pretty regular cycle, but again, it's not always easy in the moment when they are so excited about something, but I've really tried to be consistent with that. And now they're learning. They're like, I know, I know, we can come back on buying day. So those are some of the things that we do to kind of navigate this, but it is constantly evolving. And our kids are eight through 13 right now. And man, they actually, they kind of get a lot of money in between birthdays and holidays and different things. And they can earn money when they go to Nana's and that kind of stuff. And so I was just like, wow, this is just like, it just starts to be a lot to manage and to help them manage. So yeah, I don't know. I don't know if this is the right way to do it. And so I'm like, well, I'm still tempted to impulse buy when I go to a thrift store, right? And so I know myself. And I tell them this, I'm like, I really try not to go to thrift stores very frequently. And Corbin's like, yeah, Mom, when we got back in the car, he was like, yeah, I saw you really looking at those dishes. And so I'm like, yeah. I'm like, it's probably good if we just go once in a while, right? And he's like, yeah, I think that's a good idea. So anyways, I think it's just good to talk it out, to let our kids know we make mistakes too, that it happens. It's always going to happen. There's nothing wrong with it. We just can use that information then to help make decisions in the future too. So anyways, which butter dish should I get? I am really torn. Do I get the pretty one? Do I get the white dish style like we already have? Or do I go back to Goodwill and get one of those so that I'm making use of something that's secondhand and not buying something new? All right, those are the three options. You let me know what you think and which one you would do. Also, I do want to remind you that we are selling our Minimalism by the Numbers, our new worksheets for how many numbers of each thing we have in our minimalist home. Every single penny that comes in is going to the Casa Shalom Orphanage down in Guatemala. And so we want to help them be able to reach more kids. So you can find details for that down below. All right, well, I love you. I hope you have a really good day and I'll see you again soon.