thrift shopping as a frugal minimalist | my thrifting dos and don’ts + shopping vlog 🛒

In this video, I thought it would be fun to take you along with me while I go thrifting as a frugal minimalist. So I know that thrifting has become kind of trendy but I think sometimes it's for the wrong reasons and I just wanted to highlight in this video like how you can enjoy thrift shopping and not turn it into a consumerist affair. So before we head out and meet my friend Rania for a day of thrifting, I wanted to share the rules that I follow when I thrift shopping. So the first one is that I always bring something with me to donate every time I go thrifting. So today I think it's going to be a book that I didn't love and maybe this skirt that I got in Sweden and never wear. I think it's really important to do that because if you're trying to live more minimally, it's like the one in one out rule so you're not bringing in more things without getting rid of some things. And then from a frugal perspective, a lot of places when you bring things to donate, they'll give you a coupon that can go towards your future purchases so it makes the shopping experience a little bit more budget friendly. And then my second rule is that I will not buy anything that I can't try on. So a lot of thrift shops lately, they don't have like fitting rooms anymore so it makes it a little bit more tricky when you're thrift shopping to try things on. I prefer to go to places that still have fitting rooms but when that's not possible, I'll wear like leggings and a tank top so I'm able to try things on over my clothes. But I've gotten into trouble before where I've fully committed to thrifting like a cart full of stuff to try on and then realizing that there's no fitting room and then trying to you know try things on over my jeans, getting home and realizing that they don't fit perfectly. So yeah, second rule is always try things on. And my third rule is to stick with a budget. I feel like when you're thrift shopping, you can get like fear of missing out and feeling like if you find something, you have to buy it. For me, that's definitely the case often when I'm thrifting. Like you never know what treasures you're gonna find and like it can feel tempting to just spend as much as you want on these things. But I like to go in with a specific budget. So today, I think my budget will be $40 to $50 maximum and I'm taking that out of my restaurants and entertainment budget category. And my last rule, rule number four, I need my iPad for. So it's to have a thrifting wish list. I think that when you're thrifting, it's like like I said, you never know what kind of treasures you're going to find and it's so easy to get carried away. But if you have a wish list, it kind of like keeps you in the right direction. You don't come home with things that you impulsively purchased and it just makes it a better experience with less regrets and less waste. And also just like you can stick with your budget easier. So today, which I know I'm not going to get everything on this list for $40 to $50, but my thrift wish list includes a cute French romance novel. I'm trying to read more French books. So I kind of feel like having a fun like beach read for the summer would get me to read more in French. The first Harry Potter book in the, I think it's like the first edition, at least in North America, you know, the classic one with like, it's kind of like color blocked. So I have all of Harry Potter books, just not the first one. So I really want to find the first one in hardcover. The next one is the book, Le Petit Prince in French. I had that before. I love that book so much. I actually have a tattoo of it. I got this when I was 18, when I was actually still a French major in university, but I don't have the book and I'd really love to have it again. The next one is a Buttercroc. So I really wanted the Le Creuset Buttercroc, but it's like $40 and that does not align with my spending goals at the moment. So I'd love to find a Buttercroc. A vintage teacup. I drink my tea out of my coffee mugs and I just feel like if I could find a teacup for like a dollar, it would kind of elevate my tea experience. Okay. The next one is a sleeveless turtleneck or mock neck. I love turtlenecks. I find that they're really flattering on me and I love to have a sleeveless one for the summer. The next one is a leather blazer. I find that leather sometimes makes me look washed out and I'm not sure why. So I would love to find just like the unicorn leather blazer that makes me feel like Olivia Benson from Law and Order. We'll see. It's so weird because it's like almost June, but the weather in Montreal is still like you could definitely get away with a leather blazer, especially at night. So we'll see. And then also a small gilded frame. I want a tiny piece of art for my bathroom, so I'll see if I can find something small for like less than $10. And then finally, this one's kind of like pie in the sky, but I'd love to find checkered van slip-ons. I've wanted those for like probably 10 years at this point and I've just never gotten them. I don't know why. Even when I was in my like really spendy era, I never bothered picking up a pair of vans. So if we find them one day, maybe today, maybe some other time in the rest of the summer thrifting experience, we will get them. But yeah, that's what's on my thrift wish list. My friend Rania also has a thrift wish list. She's also like subscribing to the budget-friendly kind of like debt payoff mode. So I think we'll be a good match for thrifting today and I'm really excited to bring you along. So we're gonna get ready. We're gonna have another coffee. We're gonna collect the things that I'm going to donate and then we'll take the metro out to the plateau and get thrifting. So let's go. All right, so I'm almost ready to go. I'm gonna bring my trusty backpack. I think- I hope that I don't get stopped like going into stores with it, but I just find when I bring a bag, it like makes my shoulder hurt too much. So we're gonna pack the backpack and head out. So this is the book that I'm gonna bring to donate. I wanted to love this book, but I just didn't. So we're gonna pass it along. And this was the skirt I was thinking about donating. I got it in Sweden from a thrift store a couple of years ago. I only wore it once. It was like to a Christmas- a little Christmas dinner thing. But I don't know, it's cute and it reminds me of my time in Sweden, so I'll think about it. And then the last thing that I'm bringing is a Larabar. I think that Rania and I will probably stop for a coffee at some point, but I don't want to get hungry and buy a snack, so I'm just gonna throw these- one of these into my bag and it'll tide me over. All right, so let's head out. Okay, I just got home. Honestly, it was not the most successful thrifting trip that I've ever had. I feel like Rania and I have had more success going to like one thrift shop in a different neighborhood than this one, where we went to like five. But let me show you what I got. Oh, hi buddy. Okay, Ollie is more excited. Okay, so at the first one, I found a copy of Le Petit Prince. It was $3.25. It's in pretty good condition. It's so cute. There's a little inscription, but I'm very happy to have this. I love that all of the illustrations are in color. So this was a win, something that was definitely on my list. And then from the other thrift shop we went to, so this one was from Renaissance, which is like a pretty popular chain here in Quebec. This little mini haul is from Eco Depot, which has I guess become another chain. I thought that they only had a location like in Lachine, which is kind of the suburbs, but I guess they've So my total was $5.17. And I bought Confessions of a Shopaholic, but in French. I realized that it's actually a lot harder than I thought shopping for French beach reads, because I don't really know. I didn't do any research on French authors in that space. So I don't know, I loved reading this in English and I know it's like a translated version and it will be set in the UK, but I thought it would be fun. And then I got this shirt. So it says it was $4.99, but I must've been on sale because the total was $5 for the book and the shirt. So it's not a turtleneck or a mock neck, but it kind of is in a way. It's like a v-neck, but it has this interesting kind of like strap thing at the top that like sits like a turtleneck would. So I'm happy with that. Good summer t-shirt. The brand is never heard of this, streetwear society. But anyway, it's cute. Yeah, that's the entire haul. Rania had some luck with books that were on her wishlist, but in general, it was just like, I don't know. It was a B minus thrift day, but we had fun. We went to a cafe after and we caught up and it was nice. It was so sunny today in Montreal, so that's nice. But yeah, so that's the haul. That's the thrifting rules. If you made it this far in the video, thank you so much for watching, and I will see you in the next one. Bye!