I took some time last week to have a friend tag along with me at my local thrift store. Hopefully you’ll find some great ideas and tips with this video. (Also be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you never have to miss or delay the viewing of our educational videos. We’ve got several more that we are in the process of editing now. One thing that I’d appreciate you NOT saying is “my thrift store’s too expensive” or “there aren’t any thrift stores in my area” etc. (I really don’t handle negativity or the whole “I can’t because…” conversations.) In my world, the maximum effective range of an excuse is 0 meters. *grin* 
Maximum Effective Range of an Excuse 2013 Copyright Protected Preparedness Pro
I’ve long ago learned what the whole “I can’t” talk really does in thwarting accomplishments, endurance, and creativity. That being said, another reason to avoid the whole “I can’t” mayor of Bummersville is that thrift stores aren’t the ONLY way you can accomplish this kind of prepping on a shoe-string budget. There are flea markets, garage sales, swap meets, classified ads, Craigslist.com, freecycle.com and so much more, not to mention the amazing options that are available in the world of couponing. Besides, if I lived in an area that had no thrift store, you can bet I’d behave in accordance to my mantra “If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em!” and thus open my OWN thrift store. Not only do thrift stores help you to get what you need cheaply, but they can also be great sources of income.
So, spend the 12 minutes checking out the video, implement what you can, and figure out how you CAN implement other ideas that come to mind. There are literally junk millionaires all over this nation simply because a person said “how can I?” and solved their problem with a little ingenuity. I’m sure that NO one is the exception to that kind of sweet reward in this nation. Other articles which discuss thrift store success and strategies: Feet Don’t Fail Me Now & Thrift Store Success: Preparedness Supplies for Cheap Here’s to your peaceful preparedness.
35 Comments
Dorey · April 2, 2013 at 3:23 am
Love the thrift store video! Have you considered stretching this into an e-book that you could offer in your store? You mentioned brands in regards to boots, china, etc…but you didn’t actually NAME the brands. I admit that I am not a brand kinda girl so I am abit behind in the game. I would love to purchase an ebook that gives more solid hints.
Kellene Bishop · April 2, 2013 at 9:49 am
I’ll put it on the list of great ideas. Thanks, Dorey.
Carrie · April 2, 2013 at 3:47 am
That is a beautiful store! I love shopping at thrift and antique stores and getting bargains. In my area I have found really nice inexpensive kitchen items at my favorite antique store for really good prices. I love finding old American made thermoses or pieces of china. I have gotten so many nice pet dishes in those stores that were older and not from China.
We even shop the clearance isle when we need a new appliance at the local hardware chain. You can get a huge reduction on an item that may have a dent, etc.
It’s so much fun to save money!
Lise Silverwolf · April 2, 2013 at 5:42 am
OMG! I “can’t” believe it! (LOL) I thought I was the only one who ‘locked in’ my purse to my carts! Everyone always asks me what the heck I’m doing & had never heard of doing that until I tell them!
As for the thrift shops – LOVE them! They are such a treasure trove, I agree! Our thrift shops are a bit on the pricey side, but there are always deals to be had if one searches & know prices. 🙂 Great video!
Jan from Canada · April 2, 2013 at 6:06 am
Thanks again, Kellene. Although I have made some excellent purchases (heavy real wool blanket – $5.00, etc.) at my thrift store, you’ve given me a new way of looking at things. I can hardly wait until my next trip to the city where I’ll browse the WHOLE store in case there’s something I can use in my preps.
chris · April 2, 2013 at 11:31 am
In some areas the thift stores have a monthly 1/2 off sale so you can get it even cheaper at the end of the month. Happy Happy Joy Joy!
Sakura · April 2, 2013 at 2:00 pm
I love shopping thrift stores. One suggestion I have is if you don’t like one that is close to you try one a few miles away.
Don’t forget you can get great home items, and a can of spray paint can make a world of difference on most things.
I love that you incorporated selling items you might find there. I had a friend who bought and sold items from a thrift store last year because she wanted to get a Dyson vacuum without paying for it herself. After about 4 months she had enough to purchase one. Great post! Thanks
Pamela Shroyer · April 2, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Great video! I love all your ideas!
Marcie · April 2, 2013 at 3:37 pm
You mentioned an app to price books, which one do you use?
Thanks!
Kellene Bishop · April 2, 2013 at 6:33 pm
I don’t. Others do.
Connie · April 2, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Great tips! I believe I’ll post a link to this on my preparedness blog…
I’ve purchased a lot of wonderful things at our local thrift stores, among them recently: a fleece sheet set from which I made sleeping bag liners and small pillow covers, a duvet from which I made three sleeping bag liners, another fleece set from which I made a Wonder Oven, a number of tops to go into my bug-out-bag, a number of blue T-shirts (these topped up my collection of blue T-shirts, black T-shirts, white T-shirts and red T-shirts that my husband had as work uniforms over the years)–to finish making colour-coded “family cloths”, binders to hold recipe and information collections, Corelle-ware to top up my dish collection, BBQ utensils for cooking over open fires, curtains to re-make to fit my renovated basement.
Loved the idea of buying to re-sell! Gotta sic my son on that one!
Kellene Bishop · April 2, 2013 at 6:33 pm
Great ideas! Thanks!! (Sad to say though, I can’t sew anything to save my life, but I AM going to learn this year!! *grin*)
Barbara · April 2, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Kellene, you are amazing, adorable and incredibly generous! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing all your infinite wisdom. You could make a fortune selling all your advice, but instead you choose to help others with it. Loved the video and it really made me think differently about thrift stores. Good Will here I come! 😉 Take care.
Donnella · April 3, 2013 at 1:00 am
Great video tutorial. Thanks Kellene.
Carolyn Hawk · April 3, 2013 at 11:30 am
There are wonderful thrift stores in my area from which I have purchased many household goodies,but in the summer,garage sales have netted me the best bargains.My latest passion however( based on a tip from my neighbor) is estate sales. There is a website EstateSales.net that will email you all the upcoming sales in your area every week. Usually on the second or third day of the sale everything is half off.
Cheryl O. · April 3, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Up here in northern Wisconsin the Amish have a lot of little stores they call “Bent -and -Dents”. I got 3 bags of Riceland rice, 20# each, for $3 apiece. No tears in the bags or anything. I considered that the bargain of the year for me, so far.
Great video, as all have been that I’ve seen so far. I like the fact it’s totally reality based, not staged. Thanks.
Pam · April 3, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Where do you sign up for the video part? You do great things THANKS!
Kellene Bishop · April 3, 2013 at 6:36 pm
you actually go to your YouTube.com/preparednesspro site and “subscribe” to be notified when a new video is posted. Glad you enjoyed it!!
Steph · April 3, 2013 at 5:38 pm
Where do you put the stuff once you get a great deal on it? This is my biggest personal roadblock. I know you have written a few posts on storage in small spaces but do you maybe have some pictures of people’s small but prepared homes and small apartments? You mentioned that you lived in a small apartment and had many preparedness supplies but I don’t see how! Also, have you written any posts on what/how to be prepared in your car? Thank you!
stacy · April 5, 2013 at 4:43 pm
I love thrift stores! I’m eagerly awaiting a new Goodwill opening nearby. I also love Freecycle. I’ve gotten some fantastic deals there. One thing I’ve noticed is that it’s gotten harder in the past couple years to find good deals in my area. There used to be a stigma in my area to thrifting…not so anymore. Do you by chance know the name of the app for scanning books, etc.?
Stealth Spaniel · April 6, 2013 at 5:32 pm
Great video. I adore thrift stores. I have managed to convert a friend who “only” shopped at Macy’s or Nordstrom’s, when she saw the great clothes I could pick up. I don’t mean cheap stuff, I’m talking Chico’s and Coldwater Creek. Last weekend, I got a Thomasville nightstand for $15 plus they gave me “points” to use on my next purchase! A church thrift store sold me a Sur La Table platter which originally sold for $275 for $20. Not a chip, a crack, nothing!
Like you, I clean/wash/dry clean when I get them home. I have never had a problem with any vermin. Thrift stores rock-where else can I have hours of fun for less than $50?
carolyn · April 7, 2013 at 3:52 am
Stopped by a Goodwill thrift store today. Didn’t look in the shoe area because there were 4 families with children in tow already in the small area. They probably needed shoes more than I did today. Purchased a short sleeve top for myself (classy enough for work and only $3.99!) and a new wallet ($1.99). They had a few canning jars but I already have a huge supply from an estate sale (yep, bought all the boxes of them I could) but not much else. Had fun going through the store with a slightly different mind set after watching your video. Really want to go back to Kansas City and do a thrift store shopping shopping day (DAV, Savers, Goodwill, a Catholic charity store, another store similar to the Catholic one, a Re-Store (supports Habitat for Humanity) all of which were about 10-20 min from my old home…Plus 3 others if I wanted to travel just a bit further. Then over to my daughters with a large Re-Store with great pricing (place to look for carpet squares, tile, cabinets, doors, hardware for cabinets, lighting fixtures. etc…This one had old lobby furniture last time I was there asl well as a lot of appliances… Never know what you will find.)
Thank you for the tips and love your fun attitude as well.
Sarah · April 8, 2013 at 10:15 pm
If you want some help learning, I’d be happy to help you. I love sewing with others because it helps get me off my butt to finish projects. I graduated in home and family living from byu, and took all but the tailoring class, so I’m pretty qualified, especially if you want the whys behind some of the techniques. Let me know.
Kellene Bishop · April 8, 2013 at 10:25 pm
Thanks, Sarah! I literally JUST bit the bullet and signed up for a formal sewing class (as I tend to do better in a formal setting) but once I get a little bit of info under my belt for the basics, watch out! LOL I’ll try to sew the world and you’re talent would be MOST helpful. Thanks!
Jamie · April 9, 2013 at 12:56 am
Mom and I cleaned out many small appliances at the local thrift store. We have a couple of kids wanting to bake bread and snatched up a couple of bread makers. Not perfect but a start!
Mary · April 11, 2013 at 9:40 pm
I can still get clothing reasonably at our local Goodwill store but have problems with anything else useful. The problem is they mark everything up sky-high. Last year I got plenty of canning jars for .49, but now they’ve marked them up to 1.99 a jar. All of the other cooking items are also at least comparable to the price of new items. I guess I’ll have to hit the rummage sales instead.
PrepperGirl · April 13, 2013 at 10:02 pm
I. LOVE. THRIFT STORES!!!! I just hit my local a few days ago and for about the price of a pair of levis i got hubby some jeans, some craft supplies, a pretty top for me, and *drumroll* brand new still with tags silicone muffin liners and heart molds!!! Happy Dance!!
BTW i liked your top in this vid 😀
Louise Gainor · April 14, 2013 at 2:53 am
So I went to the Last Chance Goodwill today and scored a bunch of canning jars….at the Last Chance! How does it happen that they didn’t sell in whatever Goodwill they were in and made it here?! I also got two food grinders, the big cast iron ones with the crank (probably will sell them on e-Bay), lots of fleece (they have tons of Snuggies), and two backpacks to set up 72-hour kits for my two kids that no longer live at home in case they are home when SHTF.
Thanks for the ideas, Kellene! You are a much loved person in our house and you don’t even know us!
Kellene Bishop · April 15, 2013 at 9:24 pm
I confess; I’m totally jealous right now. hee hee. I can understand why there are so many jars. In areas outside of heavy Mormon or Amish et al influence, anything that has to do with methods of old just aren’t popular.
Patti Ba!ge · April 28, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Thanks for the tip on making sleeping bag liners with fleece sets. Great idea
Wendy Wilson · May 10, 2013 at 3:36 pm
Kellene,
Thanks so much for your site and your thrift store video. I just started the process of getting my food storage and emergency supplies ready. I have hit 3 thrift stores in the last few days and found many awesome things. Lots of canning jars, lots of storage containers for keeping my supplies organized, mess kit pots for cooking, hand made crocheted blankets and a small BBQ grill brand new in the box great for cooking with no power. I really found lots of great stuff for very little money. Thanks for showing me the joys of thrift stores. 😉
Kellene Bishop · May 11, 2013 at 2:00 am
Allow me to join you in a happy dance moment in celebration of your finds! 🙂
Karen · May 14, 2013 at 9:01 pm
Thank you! I have been going to thrift stores for years but never with a prepper mindset and looking for things I could re-sell for more. I am so glad I frequented the ones in my are again, I found a heavy duty pro line kitchen aid mixer (missing bowl and attachments but I can find it cheap online) for $1.91! Whoever did the pricing that day- God bless them! 😉 Great video, thanks. Now I buckle my purse in too.. genius!
Caitlin · December 11, 2014 at 4:19 pm
I watched your video a little
I watched your video a little while ago and have been on the look out for some of your prep ideas. I love thrifting, but I knew there were valuable things I just wasn’t thinking of…your video mentioned some. I’ve been paying special attention to any manual kitchen tools and I was thrilled when I found my own manual food processor for 6 bucks! It’s something I never would have picked up before, but it now happily lives with my other preps 🙂
Preparedness Pro · December 12, 2014 at 7:08 pm
Yay! Posts like these make me
Yay! Posts like these make me do the Happy Dance!!
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