Thrifting for Home Decor: 3 Questions I Ask Before Making a Purchase
Today I will be sharing how my approach to thrifting for home decor has changed and how I now shop with more intention for my home!
I have always loved home design. Even as a young girl, I would cut apart home decor magazines and paste them together to create spaces I loved. I dreamed of having a home of my own to make beautiful, and that dream came true more than ten years ago when my husband, Mike, and I purchased my childhood dream home. We were two young kids with no money and a big dream, so thrifting for home decor quickly became my favorite way to decorate our home.
My style has evolved so much since those first few years, but so has my approach to thrifting for home decor. I had a new home to fill with furniture and decor, and I would often walk into a thrift store with no real plan other than to see what I could find. If something was inexpensive, beautiful, or vintage, it would go straight into my cart without much thought about where it would go or whether I actually needed it. Over the years, as I accumulated more and more decor, I quickly realized that just because I loved something didn’t mean my home needed it.
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Why I Changed How I Thrift
I love thrifting for home decor. There’s something so fun about finding something beautiful and unique at a great price. But I’ve also learned that even beautiful pieces can become clutter when they don’t have a place in your home.
Now, don’t get me wrong – every once in a while, I’ll come across a piece that I absolutely love and is such a great deal that I’ll buy it even if I don’t have a place for it just yet. For the most part, though, I try to exercise a little more restraint with the things I know I don’t need and don’t have a place for.
How I Thrift for Home Decor Now
My approach to thrifting for home decor now begins with three questions I try to ask myself before making a purchase:
- Where will this go?
- Do I actually need it?
- Would I buy it if it weren’t a bargain?
It’s certainly okay not to know exactly where a piece is going to go, but the general idea is to make sure you actually need and will use whatever you’re purchasing. I love going thrifting just for the fun of it, but more often than not, I try to have a plan for what I’m looking for so I can avoid unnecessary purchases. I’ve left a thrift store empty-handed many times simply because I didn’t find what I was looking for, and I’ve learned that’s okay too. Sometimes, the best thing you can bring home is nothing at all.
Thrifting With Intention
In the past, I bought so many things I didn’t need simply because I thought they were pretty and a good deal. I ended up bringing home pieces I never used that eventually sat in my basement collecting dust because I had such a hard time passing up a bargain. I’ve learned that thrifting with intention can actually be so much more enjoyable because you’re finding things you both love and will truly use.
A great way to get an idea of what to look for when thrifting is to spend some time on Pinterest, home decor blogs, or in magazines to identify your style and the types of pieces that complement it. Having a general idea of what you’re looking for can help you avoid unnecessary purchases and make searching for specific items much easier. It can feel overwhelming to walk into a thrift store with no clear idea of where to start or what you want.
Even though I thrift with intention now, I still find unexpected treasures that I love and bring home with me. The goal is to find the right piece, not simply a good deal. So, if you go into a thrift store hoping to find a hanging basket but come home with the basket and a beautiful piece of copper that you know you’ll love displaying in your kitchen, that’s totally fine! It’s all about finding things you love that have a place in your home.
I’m a huge advocate for thrifting for home decor, and I still love the thrill of finding something special at a great price. Just make sure you’re thrifting with intention so you can avoid some of the mistakes I made when I first began my home decorating journey. Do you thrift with intention? I’d love to hear about your approach in the comments below, and be sure to sign up for my free mini homemaking course for more home decor tips!
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