The Best Time Of Year To Visit Thrift Stores For The Best Finds

Shopping thrift stores and other secondhand venues can be a great thing to do all year long, especially if you love saving money and finding interesting new-to-you or vintage pieces for your home. It can also be a more eco-friendly way to shop for décor, keeping secondhand items from the landfills and giving them another round of use. Thrifting, antiquing, and scouring venues like flea markets, estate sales, and garage sales are popular activities in the summer when the weather is prime — you may have more options for these kinds of sales, which gives you more chances to find treasures. However, there may be another season that can yield even more treasures while thrifting at secondhand stores like Goodwill, the Salvation Army Store, and Savers. January can be one of the best times to score secondhand items — that's when the shelves are stocked full of items donated as the year ends.

Hitting up the thrift stores in January and February, just after the holidays, can be a great way to get first dibs on all the things people have been donating at the end of the year. That's the time when many people declutter, purge, and haul out older pieces to make room for new additions from the holiday season. This means the aisles of your local shop may be overflowing with even more offerings in home décor than usual, from treasured antique items to secondhand basics, like kitchenware, linens, and appliances. 

Many households donate items near the end of the year as they prepare for the holidays, including dropping off donation bags they may have been collecting or carting around in their car trunk for months. Donating items before the end of the year can make it possible to write the year's donations off on your next tax form. The end of the year is also a time when you clear space for new holiday gifts, getting rid of older décor, bedding, rugs, and other items to make room for the new. This is especially true for some of the most common items you'll find in thrift stores, like dishware and appliances. You may also find retailer-donated offerings of brand new items after the holiday rush. 

This means a lot of brand new merchandise hits the shelves just as the year begins, which is compounded by an influx of inventory when other homeowners might begin annual deep cleaning, decluttering, and organizing after the holidays. Those New Year's resolutions to declutter and get more organized could pay off for you if you hit the thrift stores at the right time. This is particularly true for décor items (both holiday-themed and otherwise), clothing, accessories, appliances, books, and artwork. Use it as your chance to pick up items for your vintage craft supply stash. January can also mean a wider selection of larger furniture items, like sofas, chairs, and wood pieces, that many people replace during the season (though spring and summer can also be great for these pieces as people change abodes and downsize before moving to a smaller space during warmer months.)