Mami of Multiples

Families Save with Thrift and Consignment Stores

in brands, education, families, multiples, parenting, savings, shopping on

The following is a guest post I created for Mrs. MoneySaver giving location and overall information about how families can save with thrift and consignment stores.

Families, especially in today’s difficult economy, are looking for ways to save money and not sacrifice quality. A trend that has experienced a recent resurgence is shopping at consignment and thrift stores. Consignment and thrift stores are sometimes an overlooked, but great, resource for families.

Consignment and thrift stores are heavily discounted second-hand stores that allow consumers to save money on everyday merchandise. Many consignment and thrift stores sell clothing and non-clothing items such as, videos, CDs, DVDs, books, furniture, and appliances. (Major designers know the value of shopping at consignment and thrift stores, because of their discounted prices and vintage pieces.) Shoppers find much lower prices at consignment and thrift stores than at department or retail stores. At thrift stores, donations of unwanted clothing or merchandise are made to the thrift store. At consignment stores, a seller can have their items (clothes, shoes, etc.) sold on their behalf by the consignment store. The consignment store has policies stating what type of merchandise they accept, how long they will keep merchandise on the sales floor, returning unsold items back to the owner, and the percentage the consignment stores keeps from the selling price.

The variety and quality of items found in consignment and thrift stores tend to be better than those found at garage sales. The reason being is that merchandise found at consignment and thrift stores are regulated by the store’s management team. The stores usually require that any merchandise, whether donated or sold, be working properly, clean, and stain-free. Clothing sold at these types of stores are either new or gently used. The average price for clothing sold at the consignment and thrift stores is less than $5.00.

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Another benefit to families, besides the savings, is the fact that shopping or donating items to certain thrift and consignment stores is tax deductible. Many thrift and consignment stores are owned or operated by charitable organizations, i.e., churches, and offer a receipt or statement to claim towards a deductible charitable donation on annual income taxes. Proceeds gained from charitable run consignment and thrift stores are often used for local pregnancy centers, homeless shelters, animal shelters, assistance for low income families, medical facilities, and other charity groups.

Some sites that help to locate local thrift or consignment stores are the following:

The Thrift Shopper
Goodwill Stores
The Salvation Army Stores
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Volunteers of America

Local consignment and thrift stores are advertised throughout various publications in a community. Local publications, such as town newspapers, often print the locations of thrift and consignment stores within the classified section or posted as an advertisement. Religious organizations often have the location of their own thrift or consignment stores printed in their weekly bulletin. Local government departments, i.e., social services, also maintain a list of charitable owned thrift and consignment stores.

New thrift or consignment shoppers should start to visit to these types of discounted stores before shopping at a major retailer. A major retailer offers new merchandise and the marketing of a brand name. However, discounted stores offer new and gently used merchandise (many which are brand names) at extremely affordable prices. Remember to begin checking with local thrift and consignment stores to get quality finds and incredible savings.

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