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I know you can find lots of advice out there about what items to avoid when shopping in a thrift store – one article I read listed sixteen different things! (I mean, what could be left at that point? Certainly not my wonderful upholstered – used – sofa, shown above!)

But I’ve been a thrift store shopper for over 30 years – my success in shopping at these venues has been the single biggest factor in being able to create the cozy cottage style I enjoy in my home! Now maybe I’ve been lucky but I’ve never encountered any of the hazards listed in these articles. For example –

• I’ve never brought home bed bugs, mold, or other pests.
• I’ve never gotten lead poisoning from eating off vintage dinnerware, hanging around architectural salvage, or using old hardware.
• I’ve never found my body suddenly out of alignment from wearing used shoes.

My secret weapon? Common sense. Yep. I don’t just grab – I inspect. (Well, except for vintage dishes. Those I just grab.)

If the shoes are obviously mis-shapen from someone else’s feet, I won’t buy them. If the non-stick coating is flaking off the skillet, I won’t buy it.

So because I’ve had literally zero problems buying used items, my list of “what you should never buy from a thrift store” is pretty short. Here it is:

Underwear/swimwear – Because of the body parts that touch it, I always buy these items new. Including bras.

Mattresses – Even if there are no bed bugs, there’s still “other peoples’ gunk” (OPG) like body dirt, dead skin, hair oil, etc. I prefer to start fresh with mattresses and add my own gunk.

Bed pillows – See OPG above. I’m specifically talking about the pillow you lay your head on here. If I found a great bolster or other decorative bed pillow in a thrift store, I wouldn’t have the same hesitation. I purchase throw pillows for my sofa (also secondhand) from thrift stores all the time.

“Expired”, damaged, or old safety equipment – Bicycle and motorcycle helmets and children’s car seats contain energy-absorbing foam that is considered “spent” if it becomes too aged or absorbs an impact. So with no way to know if the protective foam is any good in these items, I would always buy new. And I didn’t know this until recently, but apparently car seats actually have expiration dates due to potential deterioration of inner materials.

Vintage baby cribs – Drop-sided cribs and those with slats spaced more than 2-3/8 inches apart present suffocation and entrapment hazards for Baby.

What are your thoughts? What would you never buy from a thrift store?

Are you looking for ways to achieve a unique style in your home without spending a fortune? Over the years my love of home decorating and my personal cottage style have both evolved, but my desire to decorate on a budget has not.

Okay I’ll just say it – I’m cheap! A tightwad! A miser! Everything I’ve done to enhance my home has always been done with very limited funds, and as a result I’ve become more patient in my shopping,  and more creative in my repurposing.

Here are the best ways I’ve learned to decorate on a budget, whether buying secondhand or (occasionally) brand new.

Shop your house. Is it possible you already have something that will work for the space you’re decorating? Walk through not just your rooms, but your attic, basement and garage too. Maybe-just-maybe there is something you already own that you’ve forgotten about!

Shop secondhand. Thrift stores, garage sales, and other secondhand venues are all great places to find great furniture and other décor items.

Repurpose. Look at an item you do have (or are considering buying) and determine if it can be repurposed or upcycled to solve a new problem. Can you turn that low-slung wooden coffee table into something for the kids’ playroom? Turn a pretty flat sheet into café curtains for the kitchen? Make a hall tree out of a vintage door?

Make your own. In an online décor group recently, someone asked for help in locating a sign for her kitchen that read, “Pantry.” She told the group she had already looked at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby, and couldn’t find one. My thought was, why not just make one? A hand-made sign would be simple to do, and have a lot more character and personality than something mass-produced.

Shop sales, coupons, and deals when buying new. Speaking of Michael’s and Hobby Lobby, they have had some really cute décor in recent years! And they both have pretty amazing coupons such as 40 percent off a regularly priced item. Even a store that doesn’t coupon is likely to eventually put items on sale, so pay attention to the circulars and online ads.

There are so many ways to decorate on a budget… honestly, my style is all about timeworn, well-loved, vintage items with character and history, and that means I would very rarely buy something brand new. It also means that I almost always pay less-than-new prices.

What are your favorite ways to decorate on a budget?

Here’s a Pin-able image for this post!

I must confess, I love to host a yard or garage sale! I love sorting through what I’m going to offer, putting little bits of masking tape with the price on each item, setting it all up in the yard, meeting people as they come to shop, making deals, making money, and at the end, putting the leftovers out and posting them “free on curb” on CraigsList. The entire process for some reason is very satisfying to me!

This year, I decided to tie my garage sale into my Facebook “junk group,” The Rusty Robin. This is a group where I sell items locally simply by posting them in the group or on the overall Facebook Marketplace for my area. I had amassed a fair amount of what I call “garden junk,” so I advertised the sale as The Rusty Robin Garden Junk Yard Sale. It was a blast!

With help from my friend Greg, on Day One we set a few items in the driveway but most of it was in the back yard. I absolutely loved this because my backyard looked like the best flea market ever!

We had a decent day of sales, but we noticed that people who were “drive-by scouting” were not always stopping to shop. We decided perhaps that was because they couldn’t see well into the back yard. So for Day Two we moved it all into the driveway and front yard. This didn’t have quite the “flea market” look, but it definitely looked like a more exciting yard sale for the drive-bys. We did about twice the sales from the day before.

At the end I pulled a few unsold pieces back into my garage for future projects, and put the rest on the curb. This is what we listed as “free on curb” on Craigslist, minus the wicker rocker, which I dragged back to my own “pile” behind the garage. (I’m always astounded at how much gets picked from the curb by others before it goes onto the garbage truck.)

Looking forward to the next sale!

PS – Guess what?! I’ve actually written an e-book about hosting a yard or garage sale! It’s called “How to Have An Epic Yard Sale” and it’s just $2.99 in PDF or Amazon Kindle format! Click here to take a look!