It’s no Portobello Road, but it’s still pretty good. “Brand New Second Hand,” a photo of a Helsinki flea market, was taken by Janne Hellisten, and is used with permission via the WikiMedia Commons.

Today I found five bucks and change inside a purse for sale at Value Village.

The purse had a Prada tag on it, and I had just decided, with great disappointment, that it was probably fake and I probably shouldn’t buy it… when I realized the jangling noise coming from it wasn’t the hardware. I plunged a hand inside the hole in the inside lining and voila! Free money!

The free money bought me a cashmere scarf (which had no tag, so the cashier gave it to me for $1.99), and an Adrian Tomine graphic novel, Shortcomings, which I bought to resell on Amazon, where secondhand copies are going for 3 times the price I paid at Value Village.

Frequently, thrift-store shopping disappoints me, but today was awesome.

Here are some tips for maximizing your thrift-store shopping experience:

1. Figure out which largish thrift stores are adjacent to the richest neighborhoods, and shop there

Even better, figure out which are near neighbourhoods filled with stylish old people living in large homes. Eventually, the stylish old folk downsize, and their unwitting family members help them, and an extraordinary amount of quality stuff ends up in secondhand shops instead of the consignment or auction houses where it belongs. Be heartless and take advantage.

2. Shop at off-peak times

Weekdays and weekday evenings seem to be the least crowded, at least at the places I frequent.

3. Shop alone

Shopping is like hunting – it’s easier to be silent and deadly if you don’t have company.

4. Take advantage of all store programs

If there’s a mailing list, be on it. If there’s a loyalty program, join it. If the store offers 50% off sales every other month, go to them. If they print a calendar with coupons for the store, and sell them every November (Value Village does this), buy three.

5. Don’t buy to resell unless you’re an expert on the thing you’re buying

I’m not an expert on Prada, so I didn’t take a gamble that the bag I found on the floor was authentic. (Which was good, because it seems pretty clear that it wasn’t.) However, I’ve worked as a first-hand bookseller for ten years, and I’ve also spent the last three years selling secondhand books and textbooks online, so I know what to pick up and what to avoid. The graphic novel I found today was an excellent bet.

6. Know what’s in your wardrobe

If you want to totally kill at this step, use PBWiki to build a private catalogue of your wardrobe, with pictures. Make sure colours are accurate. If you have a smartphone, you can use it to access your clothing wiki while you shop.

Otherwise, just know what you’ve got. It’s helpful to keep your wardrobe smallish so you can easily go through it, mentally, when you’re trying to decide if you have enough mustard colour sweaters. (Answer: always yes. Even if you have none.)

7. Know your measurements.

Apart from bust, waist, hip and shoe size, it’s helpful to know your inseam, hat size, glove size and ring size (although if you’re able to try stuff on, the last three aren’t so important.) If you’re a dude, know your neck size, too. (Here’s a YouTube Video from Debutante Clothing on how to take your measurements.)

It’s also good to measure a sweater and/or coat that fits well (particularly if it’s bulky, and you are looking to buy more bulky stuff) to figure out the measurements of a finished garment that fits you.

Put all these in your wiki, if you make one, or just write a list and keep it somewhere in your purse or wallet. Advanced thrift-store clothing shoppers keep a cloth measuring tape handy. (I frequently forget, and then wish I had one.)

Lastly, it’s also helpful to know what size you are in the brands you like most. For example, I wear a Calvin Klein size 8 or 10 for dresses and tops (which is totally ridiculous), but am a twelve in most Jacob Annex clothing.

8. Know what’s good wear and what’s bad wear

Ripped seams can be mended, and missing buttons, broken zippers and worn soles can be replaced. However, if the wool pants you’re looking at have shiny knees, forget it.

Likewise, don’t bother buying light-coloured shirts with underarm stains; anything that smells like smoke or cats; knit sweaters with moth holes (unless you’re buying them for a felting project, in which case just make sure the garment is made from 100% natural fibres); shoes where the leather has worn extremely thin at the toe or heel; or any fibre that’s sun-yellowed. Knit or wool material with a lot of pilling is also a bad buy.

Check seams, cuffs and hems, zippers and buttons, and the care instructions, if they’re still in the garment. Superficial damages (broken buttons or zippers, ripped seams where just the thread is broken, not the fabric) are reason enough to ask for a discount; a “dry clean only” label is reason enough to leave something on the shelf.

I also prefer not to buy second-hand items made from non-natural fibres, but that’s just me, not a hard-and-fast rule. [For the record, though, silk, wool (merino, cashmere, alpaca, angora, etc.), linen, cotton and rayon are all natural cloth and will last a long time; mixes that have a high proportion of any of these are also excellent buys.]

9. Don’t donate to the same stores where you shop

This tip is here so you can learn from my mistake: it’s annoying to realize you’ve bought the same skirt twice, and yes, it still does that weird bunchy thing that made you get rid of it the first time.

10. Visit frequently.

I’d say once a week is the sweet spot. Merch at thrift shops turns over quickly, particularly if the store is large and downtown.

Bonus tip 11. Don’t spend like a crazy person

Thrifting is worth it when you’re buying high-quality stuff that will make your life better, at a lower-than-new cost. It can be frugality at its finest (not to mention environmentally responsible), but it can also induce temporary money blindness. Don’t buy things you won’t use. Don’t buy things you don’t need. Don’t buy things because they’re a dollar. Remember, when you walk into the thrift store, that you are not your stuff.

These are all things I tell myself firmly whenever I step inside Value Village, because otherwise I would be coming home with sequined slinky things every time.

If you’ve got further thrift-store tips or stories, leave them in comments!