Tacky, vintage, unique, and interesting. These are my favorite words used to describe someone wearing thrifted clothing.

I greatly dislike the connotation of “tacky.” It makes me feel like one of those tourists who lost their baggage and went to the gift shop to desperately grab all items that scream, “I’m not from here!”

“Vintage” is a great word, although lots of my thrifted items have come from Salvation Army so they are not vintage. However, most people cannot tell the difference, thus I take it as a compliment.

“Interesting” is my favorite description because it comes from the people who may not be as accustomed to my kind of clothing as some native Austinites, but they are not totally unaware. They might have looked at me strangely and wished to diminish any negative feelings, by giving me a comment that is not necessarily mean, but, at the same time, not exactly uplifting.

“The reason I thrift is because I can’t sew,” sophomore Bree Barfield said. “I’m pretty picky about what I wear.”

To become an avid thrifter, you must let go of all insecurities. You will have a few thoughts that flare up, but you must begin to trust yourself to wear what you want to wear. Also you have to want to thrift. Not simply because you have a small budget or want an ugly sweater for that Christmas party, but because you genuinely want to wear those wonderful clothes.

“I love the thrill of the hunt; going through all the racks and looking through all the clothes, trying to find something you’ve been looking for for a while,” junior Julia Bailey said.

Thrifting is meant to be an exciting experience, not necessarily fruitful.

“Thrifting is like recycling,” junior Jordan Brooker said. “My favorite would be Salvation Army, because I feel like Goodwill is getting much too expensive,”

Cut as many corners as you can when thrifting, Salvation Army and Goodwill carry a lot of the same items, but Salvation Army will usually have the same item for half of Goodwill’s price. Also, if you go to Salvation Army on Wednesdays, everything is half price.

My favorite store is Salvation Army, but my second favorite is Buffalo Exchange. They are a bit pricey, especially in accessories, but they have the most wonderful selection of shoes.

My most visited shopping locations are garage sales. But the real gem is an estate sale. I found my first estate sale in Tyler while I was visiting my grandma. The woman who had lived there was a clothes hoarder and I ended up spending a little over a hundred dollars.

Whenever I go to thrift stores or garage sales I get in this dream mode where I have to fall in love with an article of clothing before I purchase it.

Some of the greatest downtown thrift stores include the aforementioned Buffalo Exchange, Blue Velvet, Cream Vintage, and Frock On Vintage. The downtown Goodwill is much better than any of the ones near Round Rock.

Frock On Vintage is a bit pricey, but they have a pretty great sales rack outside which I thought had the best items. Blue Velvet is a magical place; it has everything you would ever dream of, plus it is located in between a great record store, Breakaway, and the best Austin cafe, Epoch. It doesn’t get more Austin than that.

In order to have fun, do not thrift when you are tired.

“Have somewhat of an idea of what you’re looking for, go through everything so you don’t miss anything, and be open minded because the clothes will look different on your body than you may think,” Bailey said.