In our life we live in two basic seasons. We have our Arizona season which is more or less between November and March, and then we have our Colorado season which is from April to October. This may vary from year to year but basically these are the two seasons we need to be prepared for in our life. For the most part in our life together we have lived pretty minimalist as far as the amount of clothes and general possessions that we own and carry with us, but with our two seasons in two locations we have been needing to stock clothing and wares at both of our locations. Partly this is because we need different types of clothes housewares at each location and part of is that it has become too tedious to pack ALL of our stuff from one location the other and back every year.
With that said, we have been on the hunt for a couple of wardrobe items at thrift shops lately. We have been looking for workout gear, t-shirts to wear while working at Island Acres, and some beach attire for a vacation planned later this year. So we took a trip to Goodwill while we were in Grand Junction and spent just about 120 dollars. Usually we do not spend quite that much on our thrift shop trips, so this got us wondering what would the value of these items be if we had purchased them all brand new?, and why is thrifting such an important element of our lifestyle?
Why We Started Thrifting (And Why We Still Do)
Like a lot of people, we started thrift shopping because we needed cheap items. We have been “broke” college students, and we were not exactly “balling” while we were in graduate school, so thrifting was a way to make sure we had workout clothes, professional clothes, social clothes and whatever other items we needed to not only survive, but fit in and feel comfortable in multiple different environments.
In a way we are still doing the same thing. In total we came away with 21 items for our 120 dollars at Goodwill on this particular trip. So what would it have cost us to purchase these 21 items if they were all brand new? These weren’t random purchases, they were things we would have bought anyway. So we searched each item on the internet for its “brand new” price and to our amazement the total would have been about 900 dollars!!! But, thrifting should be about more than just saving money so lets take a look at three additional reasons why thrifting is important to our lifestyle.
1. Thrifting as a Sustainable Way to Shop
One of the biggest benefits of thrifting is how clearly it connects to sustainability. So many of the items we found were barely used or not used at all. Two of our clothing items still had tags. High-quality materials with years of life left in them. It really changes how you think about shopping when you consider how many “brand-new” clothing items could just end up in the land-fill if not for the second-hand and thrift markets.
Choosing a sustainable shopping option like a thrift store means extending the life of those items rather than increasing demand for new production. It’s not a perfect solution. But it’s a practical one, and one that fits naturally into everyday life.
2. The Ethical Benefits of Thrift Shopping
There’s also an ethical layer to thrifting that becomes harder to ignore over time. When you see how much excess already exists, buying new by default starts to feel less automatic. Every thrifted item is something that didn’t need to be produced again. Every purchase is, in a small way, a step away from a system built on overconsumption.
That doesn’t mean we never buy new things. But it does mean we think about it differently. The ethical benefits of thrift shopping aren’t about being perfect, they’re about being more intentional. And for us, that intentionality has become part of our lifestyle as we almost always automatically search for items we need in thrift stores before buying new.
3. How Thrifting Makes Expensive Brands Affordable
One of the most surprising benefits of thrifting is how it changes what type of brands feel accessible. Medium and high end brands can be “better” for many reasons. They may use better fabrics and materials, or they just may have a different symbolic meaning when worn in public. Either way, brands that would normally feel out of reach suddenly aren’t at thrift stores.
In our most recent trip we ended up with brands like Patagonia, Outdoor Voices, and Adidas. Pieces that retail for $50, $75, even $100+ were now sitting on a rack for a few dollars. And the thing is, they function exactly the same. That matters. Because it allows us to prioritize quality materials, durability, and fit without tying that to high retail prices. Instead of choosing between cheap and expensive, we’re choosing between new and already existing.
Final Thoughts on Why Thrifting is Important Beyond Just Saving Money
At the end of the day, that $120 thrift trip wasn’t just about saving money, even though saving nearly $800 is hard to ignore. It was a reminder of how we’ve come to approach our lifestyle over time. What started as a necessity has turned into something much more intentional.
Thrifting fits the way we live. It allows us to move between seasons and locations without constantly accumulating more than we need. It gives us access to quality items that hold up over time, without feeling tied to high price tags. And maybe most importantly, it keeps us grounded in the idea that not everything we need has to be produced new.
We’re still buying the same kinds of things we always have. The difference is how we choose to find them.
And for us, that shift, from default consumption to more intentional choices, is what makes thrifting more than just a way to shop. It’s a small but meaningful part of how we’ve built a lifestyle that actually works for us.
