When I can't find anything to wear, sometimes I like to browse the local clothing donations at the neighborhood Goodwill or free box You see, I am a very finicky shopper. It is very hard for me to figure out what I want to wear, and half the time I barely care at all anyway. I try to take some pride in my appearance, but it is hard for me to justify the expense of buying new clothing when instead I can buy clothing donations for a fraction of the price at some thrift store. After all, I might like a shirt enough to pay 5 bucks for it, but I just don't care about clothing enough to get 25 or 45 dollars of usage out of that same shirt, even if it is newer or fancier.
The best place to look for donated clothing is still the free box. If you live in a city without free boxes, you don't know what you are missing! Basically, people put all kinds of clothing donations in the free box, and then take whatever they themselves want. For most of these boxes, the stuff is pretty fresh and clean – less stale smelling than the junk they sell down at the Goodwill, or the Salvation Army store any day. Of course, with free box clothing donations, it is kind of hit or miss, so you can't go there expecting to find a specific kind of thing like you can at one of the bigger thrift store.
That is why I like buying my clothing donations at Goodwill sometimes. Near where I live, we have a huge Goodwill, filled with all kinds of styles from ridiculously outdated and somehow retro-cool to almost modern, and therefore lame. If you are a t-shirt and jeans guy like I am, you can't go wrong there. You will invariably find exactly what you are looking for among the aisles and aisles of clothing donations that these well-stocked thrift stores carry.
The one thing that you should do at all cost is avoid the trendy used clothing stores like Buffalo Exchange. These don't even take clothing donations, but instead pay people for their old threads. Boy do they charge a pretty penny at these places. I've seen people's old work shirts on sale for 20 or 30 dollars in some of the more fashionable thrift stores. What a ripoff!
