Having a style plan.

Thrift shopping is an interesting way to shop and it's easy to be overwhelmed.  When you go to a regular shop there are mannequins dressed in the featured looks for that shop so the customer has a guide. A person can go to one of these stores and buy the whole outfit with accessories right off the mannequin, so a person can be on complete autopilot when selecting an outfit if they wanted to. It's different with thrift stores. There is no guide, there aren't usually mannequins and the clothes are just put on the rack by type of garment so you need to have a style plan.

I've been buying all of my clothes and accessories from thrift and antique shops exclusively for about a year now. The only times I go to regular stores are when I need food or tights and things like that. I learned that to be successful when thrift shopping that I needed some sort of plan, something to keep me from buying unnecessary pieces and something to serve as my custom look book.

I advise anyone who is an avid thrift shopper to do this, and to anyone who wants to start thrift shopping but is overwhelmed these ideas are to help make the experience less scary.

1: Get a style journal. 
I prefer a physical journal but you can make a digital one. You can make a Microsoft word document, your own style power point, whatever makes it easiest for you to get your thoughts down. I like to clip pictures out of magazines or print them from the internet and then make notes about the outfit or hairstyle. When  you break down the elements of the outfit it's easier to find those types of things at thrift shops.

This is an example of a typical page in my journal, it's new so there's not a lot of writing on it but you can get the idea. I also use my journal to plan outfits, it saves me a lot of time getting ready in the morning 

2:Get a Pinterest account and make a style board.

This is a quick and easy way to accumulate inspiration. You can 'pin' a picture from a website you're on instantly and get right back to what you were doing. You can even 'repin' fashion photos from other site members. Pinterest is a huge time suck though, I can spend hours on there. Join at your own risk. My pinterest style board

3:Put inspiration photos on your phone or iPod.

This is good if you're like me and forget everything you came to the shop for upon entering. You can go to the side of the shop and quickly thumb through your pictures to remind you what you came to get. 

I hope these tips help. I know ever since I started having a plan I don't spend as much money on clothes that I might only wear once. Does anyone else have a style plan?