Harvest a Few Fall Deals at the Thrift

The apples are crisp, and the air is crisper … it must be fall! And there’s no better time to score a few bargains at the local thrift store. With cold weather and the biggest holidays just around the corner, you can prepare for the season without spending a lot of money — and at the same time, help fund veterans’ programs.

The first thing you’ll want to look for at the thrift is cold-weather clothing. If you need sweaters, scarves, gloves or a winter coat, you can find them on the cheap at the thrift. Likewise with blankets, comforters and throws — and if you start shopping for such items early, you’ll have a great selection of stuff from which to choose.

You may also want to add a little fall flair to your home. Try a warm color palette and a harvest theme, Midwest Living saysCorn husks, mums, gourds, leaves and pine cones are among the many natural accents that suggest the season; use them creatively and emphasize red, brown and orange hues to celebrate autumn.

Halloween closes out the first full month of fall, and many thrift stores will have lightly used or brand-new decorations from last year that people either didn’t use or are no longer using. String lights, paper skeletons, plastic lawn decorations, you name it; they all wind up at the thrift for reuse. But they won’t be there for long!

The thrift is also a great source of raw materials for your Halloween costume. In no time, you can source the used clothing and accessories needed to cement your status as a disco dude, zombie, cheerleader or pirate. For something more topical, you can pick up a dark suit and an extra-long red tie fast at most thrifts.

Whatever you find, you’ll experience the thrill of the hunt and save yourself some money while helping the nation’s veterans. Donations of lightly used clothing, housewares and accessories made to ClothingDonations.org are sold to thrifts for resale, with all proceeds going directly to programs that help veterans access housing, health care and more.

So shop freely for all of your fall festivities! But don’t buy new — harvest some deals at the thrift!

Simple Costume Ideas for Halloween

If you have a Halloween party coming up and are at a loss for a costume, Living on the Cheap offers 101+ Cheap and Easy Halloween Costumes you can assemble using thrift-store finds and a little creativity. You can’t go wrong with scary classics such as ghost, vampire and mummy, or you can opt for instantly recognizable pop culture characters such as a Minion or Ghostbuster. Whatever the costume, shopping at a thrift supplied by donations to ClothingDonations.org helps fund essential veterans programs nationwide.

Thrift Your Look for Halloween

Thrift stores are a “goldmine” for Halloween costumes, the Gurl blog says. Many are a treasure trove of clothing from bygone eras, meaning that finding your inner flower child or going grunge won’t cost a fortune. Better still, you can amp up the gore by smearing those finds with fake blood, and never worry about ruining something you’ll want to wear again! The blog suggests 15 thriftastically creative costume ideas for women, including Carrie, Disco Diva and Eleven from Stranger Things.

Build a Thrifty Halloween Costume

For the do-it-yourselfer, there is no better place to source a Halloween costume than the local thrift store, says Parade magazine. Combine clothing you already have with thrifted items such as a wig and tiara to transform your toddler into a princess, it says. Or buy a lightly-used puffy shirt at the thrift, add a bandana, eyepatch and toy sword, and (poof!) you’re a pirate. Goodwill Industries even offers a complete costume generator that can help build a weird, wild or scary costume from a variety of thrift-store finds.