I’m a fairly honest sort of a lady, so I’ll tell you straight up that the title is a lie – there’s no way known that yours truly is getting out of savers in five minutes. or ten. or…you get the idea. I’m a hopeless case. But here are my best strategies for getting in and out of a huge op shop/second hand emporium as quick as you can.
It will be especially useful if, like me, you can’t go past an op shop, even if you’re running late/your parking meter has run out/you have a house bursting with crap. Here we go:
1. Prioritise
No one has the concentration to look at every section of savers et al with the care and attention necessary to ensure you haven’t missed a bargain. the last time i tried, i walked out with three bags of junk and a near-migraine. so prioritise. I go for jewellery, then dresses and coats, then the rest of the ladies wear and shoes and homewares. and if i want to get out in under an hour, this is pushing it. Make sure you give your attention to your favourite thing (or the specific thing you’re looking for) first.
2. Look differently
Without a doubt, the worst thing to sift through in big op shops is jeans. Why? they all look the same, they’re jammed together, and it gets really hard to care when you’ve yanked the billionth ‘relaxed fit’ mum-style target jeans out of the rack.
Rather than give up in a situation like this, or – worse – spend 20 minutes laboriously flicking through every pair – here’s what I do. First, look at the bottom of the garments – this way you’ll be able to tell straight away if something is too short/long, or has a hideous cuff or other detail. Then look along the sides - this allows you to eliminate any colours or fabrics that you don’t like. Only bother pulling something out if it has passed both of these tests.
3. Use touch
Second only to the hideous Mountain of Denim in the time-consuming stakes are the racks upon racks of black jackets/dresses/trousers, which have you reaching for the most frightful dynasty-like garment on the rack because it draws your eye.
The quickest way to blitz through such a rack is to run your hand along the sleeves/sides while walking along – a quality fabric such as wool, silk, suede or even a decent, heavy man-made fabric will be instantly recognisable in a rack that contains 90% cheap polyester. This will also help you spot anything amazing that has been shoved to the back of the rack.
4. Use labelling selectively
Savers and friends might think they’re helping you by sorting things into sizes, but anyone who’s been to one of these stores will know that their sorting system is woefully inadequate, and that an average sized woman is likely to find great things in most of the size categories. Personally, I ignore the sizing and try to whisk through as much as possible – I’ve even had great finds in the children’s wear section (a bit tight across the shoulders, but what the hell…)
Colour sorting, however, can be useful. If you know you hate orange, be attentive and skip the whole section of orange, rather than getting halfway through and thinking ‘man, they sure have a lot of orange today’. Sleeve sorting is useful, as is sorting by skirt length (not everywhere does this, but it’s good). The main thing is to recognise how things are arranged before you start looking, so that you don’t get lost among the ‘too cute’ midriff baring t-shirts and are never heard from again etc.
5. Be methodical
When in a huge op, it can be really easy to end up looking at the same rack three times and missing whole areas completely. Have a starting point and proceed methodically, even if you have well-meaning friends yelling ‘heyyy, come hava looka this’. Because then you’ll get distracted and start looking at what they’re looking at…then, three hours later…
This is as true of homewares as it is of clothes. Better to look once thoroughly and then move on, rather than go back to the same rack half a dozen times because you got distracted and ‘might have missed something’.
6. Cull before you hit the changerooms
OK. You’re at the changeroom with a trolley full of crap and the clock’s a-ticking. Tackle the problem head on - anything that you feel lukewarm about, get rid of - hang it straight on the reject rack. This strategy alone has saved me many smelly hours in savers over the years.
7. Take something off as soon as you know it’s bad
Ever get something too-small halfway on and keep trying, even though you know it’s going to look crapola if you get it on, which is unlikely? Ever tie something in new and interesting ways, or yank it around to try to make it look good? Don’t. Unless it’s something that can be fixed by relatively simple alterations, take the thing off and reject it before you get sucked into the savers time warp.
8 Don’t dither about what to buy
If you’re not sure, don’t buy it. Every time I stick to this rule, I’m glad I did.
Well, that’s about it. I’m a lot better at being ruthless in savers/large ops than i used to be. If I ever manage to live up to my own claims and get out in five minutes, I’ll let you know.
What’s your world record savers time? Further strategies always welcome.
August 1, 2008 at 2:13 am |
I only look at two racks. formal dresses and dresses. I am petite therefore I could js=ust focus on size 8 and 10. I hate purple and don’t wear light colours therefore I can skip. Most of the time I can come out in 30 mins, with a dress I really like.
August 3, 2008 at 10:29 pm |
Its all training in the eye, once you’ve got it, you can be in and out of places like this so quickly.
If you know what you like, then you will know how to scan racks of goods.
When you see a pattern or fabric that catches your eye, or your touch was you walk past the racks, you will stop and look. This saves time and muscle pushing apart over stocked racks and looking at countless 90’s drab.
Also if you know your ‘actual’ size and not the size you want to be, then often you won’t have to try things on. you can grab and run.
You know when you buy a new car and then all of a sudden you see the same car everywhere?
Well that theory will automatically happen at most shops. Whatever is your favorite colour, what ever you collect, whatever you like, it will jump out at you like a kangaroo from the side of the road.
So don’t get too desperate to find something, or expect to find something, or you’ll spend money you wish you didn’t and probably have numerous items that you bought because you looked too hard.