I have a deep appreciation for the past. While I don't advocate spending all your time contemplating how superior Clarissa Explains It All was to Hannah Monana, I do like to incorporate some retro stuff into my everyday living to keep things legit. Vintage is making a comeback. A lot of products are coming out now styled like they were in the 80s and before. Just stop by Target and you'll see retro designed toasters, throwback T-Shirts, heck even the cereal boxes look like they did in the 70s!

While I think that's a great idea and some of that junk I'd actually buy, it also seems a little too trendy. That's why I like to get the real deal. And that can almost only be found at thrift stores and garage sales. It's a habit of mine to browse the local second hand stores. You'd be surprised at what you can find! Let's browse around and see what areas of life we can add some nostalgic zest to by thrifting!


^{Not that type of Zest, but close enough.}


Home Living & Decor



I'll be the first to admit that while the home furnishings of our youth usually give us a great feeling of remembrance, they look pretty dated in contrast. Remember the couch from Married with Children? You can get something pretty similar by driving down to your local thrift shop. Granted it will smell like cat urine and the floral print in places might have you wondering. I personally like the heavy oak styling of the past. Huge wood entertainment centers that span 8' across and house a 24" TV. You could really set up your basement like a time capsule.


As you can see 80s and 90s era decor is still readily available. Take a trip down to your local thrift shop, I double dog dare you! You could easily convert your guest room or basement into a time capsule. Patrick Nagel prints are ubiquitous and paired with a 20 dollar funky print couch and gold glass coffee table? Yeahhhh, you're doing it right.

Clothing and Fashion



Thrifting retro style is fun. But be careful not to look like a try hard nerd/hipster hybrid. Sure you can get some throwback tees at Target but why not look for the real McCoy? There's some great graphic tees. I took some pictures while shopping the other day and found a Home Improvement tee which is probably impossible to get anywhere other than a second hand store and even a original Beavis and Butthead shirt. Shoes are kind of iffy so I'd shy away from the footwear section unless you don't mind the risk and got some BOOM! Tuff Actin' Tinactin close by. Members Only jackets seem to be in stock as well.


Funky Electronics


Collectables 



Ahhh, the kids section. I got a lot of my toys as a kid at thrift stores. Toys that are now deemed  "collectable" were strewn across the floor and in the bins. I distinctly remember seeing tons of He Man action figures, Batman vehicles and the like. Obviously today the pickings are slim when it comes to truly vintage toys. Toys are handled by kids who are notorious for being hard on them so finding anything pre 2000s is uncommon. But sometimes parents are cleaning out their kids room after they moved out, dropping boxes off at the local Goodwill. I've scored on some amazing finds in the last year alone. On 2 separate occasions I found multiple grab bags of M.A.S.K and G.I. Joe figures which lead me to believe someone's entire collection was donated. I know many of you can relate when a parent donated our stuff as a kid without our permission. Might as well capitalize on another poor saps misfortune!



Both of these shots are of hauls I got from two different trips to the same thrift store. I swear some bratty kid from the 80s moved out, and his room is getting cleaned out to be converted into a studio for his mom's fledgling pottery business. They were all in pretty decent shape too. The store split them up into bags of around 5 figures a piece so I bought them all up. I think I paid around 25$ each time, not bad!  This is probably the 6 or 7th large cache of figures I've come across and it is BEE YOOT TEE FULL.




Of course there's some items that will always be easy to find. One can almost always find old board games, sometimes sealed in the shrink-wrap! While these aren't as fun as some of the other junk they make for great "Retro Props" that you can decorate your shelves with. Stuffed animals are prevalent as well but I wouldn't recommend it as who knows who's kid was slobbering all over it! All in all though, if you keep your eyes opened your bound to find something cool.