It’s Friday, so I’m reblogging some good stuff to start your weekend off right!  Thanks to my friend Nancy for bringing this to my attention: lifehacker’s The Best Times of the Week to Shop at Thrift Stores. If you’re not familiar with lifehacker, it’s a genius fount of inspiration for making stuff in your life work better, more effectively, for less $, etc. etc.  You can spend hours perusing their great ideas for everything from refinishing your furniture to how to lift weights properly to the best portable power strip.  Geeks of all stripes, rejoice!

My take on the article?  It’s missing key special days like the weekly Senior Citizens or Military Discount Day, or the weekly or seasonal Half-Price Day (you may actually want to avoid the latter if you hate crowds…).  At Goodwill, know when the “Color of the Week” changes so that if you go twice during one week (what, that doesn’t happen to you all the time??) you aren’t missing the chance to get half off of two different colors. Know your local store’s policies and whether any of ’em apply to you–and, as they said in the article, their particular days for putting out new stock.  Oh, and remember:

The best day to go thrift shopping might just be the day you find time to do it.  

If you work 9 to 5 and don’t want to shop at the end of a long work day, don’t be afraid to shop on weekends.  Most people have different ideas (and sizes) of what makes for good pickings at the thrift store, so don’t skip a weekend thrifting jaunt just because you think selection will be poor–if the store is big enough, it’s likely you’ll find stuff you love no matter what.

Bonus link at the end of the first blog: Apartment Therapy’s The Best & Worst Times to Go Thrift Store Shopping.

Happy Friday!