Things We’d Be Okay With Leaving Behind At The Thrift Store
For most of us, thrift stores still seem like a place you frequented once a year when your mom did spring cleaning and you had to tag along to the donation center. But thrifting has become popular as retro brands come back in style, "fast fashion" is increasingly criticized, and Instagrammers blow us away with their incredible finds. Despite the rise in popularity, thrifting is not always as glamorous as finding that vintage Gap sweater for $5.
If you decide to try your hand at thrifting and explore this eco-friendly and trendy way to shop, please be sure to leave some things behind. These horrific thrift shop finds are a reminder of just how lucky you are that your grandmother only held onto her finest collectibles.
Impressive Work, Pete
Pete clearly had a lot of time on his hands. This internet user found Pete's life work in a thrift store and actually bought it.
The only thing this could really be useful for is maybe a door-stopper or a paperweight. All this shows is that thrift stores will accept basically anything.
The Holy Grail
The best part of this thrift find is that you can tell from the other glasses in the photo that it was originally a normal martini set, but then the owner added the Jesus figurine to it.
The only reason to buy this is if it turns your water into wine. Other than that, leave it behind, please.
Breakfast Nostalgia
I can't decide whether this is one of the strangest finds, or if it should be in the Smithsonian.
Who took the time to save, perfectly preserve, and label twelve popular kinds of cereal? Maybe it was once kitchen artwork? This is one of those items you should only purchase if you intend to donate it to science.
Cat Got Your Tongue
A good rule to go by when thrifting is that, if you have absolutely no idea what it is, just leave it behind.
This cat on its own would have been weird enough to avoid, but the addition of the baby inside makes it the stuff of nightmares. Continue on to discover some prehistoric wall decor.
Groovy Baby
Dress loafers with a clear platform filled with tiny baby figurines. Nothing about that sentence should make you want to purchase this item.
I can't even imagine a use for this in a Halloween costume outside of a very literal Austin Power's costume where you just say "Groovy baby!" on repeat.
Giant Green Mistake
This may seem like a cool thrift store find at first, but let's break it down and think about it logically. Where would it go? What do you tell your mother-in-law when she visits and this is in your basement?
Half the struggle of thrift shopping is being realistic about your purchases.
Dino Don't
Back to the struggle between form and function. It's not every day you find a wall-mounted dinosaur that's bigger than you. But are you really going to mount this on your wall? No.
The only reason this could be purchased is if you have a 5-year-old niece or nephew obsessed with dinosaurs who won't get nightmares. If you don't fit those specific criteria, leave it behind. You won't believe the personal items people leave behind when they donate.
Step Away, Not On
There is no way a fur scale will work in your master bathroom's aesthetic. Honestly, it probably didn't even work in its original home.
Can you imagine any feeling worse than stepping out of the shower and onto this scale with wet feet and having damp fur between your toes? I think I just gagged.
Necklace Nightmare
Even if you were actively searching for a mannequin head, this is not the one for you (or anyone).
Just stop and imagine waking up in the middle of the night to have a mannequin with a two-foot-long neck staring at you across your room. Leave it behind. At least it could hold a good amount of necklaces.
Potty Portraits
What's worse here? The fact that this is in a thrift store at all, or the fact that someone donated this with a photo of their child potty training still in the frame.
That could be the nicest frame in the shop and it still wouldn't be worth purchasing. Coming up is that one-in-a-million portrait that only comes to you in a dream sequence.
Feline Furnishing
This chair could have only belonged to the elusive "grandmother still vicariously living in the 70's who is also a crazy cat lady."
What's truly impressive is that someone originally manufactured this chair and someone, in turn, bought it. Stop the cycle here and leave it behind.
Whitehouse Dollhouse
Whether you loved or hated the 43rd President of the United States, I think we can all agree to hate the fact someone turned him into a paper doll.
While we can all appreciate his very modest pose, this is never an okay gift to give a child to play with.
Buy Portraits For Your Future Self
If you're lucky enough to find a portrait of someone who looks eerily like you, then this is might an okay thrift store purchase.
Just remember that when you hang it up, you now have a portrait of a strange, dead or alive, unknown person in your house. Actually, on second thought, don't buy it. Just take a photo with it and move on. Keep reading to find the perfect piece of jewelry...for an 8-year-old.
Skirt The Purchase
There is no reason this table should have been made in the first place and likewise, no reason you should buy it. Even if you love both figure skating and dated lace table dressings, it's still downright creepy.
Maybe if the skates are your size then remove them and purchase those. I'm sure the table won't miss them.
Pay An Arm And A Leg
Who am I more confused by here? The person who donated these prosthetic legs, or the thrift store for accepting them?
Even if there was a genuine intention to help someone in need, can the thrift store at least not throw them at the bottom of a shelf for all of us to stumble across?
Sega's Secret Jewelry Line
This is the most extra piece of jewelry I've seen, but that doesn't warrant buying it. The strange combination of delicate goldwork with a Sonic the Hedgehog charm makes you wonder what kind of person would part with this masterpiece.
Sonic can apparently run up to 3000 miles per hour. How fast can we run away from this necklace? Continue on to find a true thrift store nightmare.
Trendy Taxidermy
A lucky rabbit foot must not be doing the trick now if we've had to resort to clawed paws on our necklaces. Your luck will come if you never encounter one in a thrift shop.
Necklaces like this are apparently still being made, so you could find them outside of a thrift shop too. In both cases, they are better left behind.
Interesting Priorities
I can only imagine the fight that occurred due to this VHS tape. The Daytona 500 might be an important recording, but choosing Princess Diana's funeral recording to tape over was probably the wrong choice.
Purchase this only if you're prepared to re-record the funeral and put whatever argument happened to rest.
Royally Uncomfortable
There is a lot to unpack here. A baby's head, with a metal crown, adorned with a chain-link necklace, which has keys attached. Oh, and it's a lamp.
Clearly, it was a custom creation that should have stayed in the owners home or gone straight to the dump.
The True Unknown
Again, if you have no idea what it could be, don't buy it. This looks like it could have started as a stuffed animal, and was turned into the scariest Halloween decoration.
It is the epitome of a horrific thrift shop find. I'm not surprised someone wanted to get rid of it.
