A flinch point is a single price gauge that makes you stop and ponder whether the item is truly worth it’s price. Don’t have one? I recommend find one right now because your money is flying out the window as you read this. Whoops! There went another $50!

Before I became thrift store master, my flinch point was $30 for clothing. That’s fairly low for the average American. Then, add this knock against me, I prefer fine quality. This made me an in-the-gutter sales junkie.

Sales are fine, but the majority is disappointing. Who’s turning cartwheels for 10% or 20% off? Besides, sales are not scheduled for the shopper’s convenience. When in desperate need, chances are the land will be completely dry of sales and you will be have to ride into the oasis of full price. Ouch.

This new Anthropologie bracelet originally retailed at $98 but I thrifted it one dollar below my flinch point of five dollars at Goodwill.

As discussed in my previous two posts, The Thrift Store Mentality and Thrift Master Tips, spend about two to three months in a regular thrifting routine, visiting two to three stores a week for a 15 minute recon mission, and you’re flinch point will come way down. It stems from a seasoned knowledge of what one can find in the thrift store.

I call this the Thrift Effect, setting reasonable limits and lowering that flinch point. Me? Anything over $5 requires serious justification. I don’t care if it’s a bed frame or a dresser. I have purchased Limoges porcelain, a Wedgwood cake stand, 100 year-old rare books, a new sweater from Sundance, a Jos. A. Bank suit, sterling rings, vintage Emile Henry bakeware, bamboo chairs, and much more for under $5! Many of my items would retail for hundreds at the mall or on EBay. And, just because it’s under $5 doesn’t mean I don’t give it thought, just not as much.

My $5 flinch point doesn’t do much for me on the new goods market.

Note the contrast between the $99.99 retail tag and the $4.99 Goodwill tag.

It’s really weird to purchase a new Banana Republic jacket with a $99 retail tag still attached for $5 at Goodwill and stop by the discount retailer on the way home to buy a tube of mascara for $8.79.

I pass up cashmere sweaters for $3-$5 almost every week because I don’t like the color or style. One could probably tailor the ugliest cashmere sweater in the world, stamp a sale price of $40 on it, hang it on the racks at a department store, and there would be a brawl over it – I call it Bargain Rage. Perhaps the pianist that sometimes plays Nordstrom could launch into some western bar fighting music! And customers could throw pies!

Think of it this way if you don’t have a flinch point, the retail market flings an invisible pie in your face every time you make a purchase and you aren’t even aware enough to know what flavor it is. I prefer Banana crème, but not in my face.

Photo by empracht