New York City's Thrifters Are Digging Through Trash In Search Of Treasure

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- If you like to save money and dig for treasure thrifting may be the way to go.

As CBS2's Cindy Hsu reported, there are ways to uncover those hidden treasures.

Imagine finding a dress for $5 at a thrift store and finding out that it's worth $500, Tyna Walker-Lay did just that at a Goodwill.

She said the key is to check the tags, they can let you know when the item was made and were it was sold.

On her blog Thriftedsister, she has bought and sold just about everything including a covered skull with a spike that she found at an estate sale for $10 and sold for $400.

"If you're looking for valuable jewelry, especially vintage stuff I always look to see if it's signed, and if it's marked, and if it's in really good condition," she said.

If you have never thrifted before, Tyna said the best place to start is at non-profit thrift stores.

At Housing Works on the Upper West Side all of the proceeds go to fight HIV and homelessness.

If you're into free stuff, you can also go on the hunt on trash nights.

"Different neighborhoods I think put trash out at different times," Katie Barry said, "You can find things like this chair which I found on the Upper West Side."

It is illegal to grab discarded trash and throw it in a vehicle in New York City, but if you're on foot you can carry stuff from the curb.

Katie's brother found a bedframe in the trash, slapped some paint on it and turned it into a headboard.

"You start pulling through it like you're on some crazy scavenger hunt and then you're like 'yes, look what I found,'" Barry said.

And you just never know what's in store.