Part of our recurring New Year resolutions here at Listicles tends to involve an intense desire to redecorate our apartment, office and several friends’ places with new furniture, posters and other decorative accessories. This yearly pilgrimage that leads us to antique shops, flea markets, thrift stores and craigslist often fades by the end of February as the best places get more crowded. The good folks at Apartment Therapy, it would seem, share our proclivity for year-opening thrift store scouring, and have assembled their arguments in favor of our shared habit into these 5 Reasons to Go Thrifting in January.

• Post-Holiday Donations: After the holidays, many people find themselves with brand new gifts that they can’t return. Those gifts end up in the donation pile and make their way to thrift stores, where you can find unopened toys, new books, and never-worn clothes for a bargain. To keep yourself from overspending, make a list beforehand of things you need, and don’t buy something if it’s not on your list.

• Tax Deductions: Thrift stores bring in large hauls in December, since people are trying to make all their tax-deductible donations by the end of the year. By January, those big-ticket items (including furniture) are out on the floor, just waiting for someone to snatch them up.

• New Year’s Decluttering: Many people resolve to declutter their homes and make a fresh start in the New Year. Their trash could be your treasure.

• Sticking to the One-In-One-Out Rule: Maybe you’ve made your own resolution to keep a clean, organized home this year. Thrift store shopping makes it very easy to adhere to the one-in-one-out rule. Just donate something old before you pick up something new.

• The Cold: This may seem like a reason not to go out on the hunt, but the cold means less competition from other thrifters. Like all shops, thrift stores slow down after Christmas, leaving more opportunities to stumble across that great find.

So get to your local thrifting hot spots before the post-holiday gold rush subsides and the hibernating hordes awaken. Here in New York we’ll be hitting up Brooklyn Flea’s new pop-up antique market near the Listicles offices in Dumbo. And of course we always recommend hitting up the Salvation Army, especially early on Mondays when their new stuff is out and hasn’t been picked over by vintage store scouts yet. The Goodwill, likewise, is always worth a visit, as is Value Village, depending on where you live. So get to your local thrift stores, find some treasures and have some fun (unless of course you happen to run into us and be after the same treasure, because we really want those matching art deco floor lamps, and we’ll do whatever it takes, seriously).