ACT 1: While living in South Africa you wouldn't have caught me dead in a thrift store. No way. A thrift store in my homeland was (and maybe still is) a place where dead people's clothing go. Only the poor people shopped at thrift stores and the stores themselves were dank and dark, smelly and pretty nasty.
ACT 2: We moved to the UK and thrift stores took on a new meaning. Although I only bought the odd coat from the UK thrift stores (or charity shops as they are called there), we did buy a lot of household items which were pretty cool and very cheap.
ACT 3: The States offers an even better thrift store to the public. These stores are so similar to department stores except there is usually no carpeting and the fixtures are old. But, the clothing, sports and household items can sometimes be brand new (with original tags still dangling.) I have found America on average to be a 'throw away society' since many things are very reasonably priced so the consumers are able to discard their barely used items for newer models or styles.
I bought everything new when we arrived here because we found it to be so cheap and we had 2 salaries at the time. When I stopped working and our boys got bigger and more rough in their clothing (especially since they wear regular clothing every day) I found the thrift stores to have amazing deals for them.
Then I got bored with the clothing in department stores and I can't pay the boutique prices even though the high-priced clothes are some of the styles I've been looking for. So I decided to try thrift store clothing for myself.
I was surprised that the clothes are usually in great shape with minimal wear and some clothing was kind of funky...the kind I envy while browsing in boutiques.
THINGS I WON'T BUY FROM A THRIFT STORE:
Namely underwear (never, never never), PJs (siff), lingerie (gross, gross, gross), socks (toe jam), hats (lice), gloves (unwashed hands), scarves (scurvy) and earrings (infected lobes). Ew!
So here are some of my finds:
I love these jeans because of the bellbottoms and the pockets.
This skirt caught my eye because it is different and now I need to find a couple of shirts to go with it.
Sandals (that were sprayed with Lysol disinfectant before use)
Slipons (also sprayed)
Tied shoes (definitely sprayed)
Boots (not as lavishly sprayed since I never wear them without socks). I don't need 2 pairs of beige boots but I liked both styles. The boots on the far right are actually black with elastic fabric in front (for fat calves) and the pair to the left of the black pair is actually dark brown. The red 'snakeskin' boots are stretch fabric (again, fat calves.)
Jeans bought only for the design on the legs and the back pockets were cute too. Need to find that missing button.
A fun jacket for spring.
Clogs for when I have on black but don't want to wear boots.
Love this grey sweater and it pairs nicely with the jacket I found on the same day.
This dress was actually from a regular store (Maurices - a fave of mine) but was only $5 so I had to get it. I haven't worn it in the summer since I don't like my legs showing so I use it in the winter with layers. The brown jacket was from a thrift store (the boots & red top were bought new.)
The jeans used to fit but are too tight now so I've kept them in the hopes of being able to fit into them again someday. I have about 5 pairs of pants that don't fit but still have the sale tags on them...one day...I'll fit into them one day...
(Who am I kidding, right?)