I'm a Thrift Store Snob!

I know I've talked about thrift stores before... and will again. I just can't say enough good things, in general, about thrift stores. I LOVE thrift stores!! I LOVE that I can buy new looking clothes (sometimes they are new with tags) and often designer labels for CHEAP!! I love a bargain & love saving money. I tell Jerry that I'm saving him into the poor house! Ha! :op He would say that I'd do just about anything to get to go "thrifting" & has called me (dare I say it?) a thrift store slut! Yes! That's what he's called me! But I have to say that he is amazed when we've left these stores with BIG bags of clothes & have spent VERY LITTLE money!

The thrift stores in our city are large & have a great variety of clothes & household goods. Most of these stores color coordinate the clothes which is VERY helpful since I don't always have the time or inclination to pick thru everything on a rack. I don't know where the thrift store "rejects" go... maybe some 3rd world country? I'd sometime like to go thru the "rejects" to find things that could be recycled. I'd like to get my hands on some long sleeves of some sort to make "draft dodgers" to put in front of drafty doors & windows!

I'm always amazed at how many big name brands there are in these stores... selling for pennies on the dollar!! Around Christmas we bought my younger son six "new" shirts with designer labels: Tommy, Polo, American Eagle, GAP. I spent less than $20 for shirts that looked like they'd been worn once & hung in the closet. I could not have afforded to buy my son these same clothes new. We also bought "new clothes" for four of the grands: TOMMY, American Eagle, Banana Republic, Old Navy, GAP. The parents of the grands could not afford to clothe four kids with these designer clothes new, yet we clothed four kids with two outfits each for a total of about $30.

In the past couple days I've acquired a few more "new (spring/summer)clothes" from local thrift stores. When I look for "new clothes" I pick thru the color I'm looking for... carefully avoiding horizontal stripes... and then look at the size. I check for missing buttons, zippers that work, tears & holes and lastly, the name on the tag. I've been pleasantly surprised when I find I'm buying a "name brand" piece of clothing & not spending an arm & a leg for it! So... entirely by accident... my closet is now filled with clothes from GAP, American Eagle, Banana Republic, Tommy, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Old Navy, and several others. I've been keeping the receipts when I shop thrift stores & I've spent $100 in the last year on updating my wardrobe. This includes a dressy wool coat! I did score a pair of nice Matisse boots (leather - made in Brazil) at an auction for 50 cents... and a pair of red Justin boots at a thrift store for $6.00.

I went thru my closet Friday & loaded up two garbage bags with clothes from my closet that I no longer wear for one reason or another & dropped them off at a local thrift store to be resold/recycled. And then I looked at the other clothes in my closet. There are two pairs of black dress slacks (both purchased new - 2-3 years ago), five pairs of jeans (purchased new - about $15/each - I refuse to spend more than $20 for new jeans)and a few sweaters that Jerry bought for me as gifts. Everything else in my closet was given to me by a friend who buys expensive clothes & happens to wear the same size I do, or was purchased at a garage sale or thrift store.

I have now decided that I've gone from being a Thrift Store Slut to being a Thrift Store Snob! :o) I'd like to take this opportunity to say "thank you" to those of you who find it necessary to buy high priced clothes so people like me can dress like we shop in those stores!