Jackets and Coats

Goodwill has their coats out now and there's a great selection of light jackets, light coats, heavy coats, trenches, denim, leather, wool, exercise, etc. The list goes on and on...

I saw a beautiful dressy swing coat for little girls that was red and black with black flower embroidered on the collar. It was 100% wool and it was $10.00. I almost bought it, but we just aren't very "formal" people and I couldn't imagine my daughter getting much use out of it. I'd have to venture a guess and say that coat was probably $80.00 or more retail.

Anyway...

I love vests in the wintertime. I love how versatile they are. Plus, they are super comfortable to wear while driving... no bulky coat!

I had my eye on a white vest last year, but just couldn't pull the trigger, so when I saw this vest by Kenneth Cole Reaction, I knew I had to have it. It had some makeup around the collar (that easily washed off), but was otherwise in perfect condition! I paid $7.00.

(BTW, it's really hard to photograph anything white... but you get the idea!)

Back to School Shopping for Jeans

There really are deals to be had at thrift stores when you are in the market for jeans.

Over the last few weeks, I've been stocking up on jeans, jean shorts and skirts for the girls for school this year.


What I like about shopping thrift stores for jeans is of course the price. Second, the brand names. Sorry people, but you will never find me paying full price for a pair of Gap jean shorts. But, I'll pay $1.50 everyday of the week for these Gap jean shorts! I found this pair of adjustable waist demin shorts by the GAP for Elisan at the Salvation Army. They were priced at $3.00 and were half off!

Of course, not every pair of jeans found at a thrift store are in excellent condition. Many have the knees worn out, faded in the bum or stained. So, you have to be careful in your picks. But, with the vast amount of denim that thrift stores carry, you're sure to find exactly what you are looking for. Seriously.

Here's a run down of my purchases:

• 2 pairs Old Navy girlfriend blue jeans (adjustable waist) size 7 - $4.00/each (Goodwill)
• 1 pair Old Navy black skinny jeans (adjustable waist) size 8 - $4.00 (Goodwill)
• 1 pair MUDD jeans (adjustable waist) size 8 - $1.50 (Salvation Army)
• 1 pair Old Navy capri roll cuff jeans (adjustable waist) size 8 - $4.00 (Goodwill)
• 1 pair GAP bermuda length jean shorts (adjustable waist) size 8 - $1.50 (Salvation Army)
• 1 pair Arizona bermuda length jean shorts (adjustable waist) size 7 - $2.00 (Goodwill)
• 1 skirt OP brand size 7 - $1.00 (Salvation Army)

$20.50 without tax! Not bad!

Good finds + Good friends = Awesomeness!

I have a friend who loves to thrift shop probably more than I do. On one of her trips to Goodwill she saw this awesome Athleta tank in the linens section and grabbed it for me.

She called to tell me I had a Goodwill find in the mail and to be on the look out for it! I was so excited when I opened my package and found this awesome tank.

Never a bad idea to keep your thrifting friends in the loop as to what you are looking for! You never know… your friend may have better luck than you!

Goodwill Hunting shopping day - Recap!

I met my friend Heather on Saturday and we headed out for a day of Goodwill shopping.

Heather and I know each other from church and have many mutual friends, but we've never had the opportunity to hang out together. It was fun getting to know her a bit better and realize that we have A LOT in common. Aside from loving a good deal at any type of thrift or resale store, we both are stay at home moms with common values in how we raise our kids. She's also a type A personality which is always a good pairing for this type A personality!

We ended up stopping at two Goodwill stores and the Salvation Army. Heather had never been to the Salvation Army, so it was great to introduce her to the 1/2 price deals of SA.

Heather got some great deals on school uniforms for her daughter who will be starting Kindergarten this year. She also found several really cute outfits for her youngest daughter who is almost two. She also scored some really great clothing items for herself.

I found a variety of items and ended up spending less than $30 the entire day.

• Banana Republic tank
• 2 New Balance sport bras
• Nike skort and soccer shirt for soccer practice
• 5 books
  
• Littlest Pet Shop playhouse
• Ron Jon Surf Shop boogie board

It was a fun day and Heather and I agreed that we will need to set up another Goodwill Hunting shopping day soon.

Book update and other stuff

Sadly, I never received a response to the email I sent to Goodwill Industries of Central Texas, but in this case, actions speak louder than words!

While in Goodwill yesterday, I noticed the children's book have been re-tagged to $.59 - $.99 each! WHOOHOO! No more price gouging! I was so excited to see this change that we bought three books. I wonder now if I was the only person to complain...

In other news, I recently purchased two really cute items for the girls. The pink Bermuda length shorts are from the GAP. They have adjustable waist and are in excellent condition. I paid $1.99 for them.


The skirt is from The Children's Place and is fully lined and is also in excellent condition. (I took this picture right after I washed it, so the fabric is a little damp and the colors look darker than they really are.) I paid $3.99 for this skirt which is more than I would have normally paid, but because I had my little girl with me and she loved the skirt, I couldn't put it back.



But, here's tip for shopping at Goodwill. The cashiers ring up the items based on the category that the item falls in to. The guy at the register rang the GAP shorts up in the "shorts" category, but failed to place it in "children shorts" category. Adult shorts are $5.99 and children shorts are $1.99. Quite a difference! When he corrected his error, I also questioned him about the price of the skirt. I felt certain the price wasn't $3.99, but rather $1.99, since skirts and shorts are closely related in category, but he insisted it was indeed $3.99. I didn't argue with him about it since my little one really wanted the skirt. However, had I been alone, I would have put it aside.

My New Favorite Store

I have a new favorite store! I've talked about the Salvation Army in the past, but I've had really good luck there over the last month. In fact, it's quickly becoming my new favorite place to shop.

Over the last month, I've purchased about 15 pairs of shorts/capris for my family. (The picture below is from the second trip I made last week.)

Each pair of shorts was 1/2 off the ticketed price which was anywhere from $1.99 for kids and $3.99 up to $4.99 for adults. This particular shopping trip to the Salvation Army cost me roughly $17.00. Can you believe it? And the brand are great brands - J Crew, REI, Express, Old Navy and Nike.

I was particularly excited to find the REI cycling shorts with the padded bottom. They are brand new. I plan to turn them around and sell them on Craigslist for profit. I paid $2.50 for them. Good cycling shorts run anywhere from $40 and up.

This Week's Finds

I had a good week of thrifting!

Oh yes, people, another pair of cargos! I told you I was in love with them! This pair is by Express and they fit so great. I got this pair of cargo shorts for $5.99, which is still a bit high, in my opinion. Goodwill unfortunately, sells all of their shorts for this price (or higher, depending on brand.) I think they would sell many more shorts if they lowered the price by one dollar. You listening Goodwill?


I popped into the Salvation Army for a few minutes yesterday and I found this beauty! And, every yellow tag in the store was an additional 50% off. So, this dress was $2.00. Once I washed it, the wrinkles fell out and it is beautiful. I think it will be a perfect "princess" dress for the "Breakfast With The Princesses" at Disneyworld in a few weeks.



I also found a great pair of Nike shorts at the Salvation Army. They were tagged $2.99 and I got them for 1/2 price as well. I forgot to take a picture of them, but they are black boardshorts and will look great over a swimsuit or with a tank top and flip flops.

And finally, another book! I found "Sophie's World" by Nancy Rue for a $1.00. Nancy Rue is a Christian author who writes young girl series books. I've been buying her books every time I see them and as of now, we have 6 of her books.

That's all for now!

I {heart} Cargo Pants!

I love, love, love cargo pants. Maybe because they are reminiscent of parachute pants from the 80's? Not sure...but, I can't get enough of cargo pants!

And, because cargo pants were probably popular the last two years, there is a surplus of cargo pants at thrift/resale stores right now. If I'm lying... well, sorry.

In fact, I tried on a very cute pair of cargos by Aeropostale today, but they were white and I'm just not ready to commit to white pants. Cargo or not.

But, I did commit to these! These are GAP cargos and I love them. They are so comfy and the best part? They are already broken in. I bought these at the Salvation Army and it was my lucky day because every green tag in the store was an additional 50% off. Yep! $2.50. Score.

Specialty Shoes

Seems like every soccer season, be it Spring or Fall, I'm in the market for a new size in soccer shoes for at least one of my girls. Luckily, Kyla has been able to wear her sister's hand-me-down soccer shoes for the past couple of seasons, but this year, Kyla's feet have caught up with her big sister's feet.

Since I began shopping at Goodwill, I noticed a huge collection of specialty shoes for kids, like cleats and tap shoes. So, if you are in the market for kids' specialty shoes, check out Goodwill first!

I bought the pink Nike soccer cleats for Kyla this week. They were $5.00. In fact, all of the shoes shown in this picture were $5.00 or less.

Christmas Challenge! Day 20

I love jackets!

At the first real break in temperatures I begin to start thinking Fall wardrobe. Of course, you can't beat GW for the selection of jackets and the price is usually around $7.00.

Here are just some of the jackets I've purchased from GW.

I absolutely love the red jacket from the GAP. Love. It. I get so many compliments on this jacket. I also love the tan jacket from the GAP as well. It's my go-to jacket when I need to bring along an extra layer of clothes.

I l ike to wear the white Old Navy jacket with funky black graphic tee shirt. The white/black contrast is fun! The black short sleeved cropped jacket is by Papaya. It's really a nice piece of clothing.

And finally, the hot pink vest is great to wear with layered t-shirts or to the gym.

What I love about these jackets is that I didn't spend a fortune and I've had them for years and they still look great!

Christmas Challenge! Day 19

I was so excited to see the "boyfriend jacket/blazer" make it's way back into fashion. I've always been a fan of the blazer!

Granted, I don't wear my blazer with funky leggings or weird shoes, but I do love wearing it over jeans, a cami and cute patent flats!

I remember waking up early one morning with the boyfriend blazer on my mind. My immediate thought was to check out GW! Of course, not only did I find one, but I found several!

Here's the one I purchased for $7.00. It's NY&Co. brand, fully lined and in excellent condition!

Christmas Challenge! Day 17

Did I mention that I love the Salvation Army store? Oh yes, yes I do!

In fact, it is one of my favorite places to shop, but since there is only one store in my 20 mile radius, I don't visit it very often.

What you probably don't know is that the Salvation Army has HALF-PRICE days! Yep! They offer half price on items with certain color tags. They rotate the colors each week.

I got this Abercrombie and Fitch jacket for $6.00. It was priced at $12.00, but it was on half off. I love buying jeans there too because they price their jeans even cheaper than Goodwill. I've bought jeans there as cheap as $3.00/pair.

So, are you convinced that thrift shopping is worth it?

Christmas Challenge! Day 16

I began shopping at Goodwill about 4 years ago. I usually only shopped GW to look for clothing and toys for the girls.

However, when I began working out and losing weight I began shopping more and more at GW for transitional clothes. When I started working out I was a size 10. I needed clothes that fit me from size 10 to size 2 but didn't want to spend a fortune on clothes.

What I found was amazing! I found jeans that were barely worn. Or jeans that were "broken in" but still had a lot of life left in them. I found jeans in every style, color, brand imaginable. And because of that, I still buy my jeans at GW. Most jeans are priced at $7.99 and up to $9.99 for better brands. I tend to buy GAP jeans mostly because I like how they fit.

All of the pants shown in this picture have been purchased from GW.

In addition to jeans, I buy pants there as well. My favorite brand of pants is Express, Editor cut/style. I clearly would never pay $70 for a pair of Editor pants, but I'll pay $7-$10 for them! I've also found some really neat cargo pants from Abercrombie and Aeropostle that I love! Again, I would never pay the Abercrombie or Aero prices!

Christmas Challenge! Day 14

I bought the girls Christmas dresses about 2 months ago while I was at GW. The secret to buying Christmas dresses at GW is SHOP EARLY! When you notice the Christmas apparel in mid-October, don't hesitate if you see something you like, because by December the good stuff will be gone!

When I bought these two dresses I had about 6 dresses in my hands. It was hard to decide, but I ultimately decided on these two. My heart was telling me, "Buy all of them!" but my brain was saying, "Are you crazy?"

The short sleeved dress is from Charter Club, a store brand of Macy's. The second dress is from Justice, Just for Girls. GW typically sells their children's dresses for $3.99/each unless it is a more popular brand like Gymboree, Ralph Lauren, etc. Even, then, the dresses are still under $8.00.

Christmas Challenge! Day 13

I love shopping at GW for holiday wear for the girls. Most Christmas dresses are gently worn and are usually in great condition.

I bought this dress last year for Elisan. It is by Storybrook Heirlooms. It is very well made and I love the faux fur trim.


This year, Kyla is able to wear it. It looks adorable on her! Not only did I get a great deal at GW ($3.99), but I get two wears out of it!

This week, I'm going to focus on clothing! Should be fun!