I started shopping at thrift stores when my first two kids were about 1 and 4.
I don't know about your children. Maybe you have demure little tykes that sit quietly. They don't crawl around on their hands and knees, don't jump in puddles, don't spill grape juice down their fronts or throw spaghetti at each other or have mud fights. Goodie for you.
My first two children were a couple of very active boys and it became crystal clear that they had no invested interest in keeping their garments free of stains or holes. And, being underpaid as I am, my clothing budget has always been about, well, the word shoestring comes to mind.
(I'm always stunned at those magazine articles - you know the ones - about "how one family spends their money" and they list their monthly clothing budget at $600.00. What are they wearing? Platinum? I'm lucky if I can spend $1000.00 a year. And that's for 5 of us.)
Anyway, I figured if my kids were going to view their clothing as disposable, then I needed to view it that way too. And there was no way on earth I could do that for $20-$40 a pop for jeans and tee shirts.
Enter thrift stores.
I soon found out that there are thrift stores and there are thrift stores. You really need to find the good ones and not waste your time with the bad ones. And you can't just go by a name.
It just so happens that, in my town, Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul run the cleanest, most organized stores with the best quality clothes. Nothing gets through with stains or holes (except the expensive holes in those fashionable hol-ey jeans) and some of the clothes are like new. I'm afraid I can't say the same for my local Salvation Army stores. You can occasionally find something good there but the stores here are poorly run and finding the good stuff can take a lot of work.
So I would suggest you make at least 2 trips to each thrift store in your area and see which is the best fit for you. No pun intended.
Once I found myself making almost monthly trips in search of stain free tee shirts for the boys, I started looking around a little bit for myself. The first thing I found was a great selection of performing clothes.
I have a job that has a certain dress code. As a harpist, how I am dressed is almost as important as the music I play. You may never have stopped to think about it but I bet you've never seen a harpist gigging in sweats. In fact, when I was hired by an upscale clothing store (OK, it was Saks Fifth Ave.) to play during one of their events, they hired me from a publicity photo. I kid you not. And I don't mean they liked the look of my website - I mean they contacted a booking agent and demanded to see photos of all their listed performers so they could pick the one they most liked the look of. Like it or not, it's all part of the job.
This means I need a closet full of very nice dresses and a lot of long evening type gowns. And preferably not 15 years out of date. I certainly don't have the budget for dresses and pants that cost upwards of $300.00 a piece. So thrift stores have been a godsend there too.
When you think about it, it makes complete sense. Where do old bridesmaid's dresses go? Thrift stores. Old evening gowns bought for a one time wearing? Thrift stores. Clothing manufacturer's overstocks? Thrift stores. Oh, they may send them to the outlet mall first, but if they don't sell there, it's on to Goodwill. I have found several dresses with the store tags still on them.
And once I had a good stock of formal clothes, I started looking around and found a pretty good selection of all types of other clothes as well. Often with some higher end labels like Talbots and Neiman Marcus. Another nice thing is that I find more classic, versatile outfits there. It's so aggravating to go shopping at regular stores for clothes only to find the same ugly, trendy crap in every store.
So, if you haven't been to a thrift store lately and you're trying to stay on a budget, you really should check one out. You might be pleasantly surprised.
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