Don't Sleep on Thrift Store Finds

I have been going to the thrift store for awhile now to score some really great deals on *NEW* or gently used books for my daughter since she loves to read. I literally can get her 10-12 books for $2 MAX. Same thing with the toys but she has enough toys right now that even cheap new toys don't even compel me to buy them (although I bought her a sit n spin gently used and in great condition for $3).  I rarely peruse the clothing section because at first glance, a lot of the selection looks ragged, faded, and extremely out of date. However, I decided to see if they had any blazers my size that won't make me look frumpy. Well, to my surprise, I found 3 blazers that I really like.  Here is one of them:

This blazer was in tip top condition and was only $7! *SMILES*  So after finding a little success, I decided to head over to the women's section to see what I can score in deals and style.  Let me tell you, I had a much better time browsing the racks at the thrift store than I would at the insanely disorganized racks at Forever 21 (but they still have AWESOME jewelry).  What made things better was the fact that all clothing was buy 1 get 1 free.  I was like "Word?".  As I was looking at some of the price tags, I noticed that many of the tops, pants, and skirts were only $3.  Then I said to myself "WORD!". Lets get to cracking...

Don't get me wrong, you have to be patience when it comes to shopping at the thrift store.  When I shop for books for Z, I make sure there are no stains, frayed edges, food grime, and torn out pages in the books I purchase.  It is a process but if you just look, you would be amazed what items you can find that are either new or in really great shape.  Just like I inspect the books, I examined every piece of clothing item I was interesting in purchasing for tears, fading, stains, holes, and etc.

Some of the items, I was really put off.  They say another man's trash is someone else's treasure.  Well, some of the items are just plain trash in my opinion.  The stains in some of these items were basically like OMG...like, how can you even put this on the rack with a price tag even if it is only 2-3 dollars?

But some of the items I could not believe they were stranded in the amidst of old ragged clothing.  My most exciting findings is this top:

 

 

This top is so gorgeous in person! $3! I am so into crazy prints and patterns and this top definitely hits the spot! Amazing...

So since I bought one top, I was able to get this one free:

I don't have many blue tops so this is a great addition to my wardrobe.  It is crazy because I have a shirt that I purchased at Forever 21 that looks very similar to this one (paid $20 for it).  Throw on a nice white or khaki skirt and a skinny belt and I am set to go with this great find!

So what are some of the other items I found during my thrifting experience?

Great for a casual chill look.  The cotton material is unbelievably soft!

 

Wrap top from Forever 21 :)  The sleeves poof up to bring out the shoulders.

 

I always wanted a pleated skirt and this one is NAVY! Woot! Even better...

Nice and flowy that can be paired with a belt to create a nice waistline.

Love the print!

Very nice fitted blouse. It fits perfectly on me!

 

As you can see, these items are the same name brand items you get from the mall. I purchased 3 blazers, 6 skirts (one of them being Jones New York), 7 tops, and a nice dress for under $50! My type of shopping. :)  Don't get me wrong, it was time consuming (1.5 hours of searching) but very much worth the effort. I will probably make one more trip to the thrift store before the buy 1 get 1 free deal is over.  Good thing the thrift store is on the way to my Church...or maybe not...lol. :)

Hope you all have a blessed weekend! :)