thrifting Archives - Cat Skinner Club

Cat Skinner October 4, 2013

Fall Wardrobe Essentials

I have a love/hate relationship with fall. The colours, the weather, and the fashion save me from sinking into the mire of painful personal associations with this season. The food, the harvest and the fact that both my baby boy and my eldest girl have autumn birthdays give me reason to look forward to the weeks ahead.

Something possessed me to donate most of my (admittedly kind of shoddy) fall wardrobe last year when I was pregnant, and so this year as I was looking for warmer clothing, I found myself coming up with very little. My new promise to be more thrifty required me to make some careful choices about where and how to acquire a new fall wardrobe. My seasonal blues spurred me into some serious retail therapy.

First, I took stock of what I had. The panic set in when I opened the Rubbermaid tub in the basement to search for something to wear to a baby-naming ceremony. I had nothing. Not one stitch of dressy fall clothing. I started from there. On the long car ride to the city to attend said ceremony, I shopped. My go-to place now is ThredUp, a very gently used clothing resource that currently only ships to the US. No big deal for me because we have a box at the UPS store in Niagara Falls, NY which is a short jaunt from where we currently live.

I got twenty pieces consisting of dresses, tops and skirts for $290.00. A second visit and $250 later, I got some dressy fall clothes for the girls (three dresses each), seven work-appropriate and dressy tops for Mama S, and four sweaters and two pairs of pants for me. All of this stuff will look brand new because ThredUp is so particular about their quality control. For an additional $200 I rounded things out with a trip to good old Value Village. There I bought a full-length, mint condition, black wool Cole Haan coat for $17; a chocolate-brown Tory Burch sweater for $7; a long light beige cashmere Max Mara coat for $18; a couple of cardigans; an adorable pair of twill wide-legged denim like pants; a pair of brand new navy suede Nine West loafers that are like walking on pillows; a beautiful tunic dress, a couple of casual tops, and a hand-woven sweater. I think there were a couple more goodies in there, but I can’t think of what they are at the moment. Oh yes, three more tops for Mamma S.

Now I have a LOT of fall clothes, and I spent a total of $740 between myself and three other people. Second-hand shopping requires patience, it’s true. I think it also speaks to a certain personality type – someone who loves color and texture and combing through a mountain of stuff to find treasure.

My search for excellent thrift stores has led me to the following excellent links:

trendtrunk.com – Canadian!
exching.com

And of course the old fall-backs:

Etsy.com
Ebay.com

Here’s my list of fall wardrobe basics:

Three dressy dresses
Three casual dresses
Two pairs of jeans, one skinny, one that could be dressed up
Two pairs of casual pants
Two pairs of dress pants
One blazer in a neutral color you will wear frequently
One crisp white button down, long-sleeved
Three blouses
Three skirts
One pencil skirt
One chambray shirt
One maxi skirt

Three pullover sweaters
Three cardigans
One lightweight casual jacket
One lightweight dressy jacket
One casual coat
One dressy coat
Two pairs of comfortable flats
Two pairs of heels
One pair of riding boots
Two pairs of dressy boots
One pair of booties
Several pairs of footed tights in neutral colors and interesting textures
One large autumn colored bag
Three fall scarves
One wooly infinity scarf

I’m sure that most people could survive on less, and of course I know I don’t need clothes to be happy, but I will be the first to freely admit that opening my closet every morning to a sea of rich autumn hues and cozy textures makes me smile. I love clothes, and I feel good about recycling. Now I just need to find somewhere to wear everything!

Here’s a link to my Fashion board on Pinterest for further inspiration:

Cat Skinner July 17, 2013

Thrifty Mommy

I finally got a chance to hit one of the local thrift stores. It was a quick trip, and I grabbed some light weight, light-coloured hiking clothes for the Noodle and I, but I found a couple of cute things I wanted to share with you.

$6.99 – I found a pretty embroidered tablecloth for our classroom, for when we decide to host tea parties.

$7.99 (set of 5) – These cheerful place mats will be cute in the classroom for lunches

$4.99 – I loved this cute apron. I think homeschool teachers should wear aprons.

$3.99 – I found this three-dimensional wooden tic tac toe game for the girls.

$5.99 – I love the owl on this cute tote. Great for library visits!

$2.99 – I couldn’t resist these little kitties. I figure they are Waldorf toys because they are made of fur, cardboard and glass.

I scored high in the book department. I found myself some vintage gems, and a copy of Stephen King’s book about the creative process, which comes highly recommended. I also found some lovely books for the girls. I’m really excited about the princess series based on historical figures. They even had a book special – buy three books, get one free.

I’ve wisely started using my grocery shopping app to make a list of items to look for next time I’m thrifting. It’s too easy to get distracted, and I don’t want to come home with more stuff that we don’t really need. With the exception of the little cats, which were a huge hit, I think I was pretty savvy.

Next trip, I need to find storage containers for our classroom made from natural materials.

Cat Skinner June 30, 2013

Thrifty Mommy

I ran away to my parent’s house in Hamilton on Tuesday, which was the night before our moving day. It made more sense for me (and my breasts) to be available to little Noah, and let’s face it, everyone is happier if I’m not a big stress ball. Witnessing the move would have made me a big stress ball, and so I enjoyed the quiet of my parents’ home instead. No trip to Hamilton is complete without a visit to the local thrift store, and my parents live within walking distance of one of those chain department style thrift shops. I spent a total of $71 and here are some of the treasures that I found…

shams

$3.99 ea – Quilted pillow shams for the girls’ room. I want to work on making their room a little more age-appropriate, and I thought these colors were great inspiration for two girls who don’t like pink. I was lucky to find a pair of duvet covers at Ikea that complimented these pillow shams beautifully. Now I just need to find some turquoise and lime green accents.

albums

$4.99 – A generously stuffed seat cushion for me in our classroom. It’s a simple but pretty green and purple print on a white background. I know I already have a lot of cushion for my booty, but I’ll appreciate the support if I’m spending more time writing.

$1.99 – A vintage scrapbook/photo album, untouched, with black pages

$.99 ea – Handmade paper scrapbooks with shoe lace style binding for the girls. We read a very cute book recently about a summer vacation, and I’d like to have them each work on a summer vacation scrapbook like the little girl in our story.

linens

$7.99 – A queen sized vintage bed sheet in perfect condition with a sunny butterfly pattern. I’m either going to use this on my bed in my new room, or use it to build collapsible tee pees for the girls to play in outside.

$3.99 – A huge April Cornell cushion cover in black with magenta and fuchsia butterflies. I’m collecting cheerful linens in warm tones for the quiet nook in our classroom.

mobile

$2.99 – This darling, brand new mobile for Noodle. The little stuffed animals are all made of natural fibers, and the tags were still on it. It’s perfect for above his change table, and when he grows out of it; I can cut it apart and give him some little friends to play with.

train

$4.99 – Brand new, tags still on soft leather shoes for Noodle. I love these kinds of baby shoes. They are the only kind that stays on their feet.

$.99 – A wooden train and train car, hand-made, for Noodle. We love wooden toys for him.

thriftclothes

$7.99 – A green and black tie-died Calvin Klein sun dress for me. I’m looking for some breast-feeding friendly summer attire, and I refuse to spend money on over-priced and often ugly clothes that are specifically designed for breast-feeding.

$3.99 – A navy blue Gap tank top made of very sweet eyelet cotton and jersey. It’s scandalously low-cut, but Noodle can just reach in and grab a snack!

I can hardly wait to check out the local thrift shops in our area. My plan is to pick an afternoon when someone else can mind Noodle and just get lost inside the stores for a couple of hours. I find it so satisfying when I locate interesting items and good deals, and Daddy has wisely shown me a very clever way to hunt for re-sellable book titles, so I can now finance my occasional trips without dipping into our household budget!

What are your some of your second-hand treasure acquisitions?