Dress For a Bargain

Summer, or should I say "Wedding Season" is such a great time of year, but Weddings are generally notorious for requiring lots of mula. Gifts, travel expenses, clothes, shoes, etc can really add up. A great way to dodge some of those costs is to...you guessed it, Go Thrifty! It really IS possible to pick up a nice outfit second hand. Just check out the dresses I scored for the 2 Weddings I attended this summer. The orange one, which is made by Nine West I picked up for $2 (no, I'm not KIDDING), and the black/pink dress, made by Nicole Miller was a whopping $4. I don't normally dress up too much, so I have to admit that I was a bit nervous to wear both of these. The orange one is well, VERY orange, and the black/pink one was very tight and strapless. I wasn't sure if I liked the pink, but I went out on a limb and had a great time! I even received a handful of compliments both nights, boosting confidence in myself and my choices!

I also made gifts for both weddings, which saved us even more money while adding that special handmade touch gifts from registries lack. Registries can be helpful; when I got married we had a one, but for the Thrifty Challenge, using a registry at a department store is against the rules!  If you have a wedding coming up or even Christmas, check out their registry or wish list and try to create something on their list.  Depending on the couple (and if they'd be offended that you thrifted their gift!), you can also try to find something in line with their registry second hand. It's taboo/tacky in some circles, so be careful!  When in doubt, just give money - you can't go wrong with that!

Cute Fall Jacket Score!

click picture to enlarge for detail

Living in Central NY, I can always use a new coat! Especially a fall coat. The falls up here are kind of unpredictable - it's known to snow on Halloween once in a while. So you can't just get away with wearing a wind breaker, and you probably don't want to break out the North Face yet either. We have all winter to wear the same black fleece as everyone else (you know the fleeces I'm talking about).

This I found for $8, not too shabby. I probably have enough jackets/coats/fleeces to last my entire life, so even if I wasn't pledging to buy used for a year, I still couldn't justify buying another coat new. Used? Definitely! Especially since a coat like this new would probably be $60 and up. I love that this one has soft flannel inside and a sweatshirt-like hood. Good sized pockets, and it's tapered sort of like a pea coat so though it covers the behind, it won't make it look massive. Definitely a score! Oh and the picture makes it look denim, but it's not. Though, I'm not sure what you would consider the material.