Anatomy of a Thrift Shop/Stop

Well Hello August!

As the summer winds down here, i'm very reminded that I live in a place where it can be 50 degrees in the morning and 98 degrees by 2pm and then back down to chilly. I love Virginia, I do...it's just insane sometimes the weather we get. 

On that note, I have been ducking into thrift shops when I have the time (as always, a swift thrift it usually ends up as) to search for things on my ever handy list as well as add more pieces to my end of summer closet. 

The last time I was thrifting, I thought to myself 'Self? I should blog this...and show everyone how I shop' Thankfully, recording isn't smiled upon in most of the shops I go to so you won't be subjected to my rambling commentary. Instead, i'll just walk you through and share a video of my rambling commentary concerning my finds. 

When I go into a store, I usually have a plan in mind. A list stays in my head (and in my planner) and it contains all of the items that im looking for. It might not mean that I walk out with every item or that I walk out with anything at all..but it's there. The first place I make a beeline for is the long-sleeve shirts. I'm what some call a 'careless shopper' I tend to move through the colors and prints and I pull anything that catches my eye. If it's obviously too small, I put it back. If it's my size or a little big then it goes into my cart. Once I am done with the long sleeve shirts, I move on to the sleeveless shirts since that is one of the things on my list right now. Then I move onto whatever section is next on my list. Right now, it's shorts. Since I am in the process of trying to eat more healthy, some of my shorts aren't fitting right so a new pair of denim shorts is high on my list. After that, I circle around to the housewares and then the purses/shoes.

Then comes the dressing room. By now i've got a pile the size of Texas on my cart and usually what I will try to do is park my cart outside of a dressing room and only bring in a handful of items at a time. My favorite go-to Goodwill has dressing rooms that have literally not been updated since...well, ever. They have one hook for clothes that is located on the door itself. One mirror. One bench to throw your items. That's it. So 99% of the time, no matter what store i'm in, this is what my door looks like: 

Things I haven't tried on yet are on the center hook. Things that are a 'maybe' go on the left hand side and things that are a no go on the right. 

Then there's a pile on the bench. Only because this time around there was nowhere to put my cart so I had to bring everything with me. I ended up just switching out the 'no' pile with the 'not tried on' pile. This time around, nothing came home with me sadly =( That 'maybe' on the left was hard to say no to but in the end, I didn't have anything at home that would work with it and it was a bit too big. 

Here's a close up of that glorious white and pink shirt that was sadly too small for me. I love the bike print...I have a thing for random prints. I love them. 

I get a lot of crazy looks and side-eyes when I exit the dressing room and only keep 3 or 4 items out of 30 but here's my thing. I go around and grab what catches my eye. I don't WANT to try on a few, get dressed again, leave the room and find something else only to have to strip again, try it on and then start all over again. So that's my strategy. Grab it, try it all on at once. Does it all leave the store with me? Never. Sometimes, like in this case, nothing came home with me and that was ok.

Well, maybe not ok because that Merona shirt was so fabulous that I might have cried when it didn't feet. 

On that same trip to Goodwill that I share up in the video, here's a few things that didn't leave with me on that day: 

 This Ciroa china set. 65 pieces for $50. It's not in my budget right now but isn't is gorgeous? I fell in love with the bird print. Unfortunately, I left it there that day and when I went back a few days later it was gone. Ah well. 

 I saw this and about cried laughing. My husband and I say this to each other all the time, "I love you with all my hearts" it's sort of an inside joke with us now. I just don't have anywhere to put it. While it's adorable and had a meaning to me, I don't want to buy it and then have it sitting around because I can't find a place for it.

Two...count them TWO jean jackets. I have an issue. My daughter has inherited at least 4 or 5 denim jean jackets. She's 4. I am in my 30s and do not have even one of these classic pieces. AH! So top of my list is one of these. Unfortunately, both of these were too small. The Old Navy one on the top is exactly what i'm looking for and it fit fine, until I went to move my arms. 

One day i'll find it, this elusive piece. Until then, happy thrifting!

Cheers-
Jo