Well, I gave it a go: Part Two

I mentioned the other day that I needed to buy some new pants for little Abe and that I was going to give the thrift store another try. Shopping the thrift store for clothing is another tip in the book Money Secret of the Amish. Yes, they do make their own clothing and have a very strict dress code but the Amish are frequenters of thrift stores, garage sales, consignment shops. They will buy used clothing and alter the items to suit their needs or use the fabric for much less than it'd cost to buy new fabric.

Inspired by the book, I stopped in a consignment shop on my way home from work Wednesday. The store was HUGE and so well laid out and wonderfully organized. I kind of loved it (and I do NOT like thrift store shopping). A lot of the pieces cost more then something one might find at a thrift store but there were some really cheap finds too. And I'm starting to wonder what has happened to me. They had a sale where any items with brown or yellow tags were 20% off. I was trying really hard to find things that I liked with those brown or yellow tags. I mean really, I'm in a consignment shop looking through marked down used clothing AND trying to save 20%. I have a problem, right?

My goal was to not spend more than $5 on any one time for the kiddo. That was the goal. I wanted to get him pants, PJ's and a nice sweatshirt. This place was HUGE but for some reason all the 3T/4T racks were covered in 3T clothing. I had a VERY difficult time finding any 4T clothes let alone ones that met my criteria. There were only three PJ's and I did not like them. I couldn't find a nice sweatshirt in the right size that didn't cost a bundle. So here's what I came away with:

The grey colored blue jeans with all the original tags still on were $6.34. Yes I went over my $5 goal with this one but they were brand new and had a yellow tag (so I saved and extra 20%).

The grey pants with the stripes were $4 something.

The black pants were $1.92.

The sweater was over $5 too. I think it was $7.92 but I really liked it so I got it. I can see little Abe getting a lot of use out of it.

I spent $20.18 on these four items. That sounds like a lot of money to me but I think I did pretty good. I looked at new clothes at the store before going to the consignment shop. The cheapest, cheap pants were $4.98 so I definitely saved money on the black and grey pants. The grew pants with the white and orange stripes down the leg are very sturdy, very thick, in great condition and are WAY nicer than the brand new pants in the store that I saw for $4.98. The cheapest blue jeans I saw brand new at the store were $10 so I saved money on the brand new grey $6.34 pants too (plus the store tag that was on them said $19.50).

I justified the two "over $5" purchases because of the $1.92 pants. I hate shopping but now he has more pants that fit and a nice sweater. I'll call the "thrift" store shopping trip a win.