Thrift Shopping

I had told The Boyfriend several times I needed to go get new jeans. He would look at me dubiously and make comments about belts. It's true, belts can get you through for awhile, but at some point you have to break down and buy pants that fit.

To say I'm on a budget is laughable. I'm over a budget. Every month. This is not the way I like to do things, but every once in awhile you have to be in debt. And so I try to be careful about my spending (since it never ever fits into my "budget" anyways). There are some things you just have to spend money on though: school supplies, food, and (for the sake of this post) I'm going to say clothes that don't fall off your body.

I'd planned on going to the Gap Clearance Store, which is one of my favorite shopping places on earth. They have Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic items that are slightly damaged, majorly damaged, returned, that failed to sell on clearance elsewhere, and some things that are brand new and in perfect condition. It's a giant warehouse where you can hunt for bargains. Jeans are usually $10 a pair, occasionally $5 if you can catch the sale. Why spend more?

But why not spend less.

Yesterday I decided to visit the largest and best run thrift store I've been to in my life. I'd only been here once before, and it's a haul to get there, but I was already in the area and decided to give it a go. And oh was it worth it.

I bought six pairs of jeans and two pairs of capris for $15.02 (plus tax). That's less than $2 a pair folks. And they're not ratty old jeans, they're nice! Take, for example, the relatively expensive Lucky Brand jeans that I splurged and spent $3.99 on.

Maybe that extra pocket detailing is why they sell for so much in the stores

I'm not much for name brands but the back pockets are cute and there are clovers printed on the material of the pockets. It's the little things that make me happy.

Another thing that makes me happy? Nine cent jeans. That's right, nine pennies bought me a full length pair of pants.

I'm gonna pop some tags.

"Well they must be hideous or stained or have no button! There have to be holes or maybe they're mom jeans from circa 1992. You can NOT buy nice jeans for nine cents!" you say.

But I scoured over these jeans. Tried them on twice. They look fantastic, fit like a glove, and the zipper totally works. Don't believe me? Check it out...

All nine cents worth.

More cute back pockets.

The receipt goes on to show a few accessories I picked up and a closet's worth of cute new dresses (ranging from $1.99 to $8.99), including a $4.99 Evan-Picone date night dress that the internet tells me retails for $99. All in all it was a worthwhile trip, to say the least.

And for any remaining doubters ("Why didn't you just wear your old jeans with a belt?) I went into the thrift store wearing a heavily belted size 12 jean. I left with two bags full of size 6 jeans and capris for less than you'd pay for a belt at most stores. I'm all for being money-conscious, but I like to do it without my pants falling off.