It’s no secret that I love thrifting. At this point in my life most of my clothes have come from thrift stores. For me, it’s mostly the treasure hunt factor that I love. I know there’s gems hiding in there, and with a little patience and a good eye, I can find them! I’ve found great brands like Diane Von Furstenburg, Lilly Pulitzer, and tons of J.Crew at my local thrift stores over the years.

Usually I just go in and find what I find. Occasionally I’m keeping my eye out for a certain type of item but most of the time I just see what I find and then decide whether or not it will work with the rest of my wardrobe. I decided to mix it up though and give myself a challenge. Perhaps I’ve been listing to the “Thrift Shop” song a few too many times but I set a goal of finding a full outfit for under $20.

(Picture by my brother)
Here are the guidlines I came up with for myself:

– Spend $20 or less

– Must buy at least two “big” pieces (i.e. top + bottom, or dress and shoes or coat).

– Must be pieces I will be able to wear and reuse with my wardrobe.

Pretty simple, but I’ve never gone into a thrift store before with the single mind of finding an entire outfit, usually I’m just looking for pieces, so I knew it would still be a challenge. I went to my local (Millville, NJ) Goodwill store for this – it’s a nice big store so I knew I had a better chance then going to some of the other local thrift stores that are much smaller.

(Pictures by my brother)

I spent a little under an hour hunting through the racks. I tried on three different outfit possibilities. Two were dresses, one of the dresses was a poor fit and didn’t really go with my style and the other was really cute but a little too dressy for me to wear regularly, but the third outfit was a skirt and top combo that was perfect! I actually had to dig the most to find the top (it was hiding in a rack of long sleeve shirts!) but it was definitely worth that extra effort.

I tallied up what I had and realized I still had $13 left! On a last little jaunt around the store I happened to come across a bag that was not only a perfect match for the outfit, but definitely something I’ll be using all the time now.

Cost breakdown :

Shirt (J.Crew) – $1.99

Skirt + Belt (Target – with original tags) – $4.99

Bag (no brand) – $8.99

Tax – $0.31

Total – $16.28

And the outfit…

All I needed was a pair of shoes, and I love these Target wedges I thrifted last year. It is pretty amazing the things you can find in thirft stores. I’m really glad I gave myself this little challenge. Even though I thirft on a regular basis it felt great to give my thrifting muscles a little workout!