Thrifting Part 3: Finding My Style

 Wow! It's already the middle of July...here is part 3 of the thrifting series! It took a bit of time off from thrifting at the beginning of the month, but found some good things this week - a kelly green blouse, a chambray skirt, and pink bermuda shorts.

This installment in the thrifting series is all about finding my style. When I first started thrifting, I had not been doing much shopping. I had lost a little bit of weight, had a new job title, and of course, a preschooler! All of this resulted in a closet full of clothes that were out of date and generally not right for me and where I am in life right now. It was extremely difficult for me to get dressed in the morning without full on meltdowns - seriously. I usually spend a few hours at work each day and always was looking for comfortably dressy outfits that I could stay in all day. This was really hard for me.

I spent quite a bit of time reading about the small wardrobe at Small Notebook and the No Brainer Wardrobe at the Tiny Twig. As a result, I adjusted my style, which combined with my change in size resulted in me weeding out my wardrobe pretty significantly. I was left with some pretty big gaps in my clothing.

I was having trouble finding reasonably priced pieces in stores, so I started thrifting. At first, I needed quite a bit - even simple things like black pants. Once I filled in some of these core pieces, I started a list of items I was looking for when I went thrifting. I felt too overwhelmed just randomly looking around Goodwill with no direction. I also wanted to curb some of the impulse purchases - you know, "hey it's only $4 so I should buy it!"

I created a fall/winter wish list and shopped with that through February or March. Now I'm working on my spring/summer wish list. I base my wish list items on trends I like, images from Pinterest, and colors I find lacking in my wardrobe. I read several style blogs as well for inspiration. Some of the items on my current wish list include: crop pants, bright skinnies, colorful cardigans and tops, a maxi dress, and a floral dress. I have found some of the pieces I was looking for already such as denim crop pants, a fuchsia cardigan, pink bermuda shorts, a teal wrap dress, and some floral skirts.

I won't find everything I'm looking for - and there will definitely be the occasional impulse purchase in there - but my wish list helps me a ton! I find plenty of good things that allow me to stretch and remix what I already have. I am amazed at how many things I can find on my list if I am patient and check each time I stop in to a store. I do supplement with retail items on occasion as well.

In the next month or 6 weeks, I'll start writing a fall wish list. It should be shorter than last year's, but I'm sure it will still have lots of items on it!

Do you shop with a list when you thrift? Leave me a comment!

I have a book review coming this week, a messenger bag I finished, and hopefully the next post in this series will be right around the corner. Have a great week!