Why I Love Consignment Store Shopping

I snapped the above shot in the dressing room of Turnabout Consignment Store on my cell phone camera.  Yes, that’s an original tag that tells us that (a) someone paid $395 for this dress (you can’t see it in this photo, but it was from Holt Renfrew) and (b) they never wore it (since the original tag was still on the dress).  And, yes, the other tag shows that this very same dress has now been marked down to $21.  That’s 95% off.

Unfortunately for me, the dress was just a bit too small – I couldn’t quite get the zipper done all the way up and as much as I wanted to tell myself “I could lose 5 lbs and fit into this dress,” I have a strict policy of not buying any item of clothing unless I absolutely *love* it and it fits me perfectly right now, not 5 lbs from now.

And even when I love clothes AND they fit me perfectly, I always stop to ask myself if I love them enough to justify the purchase.  “Sure I love this skirt, but do I $40 love this skirt?”

Here are the clothes that I *did* love enough to buy while shopping at the consignment and thrift stores this week.

New Dress, $24 at Turnabout Consignment Store

Tank top $1.29 at Thrift Store; Skirt $5 at Thrift Store

Another Look at the Skirt. I heart funky hemlines.

Shirt: $6.99 at Thrift Store. Skirt = $16 at Turnabout Consignment Store

I need a power suit

OK, maybe I don’t *really* need a power suit, but I feel in the mood for some new work clothes. I’ve worn all of my work clothes soooo many times and I’m kind of bored of them. Also, I’ve noticed that despite that fact that I own no fewer than 3 pairs of brown shoes¹, I own a grand total of zero, nada, nilch in the way of brown skirts or pants. Or dresses.

And speaking of dresses, one of my co-workers was wearing a really funky dress yesterday and it made me realize that I don’t have any good work dresses. I have a few fancy dresses and a few summer dresses that are appropriate for, say, a walk on the beach. But nothing that is really suitable for business. No business dresses. And dresses are so handy because you only have to make one decision – “hey, I want to wear this dress” – without all the nonsense of having to pick a top and then *also* having to pick a bottom to go with the top. Which is also why a suit is good – when you pick the top, you are also automatically picking the bottom.

Oh yeah, and the pic of me? That’s from back when I won an award for my doctoral research on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Back when I had longer hair and fewer wrinkles. And I’m using that photo here because it shows the only suit that I own. The skirt of which is a bit too short to be all that comfortable. But at least it’s a suit.

Anyhoodle, the point of this whole posting is really to say that I need to get me to a consignment store, stat!

¹I realize that this may sound a wee bit excessive, but they are three distinctly different types of shoes. One is a pair of flats, another a good solid pump, and the third a pair of strappy heels. So, really, they would all serve a different purpose, if only I had some brown skirts or pants to wear them with.