Category — Comparative Pricing

My daughter loves her new prom dress

My daughter found her prom dress last Saturday. It cost five dollars at a local thrift store and is in perfect condition. Garments that are only worn for special occasions often are in wonderful shape because they usually only get worn a few times. Except for a minor alteration to the shoulder straps, the dress fits her like a dream, looks nothing like what everybody else will be wearing, and according to my quickie internet search, comparable dresses by the same manufacturer run around $150. And although she loves this dress, since prom is months away, my daughter has time to continue to snoop around the thrifts, just in case there’s something out there that she likes even more. I can afford to spring for another five bucks, or even ten, if it’ll make her happy.

The other day, I was about to take my 19-year-old son out to lunch when he suggested that we first stop by a neighborhood thrift store so that he could look for some shorts for himself. I was a little grumpy about it because I was planning my usual weekly thrift store trip the next day, when most of the clothing would be ½ off. Unfortunately, he was working the following day, so we popped into the thrift for 10 minutes before hitting the diner. He found 3 pairs of shorts for $17.

The next day, the sale day, I found 12 really heavy, made-for-restaurant use, Anchor Hocking drinking glasses, a black tee by Newport News, a cuddly (and brand new—still had the sizing sticker down the front) fleece sweater from Banana Republic and a Gap pea coat in a brilliant turquoise corduroy. All of it cost $25. Hitting the sales doesn’t always work out, but when I have a choice, ½ off is always more appealing than full price. 

I conjured up a pair of beautiful, Italian, buttery Salvatore Ferragamo boots the other day. I imagined myself finding ankle boots, in brown or cordovan leather with some interesting design detailing. My friend and I were nosing around consignment stores when I saw the Ferragamos, in my oddball, skinny foot size. They were on the ½ off shelf. With some new heels, they’ll last me for years. My Internet search tells me that they would run around $1,000 new. My price was $25.00. I’m generally bigger on the rock bottom, cheapest of the cheap thrift stores than I am on consignment shops, because the consignments usually charge much more. But a $1,000 pair of boots for $25 is a fantastic price by any measure. So hooray for the consignments! 

Today I bought a new looking Brooks 346 (that’s what Brooks Brothers calls their casual line of clothing) navy tee. I already have a tee shirt in the same color in my closet, and since I don’t wear that one very often, I really didn’t need another. But one of the benefits of the secondhand wardrobe is that you can upgrade clothing for very little cash, and then donate the items that the new ones are replacing. The navy shirt that was already in my closet fits me well, but has a small flaw that bothers me, so for 75 cents (regular retail is $19.50), I now own one that’s perfect.  

Today is Family Day at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, so everything in the store except for the yellow tagged items are half price. I don’t know about you, but having that information is enough to get me out of my chair, away from my computer screen and out shopping.

It took me about 12 minutes to look through the rack of jeans, and I found 2 pairs that cost $5.25 combined. The brand name of one pair is Buffalo by David Bitton. From the quickie Internet search that I always like to do when I return home from shopping the thrifts, I found out that Buffalo jeans sell for around $80 – $110. Do people really pay that much for jeans?