I really love stripes, even to the point of sometimes combining different ones. I hadn’t found any striped shirts for a while and was happy that my secondhand wardrobe finds for the week were two for two dollars each–one for summer and one for winter. Yeah stripes!

 Thrift store jewels that I’ll make into other treasures.  

I’ve written before about how much I love vintage jewelry. Some pieces I wear as they are; others I disassemble to use the components to make something new. Yesterday while I was nosing around my local public library, I found a great new book on how to take bits and pieces of old jewelry, plastic cake decorations and doll furniture and turn them into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, shoe clips and more. The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girl’s Guide to Handmade Jewelry isn’t for those who love only pearls, solid gold and diamond jewelry. But if you’d enjoy a necklace made of plastic gnomes, you should check out this book.

I try to make only excellent choices when I buy clothing, but sometimes it’s only after I wear an item a few times that I realize that it isn’t the most flattering. I could toss it into the trash, but it’s so much more satisfying to take it someplace where it will be used and appreciated. Sending my clothing off to the thrift store is a fine way, I think, to enjoy Secondhand Wardrobe Day.

The above photo is of my Marino Orlandi Italian handbag that sells for $350.00 and up. The price I paid at my local thrift store was three dollars. With bargains like these, who wouldn’t love shopping secondhand? The fact is that many people wouldn’t, and that’s because there is such a stigma attached to buying and wearing used clothing. I created Secondhand Wardrobe Day, which is August 25^th of each year, in order to fight this stigma.

I have begun laying the groundwork for a Secondhand Wardrobe Day celebration in 2009, including contests and competitions which will be posted on this blog. For now, I’ll keep writing about finding the bargains, and hope you’ll continue to join me.

Members of the Press: Leave a blog comment—it will remain unposted and will go directly to me.

Secondhand Clothing Stores: If your organization would like to sponsor a contest for 2009, please leave a blog comment.

The other day I found myself in need of a stack of used long sleeved tee shirts. I do programs for kids at schools and libraries and I’m scheduled to do one next Wednesday where I teach the kids to make stuffed animals from the sleeves of used tee shirts.   

I thought I had plenty of sleeves for everybody. Then I spoke with the librarian and found out that many more kids had signed up for the program than they had anticipated. I suddenly found myself with just barely enough supplies. Thank goodness that Goodwill has 2 for $3 days! 

Yesterday I strolled into the store, went straight to where the long sleeved shirts are located, looked for the ones with the discount tags, and within 10 minutes I had just what I needed. Not only that, I got a bonus for my secondhand efforts—in with the tees that I will use for my recycling program, I also nabbed a few that are in great condition and that fit me just right.