Dressing Professionally for Less

It's that time of year again! The time where students everywhere scramble to revise (or start) resumes, search for suits in the depths of their closets, and pretend to know what they want to do in life. Yep. It's career fair time (…..yay….!).

Lucky for us kids in Iowa, ours got post-poned because of a blizzard (not surprising), so we were blessed with a whole extra week to prepare! Tis the night before the fair and I'm…not even close to prepared. But I did make some time to go through my closet and come up with a few possible outfit combinations to choose from (so I'm technically a third of the way prepared…?)

Anyway, I thought this would be a great opportunity to show off some of my more "professional" looking thrift finds! I love looking for business and dress clothes at thrift shops because 1) there's usually  plenty to choose from and 2) you can score some of the biggest deals on quality pieces at a fraction of the price. Suit jackets, for example, can easily run over $100 and I've found some of my favorites from Goodwill for maybe $6 a piece. And because dress clothes usually tend to have higher quality fabrics, many times the pieces will stay in good shape even after being worn (ex: I have no idea how many times my favorite thrifted black blazer has been worn, and it still looks brand new. I'll take it). 

A few of my favorite things to thrift for when I'm looking for professional clothes...

1. Blazers: Check back often because the good ones get snagged fast, but when you find a good one it's totally worth it! 
2. Button downs: There's always a TON at Goodwill, get one in every color! Keep an eye out for the wrinkle free ones that won't require ironing (who has time for ironing in college…)
3. Slacks: Again, always a ton to choose from, but you'll have to dig. Look for familiar brands that you know fit you well to reduce the amount of guesswork since they all kind of look the same. Also keep an eye out for pants that match blazers (many times they come donated as a set, but get separated when put on the floor). 
4. Skirts: I just recently discovered the skirt section--I'd always envisioned it as having all strange floor length denim numbers and out of style minis (which a lot of it is), but I've recently had a lot of luck (two favorites in the pictures below!). If you like skirts, it never hurts to give it a look!

Below are some outfits I came up with, all items that I thrifted or found on super clearance (minus the first blazer that was a b-day gift from mom, and the dress pants in the last one…but trust me, most thrift stores have enough black pants on hand to clothe a whole town). In reality, I'd mix up these pieces with more colorful items but for the purpose of this post I really wanted to stick to strictly thrifted items. 

Left outfit: Black Merona Skirt (Target clearance, $12), Gap boots (Gap Outlet, $1.95), black blazer (A. Byer, gifted)
Middle outfit: NY Collection shirt (Goodwill, $3.49), grey Ilyse Hart Ltd skirt (Salvation Army, .79), black Cable and Gauge cardigan (Goodwill, $3.49). boots (Gap Outlet $1.95), watch (eBay, $3.99)
Right outfit: Merona top (Stuff Etc, $1.99), necklace (eBay, $4.99), skirt, boots and watch same as previous. 

My favorite find the above three is the gray (or is it grey..?) skirt. It fits perfectly in the waist and comes just above my knee (my fellow short people can attest to this being a semi-rare find). Plus, it's 100% wool which makes it great for the colder months. Fun fact: I wore this exact middle outfit to an interview aaaaand got the job, so I'm proud to say it's got some extra luck woven in from here on out :).

Also, the 1.49 boots from Gap Outlet? Not a typo. Found them years ago at an after-Christmas sale--best purchase EVER. I wear them all the time, I'm not sure how they're still in tact.

Left outfit: Black La Belle shift dress (Salvation Army, $2), black A. Byer blazer (gifted), Charlotte Russe booties (Plato's Closet, $7)
Middle outfit: Black Merona top (Stuff Etc, $1.99), The Limited red skirt (Salvation army, $2), Roommates cat (free)
Right outfit: Black Saville blazer (Goodwill, $4.49), turquoise New York & Company button down (Goodwill, $3.59), pants (…have been in my closet forever) 

My favorite find in this second set is  the black shift dress (left) that I found at a Salvation Army for less than $2--the picture doesn't really give it justice as you can't see it too well, but it's so versatile and I love the classic cut. I've worn it plain (it's sleeveless underneath the blazer), with colored cardigans, with tights…my only complaint would be the amount of cat hair it attracts, but then again most of my wardrobe fights the same battle. Other than that, two thumbs up!

Of course, not all of these outfits are career-fair worthy--but I could see myself wearing them in a work setting. My main point here was dressing professionally doesn't have to be expensive. I spent less than $10 on almost all the outfits above, and I'd like to think that you can't tell. I'd encourage you to go out and give Goodwill and Salvation Army a try if you're looking for some variety in your business wardrobe--you just might be surprised at what you come by! 

Thrift OOTD

I'm a sucker for black and white. It's classy, easy to find matching accessories (in this case I used my roommates cat, but you could also use something more practical like a purse), and never goes out of style. Last week I found this Banana Republic chiffon shirt at Goodwill for $3 and I absolutely love it! It's hard to see in the pictures, but it has a few delicate ruffles in the front along with some unique "petal" action happening with the sleeves. Today, I chose to wear it with leggings (because I'm short and most normal sized shirts end up being long enough for me to do so), but I also think it'd be cute paired under a blazer with dress pants for a business professional look or tucked into a skirt. Since it's cold out today, I left it untucked and wore it with a longer black cardigan to make it more suitable for the whole winter thing. I probably have at least five more black and white thrifted chiffon shirts stowed away somewhere in my closet, but who knows when you might need that sixth one…! :)

Shirt: Banana Republic (Goodwill, $3)

I have to admit that I'm new to this whole blogging thing and was at a loss on how to display clothes on here! I'm not a huge fan of selfies and spent forever trying to make my clothing look exciting hanging on a wall (top right picture) but after looking at the results, I decided it wasn't going to cut it. You know when you're shopping and find something that doesn't look too exciting hanging on a hanger but know it has potential to look better once you try it on? I'm running into that problem a lot here. I finally gave in to the dreaded selfies…we'll see if they stick around. Let me know which display you like better, or if you have an entirely different idea. I'm up for anything!!

Where It All Began...

“My name is Natalie, and I'm a shopaholic.”

This is a running joke throughout my family, as they’ll be one of the first to diagnose me with a shopping…problem. Personally, I’d call it a passion, but sometimes they have trouble seeing it as a viable hobby. But I am a true believer in shopping. It's exciting, fun, social, allows you find things that express yourself…I've just always loved it. I probably get it from my mom, so I'll just use the excuse that shopaholicism runs in my family.

Then college happened. It was here that I met the first kind of shopping that, if it were up to me, I would never participate in no matter what the sale. What kind of shopping you might ask? We all know the answer. Textbook shopping. Where you lay out your hard-earned dollars in return for piles of books you may, or in many cases may not, read. I had met my match. Something about dropping close to $400 and coming out with neon yellow bags full of falling apart used text books just wasn’t fulfilling to me. 

Introduce the mindset of “I just spent $150 on a book I’m never going to read, I think I can justify dropping another $150 on this purse I’m going to use every day for the rest of my life.” Do not judge—my shopping addiction really caused me to rationalize like this. However, my credit card statement didn’t hide this justification as well as my conscious did. It turns out when you pity-reward yourself for every textbook you buy, it ends up doubling your total amount, which is probably a lot more counter productive than I would have ever admitted while in the act. I probably looked something like this when I made that realization…

I knew I needed to stop shopping. But I also knew that quitting cold turkey wasn't going to happen--I'd be setting myself up for failure. What’s a girl to do?

Enter my freshman roommate, Emily (Hi, Em!). This girl, whether she knew it or not, created a whole new type of shopping monster out of me. It was Emily that took me to my first ever thrift shop. Until then, I had had bad memories of thrift stores—that’s the place that sucked away my clothes at my moms discretion (flashback to when my mom "accidentally" donated my whole entire summer wardrobe because she thought it was in the donation pile at our house…). The place always smelled like old people, the clothes probably came from old people, and there was usually a strange assortment of, you guessed it, old people wandering around the store. Nothing against old people, but how could I possibly want the same thing they were looking for? My first few times thrift shopping with Emily, I'd follow her around impatiently, never really getting into the action, while she sifted through the racks and piles like she was on a mission. Until I saw the things that she was finding. Designer jeans, expensive jackets--did she really just find all of those things among all that…junk? You bet she did, and paid close to nothing of what it would have retailed. I was amazed, and from that moment on determined to learn her ways. 

So I did. I've been at it ever since, and think it's safe to say I've become slightly addicted. While I never stopped shopping completely during college, thrifting was the perfect way for me to adapt my beloved hobby to my poor college student budget.

I'm creating this blog because I want to inspire others to start thrifting as well--in an essence, return the favor of what someone once taught me (because who knows if I ever would have ventured into that Goodwill by myself). There's so much to learn about thrifting, whether you've never given thought to it before, or you're an experienced bargin hunter. Let it be clothes, old furniture, items to repurpose--there's literally something for everyone! The possibilities are endless, and I'm here to simply share my ideas in hopes to inspire yours.

So stay tuned (and patient with this newbie blogger)--I hope you'll find my confessions, finds, ideas, and projects entertaining and maybe even informative. I can't wait to get started!!