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!!