Pin It and Thrift It -- Anthropologie Lookalike

I love Anthropologie--they have such an eclectic mix of styles, and a lot of it is vintage inspired. But, I will admit I don't own much from there (as in…nothing). It's a great store, but unfortunately there isn't one near where I live aaaaand of course the whole out of my budget thing (story of my life it seems). Anyway, I came across their "ruffled sweater vest"--which looks a lot better than it sounds--on Pinterest and thought it was cute, but maybe not $118 cute (plus they've been sold out online/out of stock ever since I first discovered it). Luckily for me, I came across a pretty close match at my local Goodwill a week or two ago.

Left: Anthropologie ruffled sweater vest, $118. Right: ChaudryKC sweater vest, Goodwill $3.49.

The one I found at Goodwill is by a brand called "ChaudryKC" which I've never heard of before, and only cost me $3.49. While the color and pattern isn't quite the same, it's definitely got the same look and feel to it. The back of mine has a beautiful (knitted? crocheted?) flower detail on the back that I actually prefer over the Anthropologie version. If my hair wasn't in the way, you'd be able to see it better but I may or may not have been wearing it inside out when I took the pictures and didn't notice until I had them uploaded to my computer. So, naturally, I chose the picture where my hair hides the tag to avoid embarrassment (but still embarrass myself my admitting to it…?). 

I'm super excited to have found such a close match to the Anthropolgie version, and definitely want to try wearing it with a button down like they had their model in. I probably won't get too much more use out of it this season, since it is a heavier knit, but know I'll get a lot of use out of it once next winter comes around! 

Let me know which version you like better, and as always, Happy Thrifting!! 

Pin It and Thrift It!

I love going to Pinterest for outfit inspiration (check out my Pinterest here!), reading other fashion blogs, etc. But what I don't love is clicking on the links of awesome outfits to find out that the prices are wayyyyy out of my clothing budget (...which should realistically hover as close to $0 as possible). 

So instead of dwelling on the fact that I can't afford most (or any) of what I'm pinning, I make it a mental challenge to look for items close to those that I've pinned and use that as a guide for what to thrift for (seems like the logical thing to do). 

Today I found a great deal on an outfit I pinned from The Northeast Girl (left picture). Her vest from the Gap retailed for $79.95, and her gingham button down is from J. Crew Factory, retailed at $59.50, rounding out for a total of $139 for the top half of the outfit.

Right photo: Red Land's End vest (Goodwill, $2.95),
navy Abercrombie & Fitch ginghambutton-down (Goodwill, $3)

I was surprised how easy this one was to find at Goodwill, and how close it looks to my original inspiration. The red Land's End vest was a steal at under $3--they are usually around $70, so it's safe to say I was pretty happy when I came across it. The A&F gingham was a great find as well--while I know Abercrombie screams middle/high school, I'm not ashamed to use the brand's clothes especially when it comes to basics. I can see myself layering this button down under a solid colored sweater with a statement necklace or with a different colored vest--I'm happy to have finally found a gingham shirt after searching for one for quite a while! Overall, I'd say for $6 I was able to come pretty darn close to my original inspiration!

The feeling you get when you find
 EXACTLY what you were looking for :)

And just as a heads up, I've been on a thrift hunt for vests lately, so don't be surprised if you see a few more in the near future :)

Happy Thrifting!!

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!!