Success in a white shirt

Well, I'm pretty proud of the fact that I found a classic white henley style shirt for $3.50 at Cottage Corner, but lo and behold I've already spilled coffee on it. *big sigh* Oh well. I'm working very hard to get the stain out.

Not a thrift shop - Oops

So I went back to work two and a half weeks ago. After the first week wearing the same pants I decided I needed new pants. So where did I go? To the thrift shop? Nope. Old Navy. In my defense I did buy off of the clearance racks in the back. I was just so tired from working all week that I didn't want to spend all day looking through thrift shops. I got pretty good deals, but it still wasn't as cheap as it would've been had I gone to a thrift shop. I got a pair of courderoy pants and two shirts. So now I have two pairs of pants to rotate at work. Woo hoo. I've been making due with those, but sooner or later I'll have to hit the thrift shop in order to expand my wardrobe.

So I promised I'd share my progress - good and bad. So there it is.

Welcome and Enter

Welcome and enter. This blog is going to chart my progress in trying to live a thriftier lifestyle. My hubby and I are typical of this generation. We're the working class. We work and work and have no money. You know...that paycheck to paycheck lifestyle. Very fun if you know what I mean.

Anyways, I want to make changes this year so that we can free up money to live better. And by live better I don't mean acquire more stuff. I mean go on trips, see places, get a second car (okay, I guess that's stuff, but it would make our lives easier), build a savings, etc...

So the name of the blog is "Thrifting the year away" and that's what I intend to do. My challenge to myself is to only shop at thrift shops for clothing. I draw the line at undergarments. Those will be brand new. I do have reasons besides money for this challenge. I don't like that many clothes are made in sweatshops or by workers in very poor conditions. Many of these clothes are made with cheap material and people that are poorly paid and yet end up costing me more than it's worth. I'd love to make everything from scratch, but don't have time for that one. I'd love to buy handmade things off of Etsy or Hyenacart or some other such online store, but I just can't afford it. There's wonderful WAHMs (work at home moms) who make lovely things out of sustainable materials. So, since I can't afford those options, I'm going to thrift shop. Granted, much of what I'll find will be stuff that was at one time probably made by someone in a sweat shop somewhere. But I guess I feel better knowing that by purchasing the item at a thrift shop I'm not giving the manufacturer more money for their garment. Garage sales are part of the thrifting plan as well. I'm hoping to also become better at sewing and learn how to alter and/or tailor garments to suit my needs. So we'll see. I have all these ambitions and I'm going to be starting a new job and have even less time than what I have now. Oy!

Clothing is going to be my main focus to start with. But I'm hoping that this can carry over into other needed things. And I am hoping to work on a "less is more" philosophy.