I’ve long prided myself on my
bargain-hunting ability. I learned from my mother, who is the Queen of
Clearance. Hunting for bargains isn’t just to save money: for us, it’s a game.
When we find a fabulous deal, it feels FANTASTIC. It feels like we really earned
that piece of clothing; that we won the game.
So I’ve done a pretty fair amount of
cheapo clearance rack shopping in my day, and I’m pretty proud of my ability to
stretch my dollars. Want to know the trade secrets? There are only two: 1.)
shop in between seasons when the old stuff is getting cleared out, and 2.)
don’t be afraid of secondhand stores. Follow these rules, and you’ll be golden.
For this top ten Tuesday, I have
compiled some of my greatest bargain finds into outfits. All of these outfits
totaled less than $40, and four are even under $30!
Disclaimer, part 1: I didn’t include
foundation garments – tights, tank tops, etc – as part of my total. That
would’ve been way too complicated. Disclaimer, part 2: Sometimes I remember
exactly how much a piece of clothing cost. Sometimes I don’t. In that case, I
estimated to the best of my memory, so you’ll have to give me a little leeway.
Prepare to be amazed at my bargain
shopping prowess as I present ten outfits under $40!
shoes – Plato’s Closet – $11.20 (20%
off coupon)
necklace – Chichen Itza vendor – $10
(down from $25)
TOTAL
= $31.20
Allow me to elaborate. Every few
months, Maurices cleans out their store and marks all the old stuff way, WAY
down. That’s when I pounce. The shoes were purchased with a 20% off coupon at
Plato’s Closet (you get a stamp card, and for every $10 you buy or sell, they
give you a stamp. After you’ve gotten $20 stamps, you get 20% off. I’m pretty
sure 18 of my 20 stamps were for selling, not buying), and I haggled that
necklace (it's a silver Mayan calendar!) down from $25 to $10. That’s the
beauty of street vendors: there’s always a chance for a deal!
shoes –
Nordstrom Rack – $13
jeans
– Plato’s Closet – $3.80 (minus $5 coupon and $5 trade-in)
scarf – Forever 21 – $10.80
TOTAL = $31.35
Most of my remarkable Goodwill finds come from
the St Paul store, but this particular sweater came from the Sioux Falls
Goodwill. While the St Paul Goodwill is my all-time favorite, there’s
definitely something to be said for the simplicity of the Sioux Falls Goodwill:
everything has a uniform price (ie, all women’s sweaters are $3.75, where in St
Paul, the prices are all over the place), so you never wonder how much
something is. The jeans were acquired through a truly spectacular combination
of coupons and trade-ins: I had $5 in trade-in credit and a $5 coupon, so I
managed to score these jeans for less than four dollars. And I have to say something about Forever 21 (where I got
the scarf): I shopped there in college, and I told myself that once I was no
longer 21, I was going to stop buying things there. I am now almost 26 and have
yet to quit. I’m too old for a lot of their clothes, but I can score a few good
accessories every now and then.
 |
| Sorry for the blurry picture. |
scarf – Forever 21 – $9.80
belt – JCPenney – $2
cardigan – Target – $10
sandals – Maurices –
$5
TOTAL
= $34.28
This dress? PAJAMAS. Yes, I bought
it from the pajama section at Target and repurposed it into a dress. That black
belt originally had a weird pocket thing on it, which James so kindly removed.
Sans weird pocket thing, that black belt is the workhorse of my closet (and
probably the best $2 I’ve ever spent).
pants – Goodwill – $2.99
shirt – Target – $5
scarf – Forever 21 – $5.80
shoes – Shoe Carnival – $12.50 (buy
one get one ½ off)
belt – Charlotte Russe – FREE! (came
with a shirt a bazillion years ago)
pimp watch – an auction junk
box James's dad bought for one dollar and then gave to me – FREE!
pearl earrings – Helzberg – FREE!
(you can't see them, but they're there!)
TOTAL
= $31.30
Though I have a thing against dress
pants, I really don’t mind these. And friends, I have to tell you: never
underestimate the power of a plain t-shirt. I have many more where this came
from. A plain t-shirt is a.) almost always really cheap, and b.) provides a
nice blank slate for accessories. In this case, my accessory of choice is the
shiny scarf. A word on the shoes: these were a fortunate find for a
buy-one-get-one-half-off sale at Shoe Carnival: they were the LAST PAIR in this
color, and they were my size! Oh, what luck. They are the
loudest shoes ever (you should hear me clomping around in the library), but
it’s totally worth it. Finally, the earrings. James bought my engagement ring
at Helzberg Diamonds, and they’ve treated us gloriously ever since. I’ve gotten
at least four totally free pieces of jewelry from them, these earrings (real
pearls!) being my favorite. So if you’re in the market for an engagement ring,
might I recommend Helzberg? The freebies alone make it worth it.
dress – ModCloth – $25
sandals – Goodwill – $4.99
TOTAL
= $29.99
I have to admit: $25 for a dress is
kind of a lot for me. But this particular dress was hard to resist, and it was
marked way down from its original triple-digit (not kidding) price. I wore this
for some of James’s and my engagement photos. And the shoes? We had gone
shopping at the St Paul Goodwill on the morning of our engagement photo shoot,
and I found those sandals. I made an executive decision to wear those instead
of the shoes I brought, and presto: a cheap outfit was born.
sweater – Gap outlet – $7
jeans – TurnStyle – $2.50 (75% off)
octopus necklace – Hobby Lobby – $3
(half off day)
sneakers – Converse Outlet – $12.50
(buy one get one)
green ring – Plato’s Closet – $2
TOTAL
= $27
I bought both this sweater and these
jeans during two stunningly cheap weekends in the Twin Cities. The sweater came
from the Albertville outlet mall (not for the weak of heart), and the jeans
(which are Express brand) came from a consignment store in Plymouth called
Turnstyle. They were clearing out items that had been there a while, so these
jeans were 75% off. Score. The shoes were part of a buy-one-get-one-half-off
promotion at the Las Vegas outlet mall (also not for the weak of heart), so my
sister and I took advantage of a good deal when we saw one. Finally, the
octopus necklace. It’s just a charm from Hobby Lobby on a chain (and who knows
where that came from). You can find all sorts of cool charms in the jewelry
aisles of Hobby Lobby and Michael’s, and they’re usually on a 50% off
promotion. If they’re not, you can ALWAYS find a “40% off one full-priced item”
coupon on their websites.
shoes –
Payless – $7
owl necklace – Grandma’s house – $0
(gift)
TOTAL:
$14
Remember what I said about Maurices
cleaning out their store? This dress was another fantastic score: they were
having a 50% off the lowest marked price sale, PLUS buy one clearance thing,
get another clearance thing free. So I got two dresses for about $14, hence the
averaged price of $7. Even though I’ve told you time and again how much I
loathe tights, I have to tell you that these are my absolute favorite pair. I
ripped a big hole in them the first time I wore them, but I keep on wearing
them… but only with skirts long enough to cover said big hole. Finally, I must
talk about the necklace: I tried not to include gifts on my list, as I don’t
know how much they cost and could therefore not accurately figure them into my
outfit total. I made an exception for this necklace because a.) Grandma
Lorraine didn’t buy it FOR me: it was gifted to me from her own collection and
therefore makes it more heirloom than anything, and b.) how cute is it? And
it’s actually vintage, not just vintage-inspired! Owl necklaces are everywhere
nowadays, but my grandma was wearing them sixty years ago. How’s that for
a trendsetter?
 |
| Sadly, this was the best picture we could get. One of those days. |
pants – Target – $12.48
sweater – Turnstyle – $2.25 (75%
off)
combat boots – Target – $10.48
TOTAL
= $25.21
The Target clearance racks are my
favorite clearance racks of all. I was a little nervous to test out the colored
jean trend, but it’s a lot easier with the pants are army green (therefore easy
to work with) and reasonably priced. The bird sweater was from the same 75% off
day as those Express jeans. The black boots, though listed with a price of
$10.48, were actually free. I got a $20 Target gift card just for creating a
bridal registry through them, so of course I bought myself some combat boots.
Clearly, I am a Target badass.
dress – H&M – $14.96
bracelet
– American Eagle – $3.33
necklace –
Hobby Lobby – $7-ish
TOTAL = $35.79
H&M and I have
a hit or miss relationship. Either I find nothing at all, or I find TONS. The
last time I went to H&M, I came away with this dress. We had to strip it
off the mannequin to get the right size, but dammit, that dress would be mine.
H&M’s prices and I have a hit or miss relationship, as well – some of their
clothes (if you ask me) are spectacularly overpriced, but some of them make you
do a double-take at the price tag and wonder if it really is that cheap. Such
was the case was this dress, AND I got a surprise 25% off. The bracelet was
part of a “three for ten dollars” deal, so I bought two other little jewelry
things, gave them away as presents, and kept the leather cuff. Everyone was
happy. When I first tried on these shoes, I had to ask James if they were
really ugly or really awesome. He voted “awesome,” so here they are! Lastly, James
and I TOTALLY made this necklace (mostly James). Go ahead, be impressed.
cardigan – Rue 21 – $10
jeans – Maurices – $20
shoes – Y’s Buys – $3
necklace – Hobby
Lobby – $.50
belt – Rue 21 – $.33
TOTAL
= $33.83
You may have noticed a lack of non-skinny
jeans in this article, and you’d be right. While good secondhand skinny jeans
are fairly easy to find, I have a tough time locating a decent pair of
secondhand bootcut jeans. Therefore, most of my bootcut jeans are (sadly) not
as dirt cheap as the rest of the items in my closet. However, I manage to find
a denim deal here and there without compromising too much for quality. Case in
point: these Maurices jeans. I had located the last pair in my size, but there
was some weird stitching. Since I had the last pair, I got a 10% weird
stitching discount PLUS a coupon for 25% off PLUS another coupon for $10 off (I
had finally filled up a Maurices punch card likely dating back to junior high),
so the pants were way cheap. You may be wondering how on earth I managed to
score a thirty-three cent belt. Allow me to explain. I bought this belt in
February, which is the BEST time to go shopping. Stores are getting rid of
winter stock and making room for spring, so prices are rock-bottom. This belt
came as a set of three, and the whole thing cost one dollar. Sure, they’re two
sizes too big, but that’s where creative belt-looping comes in. The sweater was cleverly acquired through the
use of a buy-one-get-one-half-off sale PLUS a coupon for $10 off of $20 or more
(so James got a super cheap sweater that day, too). The necklace? I totally
made it with my metal stamping kit. The stamping kit was a gift, so the only
cost for me was the cost of the stamping blanks (the chain was
"repurposed" from another necklace). Hooray for me attempting to be
crafty, right?
-----
I did my best to include cheap clothes
from a variety of stores, and I think I did pretty well: 23 different places (thirteen
clothing/shoe stores, four consignment/thrift stores, one giant retailer, one
craft store, one jewelry store, one vendor in Mexico, one Cokato auction, and
one grandma's house), and I can think of at least seven other stores whose
bargain finds didn’t make it onto my outfit list (plenty of material for a part
II!). So next time you want to find a whole bunch of clothes for not much
money, bring me along: I’m a pro!
No comments:
Post a Comment