Wrinkled Dollar Spotlight # 4

Check out wrinkled dollar spotlight #4! Renee at ohrenee*design can really spot the deals. Boots for $4?! Now that's worth blogging about! ;)



She has a great smile too, dontcha think? I highly reccommend you visit her blog! Thanks for participating Renee!

Now it is your turn! I want to see how you are spending your wrinkled dollars! You can feature one, two, three, etc item(s) or a whole outfit. Check out my wrinkled dollar spotlight page for more details and to see past participants.

My thrifting extravaganza went well today. Part II will commence tomorrow.

I hope you all are having a great weekend.

White Tank with Ruffle Accent

Goooooood morning! I'm still in bed and it feels AWESOME. My horrible cold is on its way out. I definitely feel well enough for a full day thrifting extravaganza.

Must rest now. Will need shopping strength later...

Thanks to my mom for being my photographer yesterday!



I decided to feature this tank, even though my boots, pants and striped cardigan have yet to be featured. I'm sure the boots will be featured soon since I wear them basically everyday of my life.

White Tank with Ruffle Accent: Gotta love Old Navy Clearance! I think Old Navy may be the only place (other than thrift stores) where I can purchase clothing for under $2.00! This is a simple white tank, but the ruffle adds a lot of interest to an outfit.



My brother may recognize the hat I'm wearing (wink wink). Look out people, I may steal your things AND I will find ways to rationalize the crime...He lives in CA, he doesn't need a wool skull cap.



My husband calls this the "Penniless and Tired Hat". I'm pretty sure that's NOT a compliment.

Ok, time to get out of bed and get ready.

Check back today for another wrinkled dollar spotlight!

Green Dress

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

I'm still sick. It has only gotten worse. I was in bed most of the day yesterday. I didn't really get dressed, so no post. Today, I went into work, but it was a struggle. Despite feeling like crap, I still put on my green.



Green Dress: My photo location is in honor of where I found this dress, Target! I love Target clearance. I kinda ran into this dress one day when I wasn't digging. It jumped out at me when I was walking down the main aisle. There it was, just sticking out on the end of one of the clearance racks. It came with a belt, but I swapped it out for one of mine.



I could have fastened the belt better. Ugh, I'm sick. That's my excuse.

If I could have my way I would stay in bed all day tomorrow and someone would come over and read The Princess Bride to me. I would listen without interruption - especially during the kissing parts.

I hope I get my strength back by Saturday. I'm planning a thrifting extravaganza with some girlfriends.

Red Stripes

It is late. I'm tired. My mom is currently making chocolate chip cookies upon request. I'm still feeling crappy, but not too crappy to feature this item. An item I have been very anxious to share.


Red Striped Shirt: I only paid $.99 for this shirt at Goodwill! It was a Sunday and the tag matched the 'color of the week'. I guess no one else grabbed it, because it had a stain on the front. This problem almost made me put it back, but then I started examining the stain and assessing the potential clean-up. Joe thought I should put it back too, but I was confident that the stain would come out and even if it didn't it was worth the try for $.99. I took it home and went to town with stain removal stuff and bleach. After two rounds of scrubbing it came up. So happy.

I wouldn't call it 'vintage', but it definitely isn't new. Based on the tag I would guess it is from the 80's. The condition (other than the stain that went buh-bye) is nuts. The white is really vibrant!



The jeans I got about a year ago from Salvation Army. I don't remember the price, but I would guess they were under $4.00. The boots are new. I can't wait to tell you about the deal I got on them!

My little sister said it looks like a shirt you wear on Christmas. This is the same sister who calls me scarf lady (I can't win with this kid). However, when she got dressed this morning for school she said she felt like a "mini-Jessica". I decided to document the occasion.



Cookies are done! See you guys on Wednesday. I'm taking a day off to celebrate my best friend's B-day.

Vest

My nine year old sister is now referring to me as Scarf Lady. Should I take a hint?


Green Vest: Remember about a month back when I said I was looking for a sweater vest? Well, voila. It is originally from F21, but I found it at Value World. I probably spent a good hour in the store that day, but I found the vest in the first 5 minutes and it was the only thing I actually bought. I'm really happy with the color. It wasn't on a special discount, but it was only $4.00, which I think is pretty fair.

Here is a shot without the blazer.



After my rant yesterday, I'm happy to say that the prices at Value World are still reasonable. My mom and I went today and I purchased a mug, book and skirt. All for a whopping $2.65. Love that. The skirt was only $.90. I'm still trying to figure out why. I can't wait to show you all.

I also look forward to featuring the animal print scarf I'm wearing in the photos above. I have no doubt that this scarf lady will be wearing it again real soon.

I caught a cold and I'm feeling a little worn down. Activities for tonight include tea and Star Wars on Spike. I kinda hope it is a marathon.

Wrinkled Dollar Spotlight # 3

And now another wrinkled dollar spotlight. Many thanks to Michelle at Wishful Thinking for participating. She is one amazing thrifter. This is just one example of the plentiful deals on her blog. Check it out.



After my horrible shopping experience today, Michelle's $.75 shirt is helping repair my faith in thrifting. The Salvation Army near my parents place in Michigan raised their prices...a LOT! I'm talking like $7.99 for a shirt. This hike up in price is part of their new branding scheme and slogan - "The Absolute Finest in Upscale Resale".

I'm not one to rant (via blog), but I'm bumming. It is not like the quality of the product has changed. The clothing remains the same, but now it is being branded as upscale?

Are the traditional thrift stores trying to align their pricing with boutique 'vintage' stores?

Exhibit A: They were selling used rubber flip flops for 2.99!? Old Navy sells them new for $1.00.

I'm curious to see what you guys think about this. How much are you willing to pay for a used item at a thrift store that isn't technically "vintage"? Do you think that raising prices like this will alienate regular shoppers, or do you think people will eventually adjust to the increase? Have you noticed drastic price increases at your local thrift store?

Ok, rant over. I have a $4.00 item to feature tomorrow and then I'm going back to a $.99 item. The wrinkled dollar will remain strong even with the current economic uncertainty of thrifting in 2011. ;)

Help restore my faith in value-shopping; consider participating in the next wrinkled dollar spotlight. Show me how you spend your wrinkled dollars. You can feature one, two, three, etc item(s) or a whole outfit. Check out my wrinkled dollar spotlight page for more details and to see past participants.

Sweet dreams of $.75 J.Crew Shirts...

Gray Velvet Dress Pants & FBFF

I'll be in Michigan for the next 2 weeks, which means I will be working in the office. My company is pretty relaxed when it comes to dress code, but I still find myself struggling to put an outfit together. What can I wear that is 'nice' casual and appropriate for work? The office is not very fashion forward so I'm a little reluctant to bust through the doors wearing crazy heels or zany colors. I'm working on my courage.

If i were the king of the ooooffficce, with a woooooof and a wooooof.


This is what I wore on Thursday. Pretty simple. Nothing too exciting. Kinda wrinkly since I sat in it all day and took the photo after work. Please forgive?



What is exciting is the deal I got on these pants!

Gray Velvet Dress Pants: These are from the GAP Outlet. They were on the clearance rack, of course. I was floored when I saw the price tag - look at all the pretty colors! I peeled off all of the tags to see the progression of mark downs. This is how it went.

$44.99 - $16.99 - $9.99 - $7.97 - $4.97.

Love it!

There was a black pair too, but I liked the gray better.

This week's FBFF is about finding the balance between life and blogging. Go to Modly Chic to see other responses!

1. When it comes to prioritizing your life, in what place does blogging fall?
This is a hard question. It is really not a priority over things like family, friends and work, but I have been choosing it over some of my other hobbies lately. I'm trying to find a good balance so I can make some time to spend on (non-fashion) photography, crocheting, reading, attempting to write music and exercise. Yes, blogging has been a really great excuse to NOT work out...eek.

2. We all wish we had more free time to dedicate to blogging and all it entails. What are your tricks for taking advantage of the time you do have to be as productive as possible?
I like to post individual pictures of clothing items on top of an image of me wearing the item. This editing process takes a little longer than simply posting one photo. To make it more manageable I try to plan ahead. On the weekends I spend time taking photos of the clothing items I want to feature in the near future. I log them into a spreadsheet with all of the details (where I bought it, for how much, was it on sale/clearance, etc). When I'm ready to do a post I can easily grab the item image, toss it together with the photo of me wearing it, quickly look up the price, throw down the wrinkled dollar and then pull them all together (using Indesign). A lot of pre-work on the weekends saves a lot of time during the work week.

3. Have you discovered any short-cuts that makes blogging easier or more time efficient?
Sometimes I write my post in a word doc or e-mail draft and paste into blogger when it is complete. I'm not sure why it is more time efficient, but it seems to help me. Other than that, I'm at a loss. I need to read other responses to this question, because I obviously need help with blogging efficiency.

4. Do you have an editorial calendar or something similar that helps you plan ahead?
No, but I'm curious to see how others use an editorial calendar. The only thing I use is my master clothing spreadsheet (mentioned above), but I don't ever plan my outfits in advance. I decide every morning what to wear and try my best to incorporate an item I would like to feature on the blog.

5. If time wasn’t an issue what would you be doing on your blog/for your blog that you aren’t doing now?
Ugh, so many things. There are some DIY projects that I have on the back-burner and also a couple tutorials I've been planning to share...eventually. Crocheting is a hobby that I would like to showcase on wrinkled dollar, but I haven't had ANY time to pick up a hook. I would like to post more informative posts with useful tips. Lastly (and most importantly) I wish I had more time to read and comment on everyone else's posts.

I'm done with the next wrinkled dollar spotlight. Look for the post tomorrow!