It’s been so fun to do this Frugal Fashionista feature and read all of your comments and emails.
I do believe I might have a few of you doubters pondering this designer duds on a dime option.
If you’re new to these posts, please click on the Frugal Fashionista side bar button to read all the  installments. They will give you the background of why I shop thrift, some of the hesitations with second hand shopping, but mainly…all the great benefits. 🙂

I am veering away from the essential pieces of a core wardrobe, and sharing  one of my highlights from buying thrift.
I love the opportunity to step out of my typical wardrobe comfort zone and wear things I would never have dared to wear if paying retail.
A few years ago, I would have considered myself a fairly classic dresser. Give me a black dress, a great necklace, and I was good to go
(well, some things haven’t changed…wait til you see my post on ALL of my little black dresses. 🙂
In fact, I bought my first pair of jeans only five years ago when I was with some girlfriends on a beach trip. Having been heavy in my early 20’s, I could never find jeans that I felt comfortable in, and I never shed that “chubby” mentality that I had lived with as a single woman. It only took that one pair I tell you, now I’m converted.

Once I began feeling comfortable with who I was, and didn’t worry so much about “what I looked like,” I really started having fun trying new things.
My philosophy? If I don’t like it, I can just pass it on. I only paid $1 – 5 for it.

Some of the ways that I have stepped out of my comfort zone.

  • I am wearing new colors.
    I automatically navigate towards certain colors. Usually, they are colors within my “summer – cool” toned spectrum, but I have had a blast experimenting with both brighter or darker shades as well. I never envisioned that I could wear brown. This winter at Goodwill, I bought a brown turtleneck, accented my eyes with deeper brown shadow shades, wore brown lipstick (a first), and guess what…I got a bunch of complements….on brown. Who would have ever figured that? Now that summer is coming, I will enjoy some brighter colors, and I can’t wait to show you another “out of my comfort” dresses in hot pink. It’s supposed to be on the post, but technical difficulties happened.
  • I am trying new sizes.
    Do you have a wardrobe of various sizes like me? I am slowly getting rid of my larger sizes, but I have kept quite a few…just in case… (I get pregnant…not gain back my weight…hee hee). With buying second hand clothes, you quickly realize that size means nothing. In the last month, I have bought a size 6 and a 12, and they both fit great.
    At most thrift stores, they have a dressing room and I always take advantage of that. At yard sales, the prices are never over $1-2, so I take a chance by eyeballing the item.
  • I am dressing more trendy.
    Believe it or not, I am dressing more “in style” than I ever did when I was buying retail. I can afford more items and I can experiment in new ways. I can be a bit more daring in designs, patterns, accessories, colors etc. Some women turn over their clothes frequently based on size, the season or a shopaholic syndrome. I have been their benefactor and they don’t even know it.

So step out of your comfort zone a bit when shopping at these thrift stores and yard sales. Just because it’s something “you’d never wear,” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a try. 🙂
Here’s my prime example.
This dress I bought at Good Will months ago. It was brand new – Arden B – with a $98 price tag still hanging on it. I looked on their website and I am guessing it probably went on sale for $78. Still, I paid $5. It is an XL, which I am not, but I knew that because of the drawstring, I could make it as small as I wanted. This dress could be worn by someone many pounds heavier than me, so again, size is relative for this dress.
This has waited and waited and waited while I got brave enough to wear it to church.
What was I waiting for? I LOVE IT and my son even said I was stylin’.
Why was I hesitant? The pattern is bold (maybe, sort of hippie-ish), the stripes go sideways, and I thought maybe I was trying to dress too young for my age. Never again will I let those feeling deter me from trying something different and fun.
I had a blast with this on…it gave me an extra hop with those honking high heeled boots. 🙂

Although, truth be told, I did need to get past my total self consciousness when my 9 year old daughter looked at me as I put it on, and said, “Really, Mom, can you just put on a normal skirt or something?”
Yep, she said it, and I almost hung it back up for a few more months, but I persevered.
I wanted it to be a bit more modest. It was showing some cleavage (which many women love – not me), so I layered a brown tank underneath it.

I had just found these brown Chinese Laundry brand boots at a yard sale for $2. They have this great row of buttons up the side of the boot that you can’t see.
I am not a high heel kind of gal. I just haven’t figured out how to build up that muscle yet, but I can put up with anything for a few hours.
Anyone who wears boots like this struts…just a little…try it. 🙂 Plus, I knew with summer coming, this would be one of the last times to wear my dark boots.And here is the official “I am a bird and I can fly” picture that my son took. I am attempting to show you just how cool these big sleeves are…somehow the affect has been lost on me.

So, remember – have fun with your clothes, whether they are from yard sales, or Sax Fifth Avenue.
Throw on a huge chunky necklace that is so “in”, try a Julia Robert’s “hat”, accent with a scarf, buy a hippie looking dress and enjoy a lift from your designer doldrums. 🙂
At least one “out of your comfort zone” purchases will be so worth it.
Dare to be different!

(edited to add: I woke up to some great comments from ladies who initially thought, “Only Jen, can find such cute things.” Read their stories of “hitting the jackpot.” YEA!!

Get your Frugal Fashionista outfits ready.
We’re going to do a “fashion show” in 1 1/2 weeks and we’ll show off our style…Frugal Fashionista style with Mr. Linky. 🙂
I’ll get you an exact date…so look for it.