Thrifty Little Things

Staying chic on a college student's budget can be a difficult task but with a sharp eye for the well-made, finding great pieces to update your wardrobe is beyond possible.

While on fall break ( a lovely little invention to give students and staff a break after midterms) my friend, fellow fashion phenom Michele and I decided to have ourselves a shopping day. Due to our lackluster funds we made our trip a thrifty adventure, shopping only at second-hand, goodwill and consignment stores. Our first stop was the Salvation Army in Hanover, PA. We spent a total of an hour and a half in "the family store" scouring racks upon racks of donated clothing with prices cut down to a fraction of the original cost. Most of what we pulled was granny-chic to say the least and not exactly what either of us was looking for. Our trip turned around when Michele grabbed a black dress coat and asked, "How does it look?"

The coat was an Erin Fetherston for Target that was brand new with the original store tags still attached. The Sal Val price, $19.95 which is more than reasonable for a winter coat. I then spotted plaid and not a tacky plaid that you often see in stores these days. It was a yellow coat with green and red and navy plaid pattern in it's subtle texture. This coat had a tomato red interior lining and gold buttons going down the front. It was old-fashioned, hand-stitched  and only $2.95. It was so Nancy Drew therefore I had to have it.

A few aisles over  Michele spotted an ivory silk blouse with mod black buttons, a steal at under $5. In the same section I found my buy of the day, a new marled pink and purple Trina Turk cardigan with military-esk buttoning. Seen below, the cardigan needs to be worn with about a million gold chain-necklaces to make it Chanel. The grand total at stop number one was $14.95 for me and $24.95 for Michele.

After our success at the Salvation Army we were anxious to move on to the Goodwill store in Edwardsville, PA where Michele had found a Frye leather jacket only a few weeks prior for $5. The stop was good for laughs, as we tried on "vintage" Members Only jackets and marveled at a purple leather skirt-suit but not so great for good bargains. We left stop number two empty handed and headed up to the Salvation Army Super Center in Wilkes-Barre, PA. After being amazed by the lack of name-brands in the name-brand section and the random stumbling upon of an extra large Christian Dior trench. *Note: I use the term Christian Dior very loosely. We are confident that the coat was a fake.

After a great start to our thrift day we seemed to have hit a wall after stop number three and we decided a change of town was necessary to salvage any hope to a successful end to our day. This being said we hopped back into the little blue car and hit the highway to head down I-81 to the Dickson City/Scranton area. After parking on a side street in the Electric City and wandering around the deserted streets we stumbled upon several stores that we will surely hit up once we make some more money, namely a small shoe store called Well Heeled. The store was filled with Dolce Vita and absolute fabulousness.

We also strolled over to my favorite Scranton accessory stop, Duffy Accessory on Linden Street. This shop, which I wrote a post on earlier in the year, is filled to the brim with necklaces, earrings, cuffs and headbands. On this visit I picked up a dulled silver headband, reminiscent of the spectators worn by the British. As my friend Kate said, it is very Blair Waldorf. Success.


Michele and I ended our mini-shopping-marathon at Plato's Closet in Dickson City. Plato's is a consignment-like chain where you sell your clothes to the store on the spot for cash and they are then sold in the store at prices you can rarely beat. I have previously picked up brand new (store tags still intact) Rock & Republic jeans in the store but on this day it was skirts that saved our trip from total failure.


While Michele rounded out her day with a pale pink brocade skirt originally from Ann Taylor Loft, I bought a black and white reed patterned pencil skirt originally from The Limited ($10 at Plato's Closet). Both skirts will be styled to perfection. I plan on wearing my pencil skirt with my black cashmere Design History sweater, H&M scarf, black tights and zebra print flats.

While our day took a turn for the dull in the middle we ended up having major thrift thrills and super success on our shopping day, spending a total of $24.95 for me and $30.95 for Michele.

To read Michele's take on our thrifting adventure read her column Let's Talk Fashion in the online edition of The Highlander.