Fall Thrifting Extravaganza (and a mini fashion show!)

I think this is quite possibly the latest I've ever gotten around to posting about our Fall Thrifting Expedition, which we usually do in late August to stock up on all the fall and winter clothing our family needs for the coming months.

For one thing, we did our shopping in two stages this year: our usual late August trip to Value Village, plus a trip to Talize just a couple of weeks ago because my younger son still desperately needed to find pants!

As usual, we came away with a pretty good haul and a few really great finds. Here are some of the highlights and an update on our total clothing expenditures so far this year.

I didn't managed to snap a pic of every single item we brought home, as the boys have a tendency to run off with their treasures the moment they get them in the door.

Shown above:
1. A pair of Van's and a pair of sandals, both for my almost-16-year-old son Noah. The sandals were $2.00 and the Van's were $6.50 (I couldn't find an exact match online, but that brand generally runs $55 to 75+ a pair!)

2.  Tops for Noah - a Superman T-shirt ($3.50), Adidas hoodie ($2.00) and plaid flannel shirt ($3.50).

3. More tops for Noah: Patagonia hoodie ($4.50), Argyle sweater ($5.00) and striped sweater ($5.00). We were really excited about the hoodie, as Patagonia is a really good brand and it was in brand new condition!

4. Jeans for me: Jones & Co., Coupe Galbee "Curvy Fit" and Contrast, $5.00 each.

5. Nathan's haul: T-shirt ($2.50), plaid flannel shirt ($4.50), long sleeve gray knit top ($4.00) and jeans ($4.00)

All of those were from Value Village on 50% off day, and the last one is mine from Talize:

6. Mexx top ($4.99) (this had a pink tag, which was 50% off that day, otherwise it would have been $9.99)

More shoes:

From left to right:

A pair of Clark's for me ($9.00). This was a near-miraculous find - they fit my size 10 narrow feet *perfectly*, are in brand new condition, and cost over $70 new!

Faded Glory slip-ons ($4.99), also for me. They are super comfy for walking in!

Sneakers for Joe (hubby), $6.49.

Our total spent at Value Village with tax was $93.23 for 18 items of clothing, or an average of $5.18 an item. We spent another $97.52 at Talize for 11 items, or an average of $8.87 an item (I spent $20.00 on a coat there, which jacked up the average - more about that below!)

The boys came away with a good haul of American Eagle items (their favourite brand) and Nathan (13 yr old) found an Abercrombie hoodie which made him *very* happy!

Since clothes always look better on than in a pile, I did a little min-fashion show, and managed to convince Noah to let me snap a pic of him, too!

Outfit #1:

Hoodie, $9.99 at Talize (brand new condition), jeans $5.00 at Value Village, shoes $9.00 at Value Village, Gap T-shirt (under hoodie) bought a couple years ago for about $3.00, earrings (hard to see, but I am wearing some!) around 50 cents at a yard sale a couple years ago.
Total cost for outfit: Approximately $27.50

Outfit #2:

Gap turtleneck sweater, $6.99 at Talize, jeans $5.00 at Value Village, shoes $4.99 at Value Village, earrings homemade from a broken wooded bead necklace picked up at a rummage sale (?25 cents?)
Total cost for outfit: Approximately $17.23

Outfit #3 (Outerwear):

Coat, $19.99 at Talize (I'm not sure what it's made of as I can't find a care label, but it's really soft and fully lined), fleece hat, $1.00 at a yard sale a couple of years ago, fleece gloves free from a yard sale free pile last year, scarf hand knitted by me a few years ago (about $5.00 for the wool-silk blend yarn).
Total for outfit: Approximately $25.99


Outfit #4:

Patagonia hoodie, $4.50, jeans, approx. $5.00 from last year, T-shirt, approx $3.00 from a couple years ago, shoes, $6.50 at Talize (they were marked 50% off).
Total cost for outfit: $19.00

Annual clothing budget update:
After these last two thrifting trips, we are up to $419.09 for the year.  We generally aim for around $400 per year total for the four of us ($100 a person, although usually more of it goes to the boys as their clothes need replacing much more often!) We spent $455.86 last year, so we should come in somewhere in the same neighbourhood again (Nathan could still use a new pair of sneakers!) The last couple of years, with the boys fitting into men's size clothing, it's been more of a challenge to stick to the $400 annual budget, so I don't mind going a little bit over if necessary.

Have you found any great fashion deals this fall?
 

 
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