I’m so excited to find two new “sisters in thrifting” in my new homeschool group that I joined after moving back to Utah.

At our last meeting, which I call “the moms’ circle” because we all sit in a circle to discuss principles, these two women each shared for 15 minutes about one of her passions. One of them talked about how to decorate your home on a budget, by going to yard sales. The other, Katie, talked about how to shop at thrift stores for clothes. I felt so motivated by both! I’ve been thrifting for years and love it! You can read my tips for thrifting here.

Here are Katie’s tips for clothes shopping at thrift stores:

1. Make a list of what you want before you go. Pray and ask God for those things.
2. Be willing to spend the time to shop, at least an hour per kid. Katie said that she needs an hour per kid to go through every single item on the racks for all the tops and all the bottoms. She even looks at other sizes because sometimes clothes are put back on the wrong rack.
3. Buy a complete outfit. Only buy a top if you can buy something to wear on the bottom half of the body that coordinates with it. Katie said she likes to buy 7 outfits per kid and limit it to that.
4. Buy only what looks like new. She said she likes her kids to look nice and not like “stereotypical homeschoolers.” meaning they look shabby. I’m sure I’ve been guilty of that, LOL! She wants to present a good fashion impression of homeschoolers, as well as big families, as her family represents both. Making my kids dress nicer is not something I’ve been forceful about. I’m just glad when they dress themselves with shirt, pants, and shoes on. I’m busy fighting other battles. I like it when they look nice of course but sometimes they get really attached to certain slightly funny looking outfits so I don’t fight them on it. I also have one child who refuses to wear nice, even new clothes I buy. So what’s the point in picking out the clothes? I gave that up long ago and wait for that child to come to me and let him or her pick the clothes out at the thrift store. I also wait for my children to get to be 15-16 and then they start caring a lot more about their appearance, LOL. Anyway, Katie said she does hand down clothes from one sibling to another. Sometimes the younger child doesn’t like the clothes because they are a different energy type (see link below) so she will give them back to the thrift store to complete the circle of life.

She said that everything she and her children wear comes from thrift stores. I had been noticing ever since I met her that I really like her style. (If you are into Carol Tuttle’s energy types, I think Katie’s a 1/3 or a 3/1). I felt so inspired by what she shared that I went thrifting the next day. I found the above outfit, plus a sponge mop for my new tile floor (I detest string mops), and two new board games, all for only $16. Sweet victory! The pants were $6, and the top and sweater were each $5. I love the embellishments on the sweater. So cheery! The sweater seems like something Gymboree would make for its women’s line that got discontinued, which I mourned, so I’m grateful to find something like it.