I Tried
Dress, vintage, thrifted, and shortened three inches. Belt, Gap (thrifted). Earrings, thrifted. Pumps, thrifted. Purse, thrifted.
I tried, I really tried, to create an outfit with only $20. I found everything but the purse last Saturday at the St Vincent de Paul shop on Colerain Avenue. My receipt is incredibly hard to decipher, so I can’t tell you how much each item cost, but the total (including the bag I found at Goodwill a few years ago) was under $16.
I blew my budget when I took the pumps to the shoe repair shop for new heel tips. The shoes are all leather and have very little wear, but the old plastic heel tips had disintegrated with age. New tips set me back $10.65, putting me over the $20 limit.
Despite blowing my budget, I was excited to wear my 100% thrifted (if not less than $20) outfit to a showing of Brother Bailey’s Pageant of Moral Superiority and Creation Science Island Jamboree. My newly renovated shoes never made it to the show, though. After about 30 minutes of wear, my feet were killing me, and I changed into some back-up sandals (not pictured, but definitely more than $20 alone, even at TJ Maxx).
As I expected, the shoes were the troublesome element of a $20 outfit. Still, it was a good exercise in thrift, forced me to consider secondhand shoes, and was an education on how much of a bargain (or not) shoe repairs can be.
I Tried
Dress, vintage, thrifted, and shortened three inches. Belt, Gap (thrifted). Earrings, thrifted. Pumps, thrifted. Purse, thrifted.
I tried, I really tried, to create an outfit with only $20. I found everything but the purse last Saturday at the St Vincent de Paul shop on Colerain Avenue. My receipt is incredibly hard to decipher, so I can’t tell you how much each item cost, but the total (including the bag I found at Goodwill a few years ago) was under $16.
I blew my budget when I took the pumps to the shoe repair shop for new heel tips. The shoes are all leather and have very little wear, but the old plastic heel tips had disintegrated with age. New tips set me back $10.65, putting me over the $20 limit.
Despite blowing my budget, I was excited to wear my 100% thrifted (if not less than $20) outfit to a showing of Brother Bailey’s Pageant of Moral Superiority and Creation Science Island Jamboree. My newly renovated shoes never made it to the show, though. After about 30 minutes of wear, my feet were killing me, and I changed into some back-up sandals (not pictured, but definitely more than $20 alone, even at TJ Maxx).
As I expected, the shoes were the troublesome element of a $20 outfit. Still, it was a good exercise in thrift, forced me to consider secondhand shoes, and was an education on how much of a bargain (or not) shoe repairs can be.