A Girl, A Thrift Store & Twenty Bucks, Pt. II

For my second $20 shopping experiment I decided to try to find a fancy outfit. Fancy being my word for something I would wear out on a Saturday date with the boyfriend or... well, that's about the fanciest thing I do. The first section as I walk in the door contains the shoes and purses so that's where I started. Right away I spotted a pair of maroon peep toes... in my size! I knew I'd have to build the whole outfit around the shoes. I turned to the purse section and was a little disappointed with the selection. There's usually a pretty clutch or embroidered bag in the bunch, but not this time. I finally settled on a simple black handbag with a gold toned clasp.

Now that I had my accessories, I moved on to the clothes (I'm sort of working backwards here, aren't I?). After scouring through the dress section with nary an option in sight, I headed to the dreaded black skirt aisle. Whenever I really feel up to going through this section, I always come out with something great. I just rarely feel up to it. Making my way down the row, I came up with one, two, three (!) cute black skirts to choose from. In the end I chose a black velvet number. Now for something on top. Once again I was left empty handed after going through the entire section of blouses. I was getting worried that I wouldn't be able to complete the outfit! Then I thought to go through the slips and ended up finding a pretty silk and lace top that would work perfectly. I reviewed my selections and was happy with everything I'd picked but thought the outfit would be tied together nicely with a pair of sheer tights. Luckily I found a pair in the shade I was looking for - stone grey.

The Goods:

• 40s era black velvet paneled skirt: $4.99 (half off)
• 90s era black silk and lace top: $2.99 (half off)
• 70s era grey tights: $.99
• maroon suede Hush Puppies peep toe shoes: $4.99 (half off)
• 50's black handbag: $4.99 (half off)

Since I was shopping on "half off day" the total for this trip came to a whopping $9.95! A lot of thrift store have "family days" or sale days and it's worth it to find out when yours has one. Just be prepared to fight the crowd and deal with screaming children and long lines.

The final result: