Joie de Vivre.

Thrifting. You know that feeling when you see an attractive guy and you get these tingles throughout your body? That’s what I get when I think of the word thrifting. This is an activity that is so much fun to me. That being said, you really do have to take your time to find great pieces. I always allot an hour and a half to two hours, depending on the size of the store. Luckily for me, and others living in my Northern Ontario city, Value Village had a 50% off sale yesterday for club members. I just recently graduated from the Social Service Worker program at the local college where I live, so I am only just building my professional wardrobe. For me, this takes time. I value my own personal style that I have developed over the past few years and I don’t want that to be lost in my professional wardrobe. I feel like sometimes when people think of having a professional wardrobe; it means that you can’t be stylish – that you have to be boring. However, I disagree with people that view work style that way. Style, whether personal or professional should be fun. Thrifting is the perfect way to discover your how your own style and professional wardrobe can make you the most stylish person in your office. While my main focus during my thrifting adventure yesterday was adding pieces to my professional wardrobe, I was also looking to add a few great pieces to my personal wardrobe. I’ve lost 20 pounds in the last year, so I have been donating to Value Village quite frequently. I would rather do this than for a for a profit thrift store because Value Village donates to local charities. Being in the Social Work field, this is important to me. By purchasing clothing from thrift stores that donate to local charities – you are helping your community. I really don’t know if it gets better than that. With my weight loss, I have needed a lot of new clothes. The thought of going out to the mall and buying a whole wardrobe is daunting and not possible with my student loan payments each month. The perfect answer? Thrifting of course! What better way to be frugal and also give yourself the chance to find great pieces to add to your wardrobe.

So, yesterday, as per usual, I had a blast thrifting. My haul was spectacular. I found 4 tops, 3 pairs of pants, 2 dresses, 1 blazer and a pair of super retro gold flats. In total, I can create over 15 outfits just with my finds yesterday. Incorporating them with the other pieces in my wardrobe, the possibilities are endless. And that’s exciting. Now, I’m going to go into more detail. For the tops, I found: a black semi sheer blouse, a navy blue opaque blouse, a red and navy pattern knit tee and ikat print peasant blouse with a tulip back. For the pants, I found: a pair of blue jeggings, a pair of tan kakis and a pair of maroon dress straight pants (now these are AMAZING for work because they are stretchy – so it feels like you are wearing yoga pants). The two dresses, sigh, I am in heaven. They are beautiful. I found a black dress for work that fits me perfectly, and it is a size 6 which was pretty exciting to fit into. The other dress, also black (side note: most of my wardrobe is monochromatic) is a high low dress that has a sheer back and open cut outs on each side near my ribs. Now, of course this is not work appropriate, BUT – it is great for making a statement at New Year’s or a dressy party. The blazer. How can I describe how in love I am with this blazer? For starters, its navy blue and has angled gold zippers on each side at the front. It is perfection, which also, is why I am wearing it to work today. The grand finale – the gold flats. Now these bad boys look vaguely like loafers and oxford shoes had a baby. I think they are super cool. They are more of a matte metallic gold so they work into adding some funk into my professional wardrobe. Which come on, is a pretty fun way to spice up any outfit. And that is my haul.