I love clothes! I am very into being fashionable and looking cute no matter what the size was on the label. I have gone from a tight plus size 24 to a loose fitting regular size 12. Tops went from 2x to large or mediums depending on the boobage room.
So it was a bit scary and depressing to find my favorite cute clothes way to big for wear. I have always been one to mix and match to make my outfits look different . I seriously owned 20 or more pairs of jeans in various colors,cuts, styles and they all have been given away. When I first got into a 16 I went alittle nuts and bought ALOT of clothes from the retail stores. I was thrilled to get to buy clothes in the regular department. Well now those are way too big and I am looking at the huge waste of money I spent to wear them only a few months.
I am making myself not buy much right now because I am having tummy tuck in just 21 days.But with the fall season here I need some stuff to hold me over. Yesterday I went to a thrift store to get stuff for my Halloween costume. I decide I would browse through the tops just to see what they had. Oh was I stoked when I found 4 brand name super cute tops in great condition!! The most I paid was $4.99 for an item. I wish I had done this along the way on my journey. I would have saved a ton of money and still felt just as cute. I washed up the stuff last night and wore one of the tops today with jeans. I got 4 compliments on looking so good today! I know many people think thrift stores are icky and gross but I was pleasantly surprised. I understand it can be hit or miss but I encourage you to try it while your losing weight. I am all excited to go back and see what else I can find, my friends will never believe this clothes diva is shopping second hand and I am not sure if I will tell them my secret just yet.
I hope this helps someone out because I regret not doing this sooner.
One of the things I've hated the most about being "plus size" is the lack of nice things in thrift stores. I get it, as I've tended to wear my fat clothes to rags, but I've always loved bargain hunting in thrift stores, or at the least, clearance racks and places like Ross. It never made any sense to me to pay full retail if I didn't need to, but then again I'm self employed, work from home and am not much of a fashion bug. However, I like cute clothes too, and one of the first things I'm going to do when I get back into Misses sizes is go on a good thrift store crawl!
I totally agree with shopping for bargains- heck most of my wardrobe is coming from Walmart now- I don't care if I'm spending less than $10/shirt- I won't fit in them in a month or two anyways! I went from XL tops to Medium shirts and size 18 jeans to size 14, I can fit into like one or two of my 16s but the rest are all too big and look like brand new!
I know as a person who donates unused clothes to Goodwill that many times clothes went into that pile that still had the tags on them when I'd buy an outfit thinking it would fit "later" that never did.
I buy strictly from Thrift stores right now and have for the last almost two years. The odd time I buy new jeans or a fleecy but everything else is there (cept undies and bra's of course!)
I own TONS of clothes (and nice ones!) and no one knows the difference.
I am a hardcore thrifter/vintage hunter. My vast, ever-increasing, pretty-much-maintenance wardrobe, barring the occasional special item and underthings, has come mainly from thrifts and vintage boutiques. It is just amazing the kind of stuff you can find second-hand, and kind of sad how many of the beautiful, high-end things I've bought have still had the tags on them.
I have been very lucky! I am so grateful. A friend of mine lost a ton of weight and gave me all of her clothes. In many diffent sizes. The only problem I have ran into is some of it is the wrong season. Like say short or capri fit in the middle of a winter snow storm. :lol All of it very nice stuff.
I've been shopping consignment/thrift/vintage stores for over 30 years. Always loved it, not only because of the dollar savings but mostly because you find unique items that no one else is wearing. I find more than clothes - like a leather portfolio, leather binder for my agenda, and a couple of great leather purses, wonderful jewelry. And if you go to the household ones, well there's another treasure trove!
Yes, thrift stores are awesome for that. I'll also put a plug in for Ebay. You can look for exactly what you're looking for, and can also sell your clothes that no longer fit. $ pretty much nets to zero.
There aren't really thrift stores near where I'm living now which is super sad. Like the OP I have hundreds upon hundreds of items that are now unwearably big. I am planning on hosting a clothes swap party with a bunch of local girls to see if I can't get rid of some of them.
Shopping for your revolving closet tip
