My Mum is a beautiful women who has a knack of buying the most amazing clothes.

She always looks great and regularly receives compliments on what she is wearing. On most occasions people are quite stunned when they ask her where she picked up that lovely jacket or gorgeous dress.
The thrift shop she replies. Most of the time people yell No! Seriously? No!

I admit to being one of these people. Growing up I confess to being a little embarrassed by my Mum’s thrift shopping. After all, only poor people need to go to a thrift shop. Why would someone choose to wear used clothes I wondered?

But as I’ve aged and become much more aware of finance and consumerism in general, I have started to see the light.

On a very recent visit to my parents home in the country, Mum suggested we go thrift shopping. I had no expectation of finding anything in the store but decided I’d tag along and see how Mum goes about finding such amazing clothes.

Let me just say, My Mum is the master of thrift shopping.

From the moment we walked in Mum was like a woman possessed. She immediately picked out a lovely blouse for herself and a beautiful jacket. She called out to me holding up the jacket. I nodded approvingly but then realized she meant it for me. I loved the jacket and Mum told me it was last seasons jacket from a well known clothing franchise that sold for $40.00. The price at the thrift store was a whopping $4.00. It had no marks on it and looked new.

I was a little excited by this time and thought that my new jacket would look great with a new pair of jeans. Mum quickly showed me the jeans rack and after a very short time I pulled out a lovely pair of jeans. I tried them on and they looked really great. The price for my new pair of jeans? $4.00. Again, no marks and I’d say hardly worn.

We went home with my new outfit that had set me back $8.00. I mentioned to Mum that I would head out the next day to find a nice black shirt to go with my jacket.
Mum disappeared and returned shortly after with a black shirt from another thrift store. It was brand new, never been worn and still had the original shop tags on it. She paid $3.50.

So for $11.50 I got a really great outfit. My opinions on thrift shopping have changed completely.

So too has MsPennyPincher. She picked up 2 pairs of jeans from the same thrift store for a total of $9.50.

We are now thrift store converts. You can buy some really great clothes at a fraction of the price and in most cases, contribute to the many charities who run the stores. The biggest hurdle is getting over your own preconceptions.

I’ve included a picture of my new outfit, I’m really happy with it!