Since the Fall of 2007 I’ve changed clothing  sizes a few times. I guess having a baby can do that to you. We recently got a nice size tax refund and a small portion of that was set aside for the procurement of nice work clothes that fit & were appropriate for summer. Most of the items I found will be year round additions to my wardrobe.

The first shopping day I went to Upscale Consignment, Goodwill & Kohl’s

Upscale Consignment:

Dress: $16.00

Gray short-sleeved cardigan: $7.00

Black lacy bolero: $5.00

Red & Black top: $8.00

Total: $36.00

Goodwill:

Ann Taylor dress pants: $5.99

Kate Spade purse: $4.99

Total:  $10.98

Kohl’s:

Clearance black dress pants: $9.60

Clearance gray skirt: $17.60

On Sale mint/brown top: $16.99

On Sale magenta floral top: $16.99

Total:  $61.18

Total for day 1:  $108.16

Day 2 shopping trip I went to Walmart & a different Goodwill.

Walmart (all on clearance):

Black Suit Jacket: $9.00

Gray Pants: $9.00

Gray Skirt: $9.00

Black Top: $9.00

Total:  $36.00

Goodwill:

White/Black Top: $6.99

Blue/White Top: $4.99

Gray & black Jacket: $8.99

Total:  $20.97

Total for day 2:  $56.97

Average Price Paid —— Total Items Purchased

10.49 —— 6  tops

9.00 —–  2  jackets

6.50 —— 2  “over” items

8.20 —— 3  pairs of dress pants

13.30 —— 2  skirts

16.00 —— 1  dress

4.99 —— 1  purse

I think I did pretty well and I didn’t even use the whole allotment! I found some great deals by looking places I hadn’t considered in the past. Next time I go out I’m going to think about the prices I pay even more.  If I hadn’t shopped at Kohl’s my averages would have all been below $9/item.

Kohl’s was the most expensive even by only shopping sales/clearance.

Goodwill was the cheapest but I had to look much harder to find some really good stuff. But the stuff I found (especially the 1st day) was REALLY good!

Upscale Consignment had  great deals and everything looked really good. I will probably stop back there in a couple of weeks to see if they have anything new!