Thrifty Thursday & The Winner Is ...

Back-to-school season has always meant adding a few new items to my wardrobe.  I've made it a personal tradition to always wear something new (even if it's an accessory) on Meet the Teacher night.  This year, it will be my 5th annual "Meet the Teacher" night and I found the cutest outfit while bargain shopping this past Tuesday.


Tuesday was planned for a family fun day of girls shopping with me, my sister who teaches Kinder, and my Nana (our sweet lil' senior citizen discount!)  The first stop was good ol' GW (the GoodWill.)  I love scouring the racks for name-brand items like AnnTaylor, WhiteHouseBlackMarket, or Express since I have champagne tastes with a teacher's salary.  However, since I refuse to pay more than $20 for a single item of clothing, I really am perfectly fine with owning brand name hand-me-downs instead of buying it at full retail from the original store.

Things for the classroom

We visited 2 different GW's in the richer part of town and I scored some quality add-ons to my teacher wardrobe: bebe pants, AnnTaylor's The LOFT light gray flared pants, a Charlotte Russe white&black plaid tank with pockets, and an AnnTaylor black ruffled tank.  Aside from clothes, I also found two unused 3rd-4th grade workbooks and 5 high-interest classroom library novels.  And of course, another terracotta pot to do a makeover on.  After Nana's senior citizen discount, I only spent $25 for all of this merchandise at The Goodwill. :)

A-MAZ-ING ! ! !

Afterward, we spotted a Ross and discovered Tuesday was their senior discount day, so we went in just to "look around."  Immediately, I found myself in the shoe section and just about passed out with disbelief when I spotted this unbelievable deal.  Shoes marked at a reduced price of 49 cents; I only have dreamed of offers like these!  Being in one of my favorite accent colors, gold - I had to sweep these up and continued to search the shoes for any blemishes or size differences.  They were in perfect condition, and a steal of a deal you can rarely find at a yard sale, let alone a retail store.

After raiding the clearance section, I left Ross with my new Meet the Teacher Night outfit - black & white polka dot blouse ($9), red capris ($6), and new wedges (49 cents).  My fun extras were black Roxy flip flops ($15) and a zebra racerback ($5).  I spent no more than $35 at Ross - which meant I stayed to my strict $60 budget that I allowed myself to do in daily damage.  WOOHOO!

$60 haul @ The Goodwill & Ross

My b&w chihuahua, Mia, loved the black&white blouse!

The Winner of My First-Ever Giveaway Goes To: PerrineCurry @ ModernKindergarten
Congratulations and Happy Winnings!  Thank you to all those who helped make this giveaway a success, I truly appreciate all of your kind words and suggestions.  As far as my next life cycle unit, I had the most votes for frogs & butterflies - yet I really like the thought of creating one that hasn't been done before - so maybe I will just bundle all of the animal units I can create together.