Homeschool Mama Spring Apparel Thrifting

Well friends, Spring Semester 2021 is dragging like something awfully draggy. Is it summer yet? The weather here is just too nice to stay inside and work on schoolwork! Maybe some new digs will motivate me to motivate my kiddos/students…

I gotta start this off by telling you that I’m really not in tune with current trends in pop culture or fashion. However, I recently became aware that thrifting clothes is really trendy right now. I watched some super inspiring videos on TikTok and YouTube on thrift styling and thrift flipping. I was so inspired that I just had to go try it myself. I wondered if I could pull off a thrifted spring ensemble that was age appropriate, conservative, comfortable and fashionable. I’m super excited to show you my haul. I got everything for between $5-$10 per piece and spent about $60 total on a mix & match spring wardrobe with 4 bottoms, 4 shirts, a sweater and a cardigan. First I’ll show you the separate pieces and then some of the outfits I’ve tried so far. I’ll end the post with some tips for thrifting your own spring wardrobe.

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Those are my 10 pieces. The two pairs of jeans are exactly the same except for the wash so I decided to keep the lighter ones as is, and cut off the darker ones into long bermuda shorts. I’ve been wanting some long Bermuda shorts for awhile. After washing everything, I discovered that the beige chino pants were fraying really badly at the bottom hem. Upon inspection, it appears that someone had shortened the pants and did not hem them properly so now they are kind of falling apart. There isn’t enough length to hem them properly, so I’m going to cut those off into shorts as well. I’ll do a separate post about that later…

Everything is mix & match and I can wear each top with each bottom. Let’s see… math time… that’s a total of 24 different outfits for only $60. Plus the cardigan can go over the navy chevron stripe top or over the navy & pink floral top or be worn alone so it’s actually, 32 total looks. Aren’t cardigans amazing! I just love a cute cardi! I actually tried on a bunch of cardigan sweaters but this was the only one that made the cut. Wait a minute, the cardigan distracted me, did I just say that I bought 32 outfits for $60!?! That less than $2 per outfit!

Here are my favorite 6 outfits:

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lol! You better not be laughing at my DIY photo shoot! It’s way harder than it looks. If my smile looks funny, forced, fake, or absent it was because I was concentrating on one of the many other things one has to think of when taking their own photo. Really important things like, can anyone see me doing this right now? I felt so silly and self-conscious that I had to move over to a section of the backyard where my husband couldn’t see me from his home office window. I waited until the kiddos were in a Zoom virtual field trip and then spent a quick 20 min. trying on clothes and taking my own photos.

Each piece I bought has an interesting detail that I was really drawn to. The beige chino shorts have a really cool belt buckle closure, the grey chinos have a tiny little front pocket that nods to a cargo pant with the weight of side pockets, the denim pants and shorts have cool flat front pockets instead of traditional side seam pockets. The tops have prints that remind me of nature or seem like something you would wear sailing. I’ve never been sailing, but in case I ever have the opportunity, now I have something to wear! My absolute favorite piece is the green sweater with the 1/4 zip mock turtleneck, and double zippered front pouch pocket with yellow contrast zipper pulls (by Land’s End). The color is just simply the entire season of spring poured into the form of a sweater.

Here are my tips on thrifting a spring wardrobe in one afternoon. Remember, before I went thrifting I watched lots of young, hip, fashionable women do their thing on YouTube and TikTok. After watching and listening to lots of videos and then going out and trying my hand at it, these are the takeaways I came up with for successful clothing thrifting:

• It’s all about the details. I captioned the individual articles I bought with the stand out details that made me put them in my cart to try them on. Look for cute prints, unique buttons, interesting pockets, etc.
• Quality is key. Look for good brands, check for stains, pilling, stretching, poor previous hemming (just learned that one myself), etc.
• Know your style. Write down your favorite colors, patterns, and some style inspiration before you head to the store. I was looking for casual pieces in jewel tones, and prints with nature themes. I’m drawn to styles like country chic, southwest, nautical, preppy and combinations of these styles.
• If you are really drawn to an article of clothing but you’re just not sure, give it a try! Sometimes things you didn’t think would work very well turn out to be awesome (see green sweater above).
• Try before you buy. Be sure to try everything on to see if it fits.
• Know where you’ll wear it. When you try something on, picture where and when you will wear the piece. Is it something you do or somewhere you go often? I was looking for comfortable pieces for casual outings and picnics at the park.
• Though absolutely not necessary, once you have tried everything on you can hold the pieces up together to see if they go together or try the pieces on together at the store.
• If you’re buying a top, do you already own bottoms that will go with it? And vice versa for buying bottoms.
• My personal preference: lift your arms, touch your toes, if anything shows, go change your clothes! 😂

I had so much fun trying my hand at thrifting myself a spring wardrobe. I seriously cannot wait to wear these clothes instead of the yoga pants and t-shirts that have seem to become my staple homeschool mama uniform lately. Not that there’s anything wrong with graphic tee’s, leggings and messy buns! I do love me a fun graphic tee!

Until next time, I hope this post inspires you to shop local, support a good cause and save some money while you’re at it! Any of course, always 🐝 kind!

How about you? Have you gotten any fun new clothes for spring yet?