01 Jan Thrifty Threads 365: Final Thrift Tally for 2014

Thrifty Threads 365 is a fashion challenge where I will only thrift shop for an entire year. I’ll show you how it’s easy and wallet friendly to satisfy your style needs with secondhand finds. For full details, check the original post here.

I did it! And if you participated in Thrifty Threads 365, then you did it, too. A year ago today, January 1, 2014, I pledged to only thrift shop for clothes and accessories for an entire year. I couldn’t spend a single penny on new clothes for 365 days and my monthly thrift budget was $50.

So what was my experience like? Sometimes it was easy and other times I really struggled to stay on budget and not hit a department stores. See below for a tally of how much I spent on clothes and accessories throughout 2014, some of my favorite pieces I bought and what I learned.

Lesson 1: I’m Not a Thriftaholic
The term “thriftaholic” gets thrown around a lot and if you belong to any Facebook thrift groups, then you know some people thrift multiple times a week and can easily spend hundreds a month. That. Is. Not. Me. No judgement toward anyone else, but I’m not interested in hoarding clothes or spending excessive money, which in my opinion defeats the point of thrift shopping. The majority of the time it was easy for me to stick to my $50/month budget because I’m always super selective about how it spend my money. Sure, a top you kinda sorta like might cost just $2, but if you’re not careful you’ll end up with tons of blah items and the cost will rack up.

Lesson 2: Only Buy What You Absolutely Love & Will Wear
This ties into lesson one. I’d rather have a dozen garments I’m head over heels for than a closet of boring threads that are so forgettable that I literally forget they’re in my closet and they go unworn. In December, I only bought three items of clothing: a dress, faux fur and the gorgeous vintage Christian Dior coat I blogged about yesterday. They’re “only” three pieces, but individually they make a huge impact and are great additions to my wardrobe. Quality and statement making goods always trump quantity.

Lesson 3: I Love Your Style!
During this run of Thrifty Threads 365 I really wanted to utilize social media, particularly Instagram, to foster a sense of community and showcase the style of readers who joined me in the challenge. You guys are awesome and tagged your photos, encouraged one another and showed that thrift style can look uber expensive. That’s why I decided that for Thrifty Threads 365 in 2015, the focus will be on readers. I personally won’t be doing TT365 again {I’ve done it off and on for three years!} because I want to see how YOU wear your threads and I’ll highlight TT365 participants on the site. This will be a great way to discover new thrifters, thrift shops that might be in your area and see how shoppers of different shapes, sizes and styles rock their clothes. I’ll still share my outfit posts but I want to work on giving you guys a more diverse thrift perspective.

But what you really want to know is how much did I spend throughout the year.

*drumroll*

From January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014, I spent $233 on clothes and accessories! My Christian Dior coat alone originally costs more than what I spent in the entire year. For December I actually exceeded my budget by $9 {I bought this vintage sequin dress after spending $45 at the Salvation Army coat sale}, but I’m not kicking myself too much because some months I didn’t shop at all.

I really do hope that this challenge inspired and will continue to inspire people and showcase how eco-friendly and financially savvy thrift shopping can be. And it’s just great rocking clothes that make you stand out from the rest!

Did you participate in Thrifty Threads 365? How much money did you spend per month or year?