Clothes Talk: Part 2

So, here is a small sample of some outfits I had found on Pinterest or Polyvore. I noticed that a lot of them were things I owned already - plain t-shirt, jeans and sometimes a cardigan. (I ignore the bags and most of the shoes because I'm not into bags and I think shoes should be something you can wear with a LOT of outfits, not just a select few.)

In this group I saw that I didn't have a red sweater, the cream shirt, but most of the other main clothes pieces (not accessories) I had some version of. So, I made a mental list and headed to the thrift store.

I was able to acquire most of the items mentioned above and a few other that I had been meaning to get. These all came from Savers and Thrift Town. The blazer is a stretch for me, but I have a few things I wanted to wear it with, so we'll see if that happens. Sometimes I like clothes on someone else, but they just don't end up working for me. I just feel weird. The pink shirt replaced a crappy poorly made Old Navy tee shirt that I loved the color of, but hated wearing because it couldn't hold its shape. Navy sweater - needed it. Red sweater - I had been wanting one and actually got one for Christmas but it was the wrong size and they had no others in stock. So, this one filled in for that and I like the color even more. The buttons need to be replaced though. Oh, and this one was brand new too. I love stripes. I feel like I am in 8th grade again where over half of my shirts were striped - and that is a good thing! And the blue shirt was to replace a too short shirt of the same color. It was about $25 for all of this.

A lot of items in my closet came from thrift stores and garage sales. You might be lucky enough to buy things all brand new at high end places (or even just Target). I actually really LIKE finding things at the thrift store (and I like new stuff too). So many times I find shirts or dresses that I would have probably had to go to store after store in the mall for. I'm not that kind of shopper, so I am glad that thrift stores serve me well. Almost everything in the photo above was bought in the past year and a half at thrift stores. (And I only have one gray and black striped dress, it's just on there twice.)

I got all this at a garage sale last year for under $10. Half of it I bought to use as part of sewing projects, but a lot of it is just great as is.

Same stash,just spread out.

And I don't just buy for me. So many kids clothes - especially little girl clothes.

I have just a few more items I want to get on my clothes list. I will continue to look at the thrift stores and watch for sales at Target and Wal-mart (yes, THAT store!). I used to hit up Old Navy during sales, but their women's section seems to be made up of really terrible quality stuff most of the time (at least the stuff I can afford), so I usually by pass them for me. I have a really small budget for clothes and am trying to not have an over filled closet of stuff that doesn't fit well, doesn't get worn, and is really just ready to be tossed out because of wear. Plus, because I try to buy clothes that are staples and not trendy, my clothes have a very long life. To take care of and prolong the life of even lesser quality items I usually hang up all of my shirts to dry. 

So, if the clothes are mostly how I want them to be, what's next? Accessories. And I'll get to that soon enough. I bet you can't wait!
In the mean time, I really want to hear your answers to these questions:
How do you decide what you need/want for your wardrobe? Where do you go to find it? How often to you get rid of clothes?