~Easy like Sunday morning~

I love Sundays!  Well our Sunday mornings aren't exactly easy considering we teach pre-k for the 1st service at our church then attend 2nd service. Afterwards comes the easy part. We always eat Sunday lunch at my parent's then head home for whatever the day brings us!! Easy, right??!!!

Today was one of those days! We went to church, had lunch at momma's then came home. We spent the afternoon outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather. I had dressed in layers, which is kind of an essential for GA weather.  Seeing as how when I went into church it was a bit chilly and when I came out of church I had to come out of my jacket it had gotten very hot!!

                                                 Green Army jacket-Papaya clearance last year
                                                        White flowy blouse- hand me down from my sis
                                                             skinny jeans- Old Navy clearance in Dec.
                                                                brown sandals- hand me downs
                                                             necklaces- American Eagle 2 years ago
                                                          bracelet Ny & Company clearance forever ago
                                                                   Rings- flea market find
yeah so basically 50% of my outfit was hand me downs, hey ain't no shame in my game!!! Perfect pieces  for a perfect outfit for a lazy Sunday Afternoon!! Now if you will excuse me I'm going to spend the rest of the evening on my hammock with that wonderful hubby of mine!!!

Whatta day

So one of my partners in this "thriftygrlchallenge" happens to be the mom of the most adorable 4 yr. old  (my nephew) in the WORLD!!!!!! Seriously the kid is so cute! One day last year my sister & he came in the house from work/school & he walked over to his dad. Then he kind of plopped down & said" whatta day". Too Cute and the fact that he even realized that sometimes at the end of the day that is all you can say !!!!

Our last couple of weeks have been like that. We are busy & have had a whole" hubby's truck got stolen" episode on top of work and sports and kids in general and the list goes on!!

. So this morning I pulled this black shirt dress out of my closet that I had inherited from my baby sis last summer. No ironing,  add some cute wedges & we were good people!! I wish it was always that easy, but I am thankful today it happened to be. I like easy clothes especially when trying to find something to wear to work feels like one more thing I have to do!! So with the help of some hand me downs & a good classic pair of sandals my morning was saved, as for the rest of it....Whatta Day!!!!

 Gap shirt dress, purse- my own, payless clearance wedges last Aug

Spring has Sprung

Spring has Sprung...kinda, here in Georgia!!! I love Georgia's mild winters. Here it is the first of March and while it is technically not spring we have spring temperatures! So EVERY southern girl starts getting a little  very giddy because it means the start of the wearing of our favorite "Spring Looks".  Whether it's a sundress, short sleeves, shorts, rolled up jeans, sandals or white pants, we are  just happy to show our shoulders, legs and painted toes!!!!

 I had already found some great new Spring items that I have been very excited about  and are quite proud of for some new "Spring Looks" . I am also going to show you my "want" list for a couple more things I will be hunting for at my favorite local thrift stores!!Who says I have to have them all right now?!   Don't worry I will proudly post as I find them and mark them off my list!

Spring Want List:
1. Bright Shirt (  hot pink or salmon)
2. neon piece-
3. stripes
4. neutral color leather jacket
5. mint green piece
6. floral dress
7. red flowy shirt
8. day clutch
9. blue sheer shirt

                            Bright shirt-check

Stripes-check 

Cardi-Love

Last week was Valentine's day and with all the LOVE in the air my sister suggested I do a Cardi-Love week! We all know how versatile cardigans can be and if you don't, you need to pay attention to this post!! Cardigans are a girl's best friend you can wear it so many ways and make a whole new outfit every time.So adding 1 piece to your wardrobe means a lot of new outfits, that is  Winning, my friend!!

I can tell you that while I started off very excited about this new task for my week I didn't end very excited at all! I will admit that at the end of the week I was a little bummed to put back on my trusty cardigan for yet another day. However I trudged on for the sake of some good pics and content for today's blog!!!! LOL

Last week was the last week before our winter break in our school system. So we like to use that as an excuse to wear jeans but also to raise money for great charities!!Relay for Life is a big one in our county (  I am on the committee, so yes this is a shameless plug) It is an event for American Cancer society to raise money for Cancer Awareness & research. I would suggest definitely going online, finding a Relay for Life event near you and get involved. You will not regret it, it will be the most fulfilling commitment you will ever do. So I got to pay to wear jeans to work for a week for a good cause.

I ALWAYS wear cardigans in my usually work outfits ( literally like 2 or 3 times a week). I thought I would go with the casual approach with the cardi-love since it was jeans week. Below is what you will find as my experiment with Cardi-Love. Again I tell you it wasn't as exciting the whole week as I thought it would be, however not once did someone notice I was wearing the same cardigan!! Well, if they did they didn't say anything like" Didn't you just wear that" or "Gross haven't you worn that same sweater all week". I didn't tell people what I was doing because I wanted to see if anyone would notice. In that aspect, my experiment with Cardi-Love was a big success! So now are you convinced that cardigans are the BEST piece of your wardrobe EVER??!!!!

I chose my favorite Caridgan for this weeks Cardi-Love. It is a blush/tan color Cardigan from Forever 21. I bought it for like $13 right after Christmas.

Monday

 Cardigan-Forever 21- (Christmas)
Shirt-Forever 21-(Christmas)
Leopard Belt-JCrew outlet-( last summer)
Trousers-Ann Taylor- Goodwill from so long ago!

Tuesday I was at home because we had a contractor come out to help re- do our porch. So V-day was a lazy chill day kind of outift!

Old Band Tee-Goodwill long ago
Jeans- Thrift Store

Wednesday:

Tank-JCrew outlet-( 2 years ago)
Leopard Scarf-eBay  ( last fall)
Brown belt- hand me down
high waisted jeans-Old Navy( Christmas)

Thursday:

Striped button up-Consignment store( 2 years ago)
skinny Express jeans-Marshall's ( 3 years ago)
Boots- Bass Outlet ( 3 years ago)

Friday:

White t-shirt-Clothes swap
Leopard Scarf-eBay
Skinny jeans- Old navy( Christmas)

So that was my work week with my favorite cardigan!! Sorry I only went 5 days but like I said before that was about all I had in me! I LOVE my other cardigans way too much too to just confine myself to one!!! However I have proved the theory of how much 1 caridgan can change/add to your wardrobe!!!!! Long Live Cardi-Love!!!!!

Comparisonitis

So one of the biggest challenges of the Thriftygirlchallenge for my sisters and I is, staying away from the emails all the sale emails we receive. About a gazillion times a week you receive these sale & clearance and addition % off sale items. I had to go through and block all of my favorite stores' emails. However I happened upon this awesome website http://www.learnvest.com/. It has all kinds of great helpful advice for the frugal minded!!

One article I read recently,  really brought things into perspective for me. The article says "trying to keep up with the Joneses can not only make you feel lousy about yourself, but also inspire bad spending decisions. We call this phenomenon “money comparisonitis.”  WOW ain't that the truth!!! How many times have I done that? I think as women we constantly "compare" ourselves with other women. So much so that it not only affects us but our spending habits too!!!
 The rest of the article is very refreshing you should have a read if you get a minute http://www.learnvest.com/2012/01/how-to-cure-your-money-comparisonitis/.

As a woman/mom/daughter/sister & friend I want to give credit where credit is do!! If I see another lady who looks nice I like to tell them. If I like their new diamond ring or new furniture then I am going to be happy for them and with them. If  my coworkers or friends are looking super hot & pretty I'm going to tell them not envy them to the point of being negative towards them.

I've decided to do my own version of "Comparisonitis". Since I've become addicted to Pinterest, link here: http://pinterest.com/, I have found some many wonderful ideas about everything!!! I use it all the time as a resource & reference. It has absolutely been a GREAT tool in helping me with the "Thriftygirlchallenge". So I have found some amazing outfits that I could recreate with my own items I already have. So here you go:

This girl's style is amazing!!! I love her outfits she puts together. So here is my version , which is kind of a mix of those 2 outfits!


Next outfit is a recreation of the Always classic Reese

here is my version:

So you see we can all be some fabulous looking women if we inspire & encourage one another!!!!

Tutorial: Shirt into Cardigan

 Hola!  I'm Michelle, the baby of the sisters in the "Thriftygirlchallenge" and I live near Charleston, SC.  I'm so excited to be posting on my sis's blog and to be sharing a cool tutorial.  This is the first month of the Thrifty Girl Challenge, and I think it has been a success!  I can't wait to see what we find during the other 11 months.  It hasn't been easy, especially when Target had an extra 15% off their clearance and Free Shipping or Loft outlet had 50% off everything including clearance, but it has been a great exercise in being creative!

One of the best things that happened this month is the clothing swap I went to last weekend.  I came in with 10 items and left with 12 including a Calvin Klien Dress, a Polo Shirt, a curling Iron (not pictured) and a cute red tunic dress.  Take a look at what I got!

At last minute I decided to snag the black and white Ann Taylor Tee.  It was a little short but I knew I could use it somehow.  So, I turned to Pinterest and found a way to turn a shirt into a cardigan with little effort.  So, Sunday night during commercial breaks I made this shirt into a super cute Cardigan.  Below is the Tutorial.

Stuff you need:
scissors
shirt
thread
button (found one laying around the house)
iron
iron bonding (hem tape will work too)

First, cut a straight line down the center, like so.

Next, turn inside out and using the iron bonding stuff (hemming tape could work) fold a half an inch back, put in the iron bonding, and iron.  It sticks!  Repeat on other side.

Turn right side out.  At this point, you can leave it or add a decorative button.  I decided to add a button. *If you want you can sew a small piece of ribbon in a loop on the other side to hook the two sides together.  This was my original plan but the shirt was too tight after I took a half inch out on each side.*

 Voila!  You have a new sharp looking cardigan.  Pair with a tank and your set! 

Guest Blogger~Thrifty finds

So as some of you may remember i am doing the "Thriftygirlchallenge" with my 2 sisters. My older sister has found some pretty good things lately and she is going to share some of them with you! I can honestly say after reading this post I had some MAJOR thrifting envy, so it's ok if you do too!!


Hi! My name is Marie, and I am Renee's big sister. I live in Connecticut, and wanted to provide some finds that I found up here in New England. One thing I will say about Connecticut, is we have amazing thrift stores and consignment shops. I have scored some amazing finds in the past. Here are some of the best that I found on my last trip.

One thing I love to find at thrift store is great workout clothes. These are items that I want, but hate paying the high price for them in the store. Up here, one of my favorite thrift stores is called Savers. I love this place, and I also love that they sponsor Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of Hartford. I love that my money and donations go to help something local. The first outfit is a mint green addidas top, that I was able to pair with a brown pair of yoga pants. The total cost for the outfit was 7 dollars! The second outfit is another addidas shirt that I was able to pair with some BCBG pants, this outfit also cost 7 dollars. So I was able to but two different exercise outfits for what one shirt would cost me on the clearance rack!!

I loved the detail on this grey cardigan that I also scored at Savers for 5 dollars. I think it will look great with  a black pair of pants for work, or a pair of jeans for a more casual look.

My favorite find of the day came from a local Goodwill store. I have been eyeing a hoodie and sweatpants from Victoria Secret. I have been wanting them for a while, and almost ordered them online since they are on clearance, however I stood to my commitment not to buy anything new for one year. Plus I really did not want to spend $ 50 dollars on the set. Well, while browsing the Goodwill, I came across these great sweatpants and hoodie. Now they don't match, but I'm fine with that. I ended up paying $15 for both pieces which is more than I usually pay, but I was glad and excited to do it!

What have you found at your favorite thrift stores?