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A question came to mind. I have been reviewing my many articles that I have written and blog on my various sites and realize that for the most part I have been catering to business attire or formal. I had recently done and article on uniform scrubs, but I think I need to focus on women who are just barely getting ahead. Why do people with good jobs get all the limelight? I set off to see if I could find places that I could get stylish clothing for plus-size women on a shoe string budget. I decided, in one of my afternoon’s off, to see what I could find.
Wouldn’t you know it? I did not have to go far down the road to find a place called Goodwill Industries or commonly known as Goodwill. I walked inside and at first I was overwhelmed. Why? It was filled with people and stuff! Not scattered around, but placed in areas of interest. There was a wonderful place in the back of the store filled and I mean filled with every type of book you could imagine. They had set up a rather large book shelving unit that took up a whole corner of the store in the back. They had comfy couches and chairs just waiting for you to sit and flip through the pages of books before you purchased them.
Well, now that I revealed another love of mine, books. I will go back to the project at hand. When you walk in the door there was a beautiful set up with a register that had all kinds of jewelry pieces. Some rather pricey, but many great brand new pieces just waiting to add accessories to your wardrobe. Many of the pieces where just $0.98. Of course with my love of pretty things, I was drawn to this display in which I picked up an earring pair and necklace that I made a set out of for $1.96. Then I went hunting to find any place that they may have plus-size clothing. Whalla! To the right side of the cash registers, in the middle racks were wonderful plus-size sweaters, jeans, skirts, tops and if you looked more to the right - dresses of all shapes, sizes and colors. I thought that Goodwill was famous for their vintage clothing, I was wrong. Many of the pieces had the original price tags on them. The prices of the clothing was so low - just $4.99 a piece. Although, I did see some higher, like $9.99 up to I believe my notes stated $14.99. Still, what a steal. I started pawing around. I found a beautiful pair of capri pants in black, my size of 18, with the price tag stating it was normally $29.99 - I paid $4.99. I found a beautiful light pink cotton top with sequins, kind of a dressy Henley - price tag? $48.00, my price - $4.99. Oh, I was hooked.
I checked out the shoes. Boy, shoes everywhere. They had them sorted by size, which made it really nice. I found these wonderful Oriental style sandals, black with animal print on the inside, they where a platform type shoe with beads used as the straps - brand new for $6.99. I love Oriental styles. I found a complete brand new outfit, of comfortable casual wear for under $17.00. I can not usually find a pair of shoes under $17.00. I left the store to get my mother and sister. They are also bbw and I wanted to know if they could find anything in this store as they take larger sizes than I did. I wanted to make an experiment as to see if my find was an unusual one. We decided to wait a week before returning to the store.
On return to the store, I personally found a nice skort, in cotton, brand new for $4.99. I did not know what the original price was as someone had ripped the tag. The make was Briggs. I also found brand new scrub uniforms - Dickies make - in the cross over, Asian type design, with several colors. The sizes were abundant. The cost per piece was $9.98. If you read one of my other articles, I too, wear scrubs for my other job. I picked up a red with black piping, top and pant. I also went looking for shoes. I found these very comfortable Crocs in red that match my uniform scrubs - brand new - for $6.99. I also found these satin slippers - brand new - they had an Oriental pattern in maroon - for $2.99. I found many more, but wanted to keep my budget low for the time being and went off to see what my mother and sister were able to find.
My mother found this wonderful royal blue, 2-piece business suit (jacket and skirt) with pearl buttons and lace for $9.99. She works in a bank, so this would really work for her. This was gently worn, but still could be put in a brand new pile. She, however, at this trip did not find any shoes. Sometimes, I think it might be a hit or miss for shoes.
My sister, who takes a size 24 and believes she can never find anything no matter where she goes - found a beautiful cotton top. It was new with a price tag of $48.00 - Goodwill price of - you got it - $4.99. The name brand was Cactus. It was 3/4 sleeves, with Rome written on it. It had also different pictures of historical places in Rome. The lettering of Rome was highlighted by just a few glittery type notions. Not too many as my sister is not a glitter or glitz person. She found to go with it a brand new pair of casual pants in a dark sage color. The name brand was dressbarn - women. This is a nice brand and I have shopped there several times. The original price tag was ripped on this also, but still, it was brand new for $4.99. She is a more casual dresser than I am - most of the time. This outfit suited her wonderfully. She went in to try it on and was pleased. She purchased her outfit for $9.98. She did not want to bother to look for shoes and we set off to wander the store in the domestic area. We ended up purchasing some stuff there, but it is irrelevant to my article. Sometime I will tell you about the wonderful teapot and rice cooker I bought.
The point is, you do not have to spend tons of money to look nice. My sister, after that shopping trip decided that she agreed with me - her overly large t-shirts and really baggy pants no longer suited her. She told me that dressing casual, but stylish was more comfortable to her and best of all - she felt beautiful again. Also, her husband was glad that she did not break the bank.
I have found out that both my sister and my mother had returned to the store twice since last week when we went together. They called me on their finds - very pleased - I might add. I have to admit, I have returned and purchased several dresses, shorts (for my trip to York Beach in a couple of weeks), some shorts for my husband and shoes for myself. Hey, I like shoes. I have also purchased a few brand new purses for $2.99, $4.99 and $6.99. I actually plan on going back.
I had, on one of my trips, spoken to a lovely sales associate, Donna. She told me she only purchases from Goodwill. For one, it helps out a non-for-profit company; two, she gets a discount for working there and three, she saves so much more money. She also told me that they are constantly getting new items from stores all across the country. I say, shop to you drop. Good luck on your next penny pinching shopping spree. Let me know how you purchase your stylish clothing in these times of penny pinching.
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