All these clothes cost $20: TOTAL!

The response to my first show-off post was really positive, so I’ve decided to share some more of my bargains with you.

A couple of weeks ago, I went op shopping — which is what us Aussies call thrift shopping. For a grand total of $20 I bought all of the following:

Vintage belt, $8

I wear a belt almost every day, but I’m really picky and rarely find anything I like when I go shopping. This one looks fantastic with jeans and can also finish a black dress nicely, so I had to snap it up.

Black evening dress, $5

I snap up cheap evening dresses for a completely different reason. Although I habe few occasions to wear a dress, keeping a few on hand works because they’re SO expensive if you have to buy one in a hurry. For someone as picky as me, it’s hard to find good evening wear at retail for under $500 - and then it’ll only be worn once. Madness!

So when I find a cheap dress that looks great on me, I buy it even if I don’t know when I’ll wear it. Buying three ten-dollar dresses but only wearing one is still cheaper than buying a single new dress… over ten times cheaper!

And best of all, it takes all the anxiety out of dressing for a formal event, since I usually have something to wear hanging in my wardrobe already.

Shiny shirt, $2

This shirt really hasn’t come up well in the photo, but in real life it’s shiny and a little bit sexy. I like to have lots of different tops because I buy very few bottoms (I like the expensive ones so I can’t afford many). I fill out my wardrobe with lots of inexpensive tops to make a few pairs of pants into lots of different outfits. Hopefully, no-one notices that I wear the same jeans every day!

Cute summer top, $2

The Australian summer has just ended, so it’ll be a few months before I have a chance to wear this. But it’s cute, a little bit different and pure cotton so it’ll be great on really hot days — a no-sunburn alternative to the Aussie singlet in summer.

It has a couple of marks on the front, but for $2 it’s worth the effort of soaking it in bleach for a few hours to see if they disappear (and if they don’t, it goes back to the thrift store and that $2 is a donation to a good cause).

Designer evening top, $3

Last but not least, my best find this time was a Zimmerman evening top for $3! It’s got a draped, ruched front (which hasn’t shown up very well in the photo) and is made from a slightly shimmery spandex. Zimmerman is one of my favourite Australian designers so I’m thrilled to find this top so cheaply.

Hooray for bargains!