Online Thrift Stores

Have you ever heard of online thrift store shopping? I hadn't until a few weeks ago when my good friend, Amy Roberts, decided to do an experiment of sorts, and was kind enough to let me in on it!

So, Amy shopped and shopped on three online clothing sites (2 thrift store, and 1 personal shopping website). And here are some of the results we found:

The Lot of Clothes

The first site I'd like to introduce is one called Stitch Fix. (It's the line of clothes on the far left. To access their website, go to: www.stitchfix.com.) This site is not a thrift site, but a personal shopper site. You get on the site, and answer questions about yourself, and then the site somehow chooses "your style" and sends the clothes to you. The initial fee for submitting your style is $20. If you don't like any of the clothes, you can send them all back, but you lose the $20. But, if you buy all 5 items they send, a discount is applied. According to Amy's receipt, she would have gotten a 33% discount, but I do not know if this is standard or not.

 So, the total for all five tops: $292.00
 subtract the $20.00 initial set up fee
And if you buy all 5 items: -$68.00
And the total comes to: $204.00

Some Pics of the items sent by Stitch Fix. Prices are located in the captions.

Blue Jacket by Market & Spruce - $68.00 (unzipped)

Same Jacket, But Zipped

Dark Green Market and Spruce Knit Top - $58.00

Teal Green Market and Spruce Tee - $44.00

Grey Staccato Draped Front Cardigan - $48.00

 Amy, and I (And our other committee member, Kayla) decided that the gray cardigan in the pic above was super cute.

Light Grey Market and Spruce Terry Moto Jacket - $74.00 (Zipped)

 Our committee also loved the look and feel of this jacket, but in the end, Amy decided not to purchase it. $74.00 is a little steep. We decided to keep our eyes open for a similar jacket elsewhere (like at an outlet store on online thrift shop.)

Same Jacket, Unzipped

In the end, Amy decided to buy only one item from stitch fix. She purchased the gray and white Staccato Draped Front Cardigan. It was super flattering, and by spending just $28, she didn't have to lose the initial $20 she originally invested. She sent the other 4 items back. Stitch Fix was a good experience for her, but I don't think she will reinvest in the "styling fee" again. (But never say never, right?)

Now to the middle block of clothes. This block was purchased from an online thrift store called ThredUP. To access their website, go to www.thredup.com. (Or to get $10 off while adding $10 to my shopping cart, shop by clicking here.) You can also download a free app for your shopping convenience. Here is what a lot of scrolling time on the ThredUP website earned Amy:

 Gap Sleeveless Silk Top - $14.49

Lida Baday Jacket - $20.49

H&M Sleeveless Top - $12.99

Amy bought this top.

Navy J. Crew Cardigan - $29.49

Coral J. Crew Cardigan - $14.99 (Not the dress)

Amy bought this sweater. It's a beautiful color!

Juicy Couture Wool Blazer - $31.49

The rest of the items from the ThredUP lot were sent back. Either they didn't fit right, or they just weren't Amy's style. The neat thing about ThredUP is that you can share their site with others, and if the people you send the site to order using the link you sent, you both get $10 off. (That's why I shared the link above). Neat huh? I like them.

The last online thrift store Amy checked out was Twice. It is the block of clothes on the far right in the very first picture. You can access their account by going to www.liketwice.com. They have an App too. You can also find online coupons on Twice. For Amy's order, she applied a 40% coupon to her entire order. Awesome!

Here is what she ordered from their store:

Pink Sweater by New York and Company - $12.95 (plus a 40% off coupon.)

Pink Sweater by Ann Taylor - $14.95 (plus a 40% off coupon.)

 Amy kept this darker pink sweater and sent the coral one above back. She liked both, but the committee voted the coral sweater from ThredUP was more flattering.

Striped Gray Long Sleeve Sweater by Ann Taylor Loft - $15.95 (plus a 40% discount.)

 Amy didn't feel that this sweater was her style, but I felt like it was mine! She didn't send it back, and I bought it from her.

Long Sleeve Blue Jacket by Ann Taylor Loft - $16.95 (plus a 40% discount.)

 The same scenario applies to this jacket. I bought this from Amy. Love it!

Blue Striped Sheath Dress by Ann Taylor Loft Outlet - $18.95 (plus a 40% discount)

 Amy looks so cute in this little dress. She kept it! Yay!

Purple T-shirt by Under Armour - $14.95 (plus a 40% discount)

 Amy didn't keep this one.

Pay no attention to the greenish top...this pic is for the blank tank underneath. Black Tank Top by Coldwater Creek - $7.95 (plus a 40% discount.)

 I forgot to get a picture of just the black tank! Amy wore it under all the other clothes she tried on. She did not send the black tank back. It's just too cute and practical!

Grey Striped Cardigan by American Eagle Outfitters - $12.95 (plus a 40% discount)

Amy liked this sweater, but felt like it was too short on her midriff. So it went back.

All in all, the experiment was a lot of fun! We enjoyed taking pictures and I'm thankful Amy let me buy some of the sweaters from her, because as I'm sure you know, thrift store shopping can be time consuming! And, it can also save a lot of money! I asked Amy which store she liked best overall, and she had to go with ThredUP. They seemed to have the best deals without needing to find an online coupon. (I'm also thankful I wasn't the one sending merchandise back. Amy said it wasn't too difficult though.)

Please let me know if you've tried any of these stores, and if you have, how did you feel your experience went? Have you consigned to either of the thrift stores? I am by no means advocating or advertising any of these stores, but I just wanted to share our findings and hope you got something out of it. We had fun. I would love any tips or other good online stores that you've come across.

Thanks Shopper, Amy! Thanks Committee member, Kayla! Thanks readers! Love, Amber

Daddy Daughter Dance!

My girls are so blessed. I got to help them primp and get ready for the date of a life time...a date with their daddy. We curled their hair, put some make-up on them and got them all dressed up!

Julia and Lydia got to go with their dad, and Saige got to go on a date with me. Saige and I went and had froyo, and then picked up friends to come over and watch a movie with us. It was a good time. :)

Although, from the pictures and videos Dave took on his phone, the big girls and he had an even better time than we had. They really boogied down!

Big Girl Julia

Just look at these precious pics:

 I took these pics on our neighbor's porch because the lighting was better. Don't they look gorgeous?!?

A Bun with Curls

 This was as close to the requested hairdo as I could get!

 The girls danced so hard that the flower in Julia's hair fell right off the clip.

Lyd wanted her hair down

 She looked so gorgeous!

 How are my girls so big?

Sisters!

 Oh course Saige had to get in on the action! I wished I would have dressed her up a little more to take these pictures, but she's adorable anyway.

Saige and her baby blues

 Saige is my kid who always recognizes other people's eye colors. She comments on the colors of people eyes all the time. (I always notice people's lips.) I know that what you notice about others features is supposed to say something about your personality....noticing people's eyes must = mischievousness!

Daddy and his Dates

 The big girls were so excited about their date. They counted down the days for weeks. When they got to the dance, they got to sit by friends for their chicken with all the fixins dinner. They came home with glow sticks and flowery head bands. Everything was fancy and fun. The father-daughter dance is no small event here in Dickinson!

My Sweet and Beautiful Fam!

Just to Prove I Was There Too!

What a sweet way to spend a Friday evening!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope Monday is heavenly!

Love, Amber

Easter 2015

I'm sorry I've stayed away from blogging lately. Leaving for a little over a month wasn't my intention! But, I'm here now and ready to share a little bit about our Easter weekend! Because we way up North, we didn't get to see Dave's or my parents or siblings. But, we still had a great time with our little family of five! On Friday we shared the Easter story and went to a Good Friday service at church. Saturday was filled with Easter egg dyeing.

Here are a few of the ones we dyed.

Trying to Fit in the Five of Us

Julia Coloring Her Egg

Lydia Coloring Her Egg

Saige Colored Her Eggs Extremely Fast

One of Saige's Eggs

Another Family Shot

 
The Easter Bunny magically appeared and brought goodies for our girls. :) They loved everything they got, and then promptly forgot everything that was given.

Julia Showing Dave her new Judy Bloom Book

 The weird things in the girls hair are rags. I put them in their hair to hopefully curl it over night. It sort of worked. Sort of didn't. Julia's worked better because I put the blow dryer on her curls. But Lydia took her rags out before I could put the dryer on it. I curled the hair that the rags didn't.

Here are the girls all gussied up for Easter Sunday:

I Love Coral for Spring

Another Attempt at Getting Everyone Looking at Me

Beautiful Lydia at Church

Beautiful Julia at Church

I meant to get a family picture on Easter, but I didn't get to. :( We had our traditional Easter lunch of grilled pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, salad, and roasted asparagus after church and it was late but wonderful. Before lunch, the girls had a small Easter egg hunt. Saige couldn't hang through lunch, and had to go down for a nap before we had the lemon poppy seed pound cake.

We had a fabulous Easter! The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have spent it with family. Maybe that will be a possibility in 2016!

Thanks for coming by! I hope your Easter was fabulous as you celebrated the Risen King! -Amber