Work shirts for a breakfast sandwich

Clothes can say many different things. Such as: “I'm quietly confident.” Or: “I'm hip and stylish.” Or even: “I'm utterly tacky.”

Regardless of the specifics, all clothes say: “I'm not naked.”  This is largely what I demand of my clothing, and it's largely what everyone else demands of my clothing as well.

My wife has a few more criteria than I do about my clothing, one of which is that the color of said clothing shouldn't make me look naked. Because that's nearly as bad as actually being naked.  (If you can picture Slim Goodbody's evil doppelganger Fat Badbody, then you get the point.)

Aside from actual nakedness or faux nakedness, though, I'm brand-agnostic as long as it fits reasonably well.

And if the clothes come from a thrift store, so much the better!

Simple clothing needs make for small clothing bills

I'm a jeans-and-polo-shirt or a jeans-and-tee-shirt kind of guy.  It's been my outfit for years at this point.  I can wear this to work, to the grocery store, to church, and to just about every other place I need to go.

The last set of blue jeans I got was at Walmart.  My wife had been looking in thrift stores, but hadn't run across any there.  We finally bought some new ones at Walmart because my current set of jeans were just about beyond repair.  The top part of the inseam can be fixed only but so many times.

I run my polo shirts similarly into the ground.  Holes at the seams and frayed collars were noticeable at twenty paces.  (Or they seemed to be.)

I had worn some of these shirts for years, so they didn't owe me anything.

This week, my wife stopped by one of her new favorite thrift stores, and found four new-to-me polo shirts for $2.75.

Not $2.75 each.  $2.75 total.

Are all thrift stores created equal?

 The shirts weren't all that my wife got at that store.  She also found some clothes for herself, and some fabric.  She believes that she got a couple of yards of wool for $2.  New this is $20/yard.

I've been to some thrift stores that were awful, frankly.  The employees complained, and they didn't treat the customers well.

I've also been to some that really jacked the prices up.  Eight dollars for a used coffee maker, when a new one is ten?  C'mon.

This store is new.  My wife thinks that they may not really look into what exactly they are selling, or else they might be charging more.  In any case, the secret won't last long, and unless the prices match a bit better what the demand will become, the thrift store will run out of good merchandise.

But for now, she'll hit this store for all its worth, thankyouverymuch!

So … what's the best clothing deal you've gotten at a thrift store?  I have to believe that someone out there has done even better than $2.75 for four shirts. 🙂