glad not to spend much on clothes

Considering that I don't have what anyone would consider anything near a stable income, I've learned to find fashionable, wearable joys at sales, tiangges and second-hand shops. I don't mind buying - or receiving - second-hand stuff, as long as they're still in good quality. I hear ukay-ukays and thrift stores have become increasingly popular since people have become more financially hard-up; even the so-called "rich folk" have become patrons. These days it's not so looked-down-upon to be a "cheap shopper" since a some celebrities and fashion icons admit to buying their garb from tiangges and ukays.

At the start of the year, I treated myself with two sale dresses. They're actually brand new but very, very slightly damaged - nothing a needle and a bit of thread can't fix - but they're really, really gorgeous, my type of wearables. They make me happy even a month after they were bought.

A few weeks ago, My sister came home from a short visit to our Mama in LA, bearing gifts of bite-sized chocolates and thrift-store clothes. She got me a couple of beach-y blouses perfect for the coming heat wave. She also had two mid-length skirts that she thought I wouldn't wear, but I took them because I saw their potential to be turned into blouses or short dresses. I like i like i like i like.

Just this week, my mother-in-law did some clearing out in her house and asked the Hubby and me to come over and see if there was anything we wanted to take home. We checked out the stash of clothes and surprisingly, we found stuff we could see ourselves wearing, i.e., not too "oldies", not frumpy at all. I got me a couple of shirts, blouses and tank-tops, all still in excellent condition. I even found me a vintage-style formal-ish dress.

And while we were there at her house, we picked up a package from the Hubby's aunt in the 'States. In it were some clothes she bought for us - clearly new; the tags were still on. Mom joked that they were prolly bought on sale, but we didn't mind at all. I was especially glad because I was just thinking of shopping for shirts and thin blouses for the summer, and now I don't have to.

Even if they're not all new, they're new additions to my wardrobe. I'm not too ashamed to be so cheap since I know how to put a fresh, stylish spin to to ukay fashion. I'm glad that I haven't had to spend much on clothes this year yet. And I'm happy to acquire "new" wearables even though I haven't had much of a budget for it.