How to Survive a Clothing Swap

Today I attended my first clothing swap! I have been so excited for this swap, and have been planning for it since August.  I have been constantly going into my closet and pulling out clothes that I haven't worn in a while, and putting them into my "swap bag". A week later I'd go into the bag and decide why I haven't been wearing that particular item. Was the item too small? Too big? No longer my style? These were all questions that I would answer in my decision making process. Now you don't have to be this extreme when it comes to deciding on what items to take to a swap. I just hate getting rid of an item, and then deciding on a perfect outfit two months later and realize that I gave said item away. 

The swap that I attended today did not charge to attend the swap but rather had a clothing and accessory minimum, along with a potluck dish. Some swaps will give you a ticket for every item that you bring. This prevents someone from bringing two items and taking home 20. In my case, I brought two huge bags full of clothes, and only brought home one. The items that I swap were items that I truly no longer wanted, and was going to give to Goodwill. The potluck portion of the swap was nice because it gave us a chance to eat after the intense clothes hunting.

What should you bring to a swap?

Since I have been cleaning out my closet since August, I was able to come up with a fair amount of items to take to the swap with me. My mom had recently done the same in her closet, and was getting ready to take her clothes to Goodwill, so I was able to take her clothes with me to the swap. Since my mom and I are different sizes, I was able to take multiple sizes to the swap!

The number one thing to think about when taking items to a swap is the condition of your items. If you items are worn, have holes or stains, DO NOT SWAP THEM. There were some items at the swap today that should have never made it on the tables. Grungy old college sorority shirts or worn out purses are not acceptable. It is not fair that you take an item of poor quality to swap, and someone else brings something that still looks new. (If you have an item that isn't up to par, take it to Goodwill or turn it into a cleaning rag).

What should you wear to a swap?

• Dress or tunic. When going to a clothing swap, wear something that you can easy slip on or out of. My number one recommendation is to wear tights (but not see-thru). This way you can try on skirts, dresses, and pants without having to take off your bottoms. I chose to wear a sweater dress to this swap as it is chilly outside and I didn't want to worry about taking a coat into the swap. (I didn't want anyone to think that it was an item for swapping!)

• Belts and Shirts. I had a cami on under the sweater dress, so that I could take off the dress, but still be covered. A t-shirt would also be acceptable. I also wore a belt, so that I could see how certain items would look. Of course I'm not going to wear a red belt with a majority of the clothes that I tried on, but I really just needed to get an idea of what something would look like belted. I can't tell you how many times I took my belt off, so that other women could see how their outfits looked when belted. (Of course I kept my eyes on my belt as I didn't want it walking off!). 

• Accessories. Don't worry about wearing accessories to a swap. I ended up taking off my necklace before I left the house as I didn't want to worry about it getting in the way. 

• Shoes.Wear shoes that you can easily take off and on. My first instinct was to wear boots with this outfit, but I didn't want to worry about zipping and unzipping my shoes the whole time. Flats are the perfect shoes to wear so that you can try on shoes and clothes. You can also pair socks with them once you reach the clothing swap for sanitary reasons. 

• Accessibility. The main thing that you want to remember is accessibility. Can you easily change in and out of what you are wearing? Are you going to have to take off multiple layers that could be mistaken for a swap item? Is your jewelry going to get in your way? Are you going to be spending precious time taking off your shoes?

Sweater Dress: Express

Tights: Target

Flats: Payless

Belt: Plato's Closet (not sure of original origin)

Undershirt:Old Navy

Necklace: This was one of my Great-Grandmother's necklaces. She had a lot of costume jewelry, and this necklace was one of them. 

**I ended up taking off the necklace as I didn't want anything to interfere with the process of trying on clothes.

How to shop

My "how to shop" is based upon a large swap that does not have a clothing limit. When I first arrived, the room was in chaos, and I wasn't totally sure where everything was. (I accidentally arrived two minutes late due to terrible I-phone directions. Therefore I was trying to put my items out during the mayhem instead of being able to start shopping. I am glad that I gave myself extra time to find the location, but I still needed to get there sooner. ) Fortunately the swap had volunteers stationed around the room to help direct people and to keep the clothes in the appropriate piles. Once I knew the lay of the land, I was ready for business.

I immediately hit up the accessory tables, followed by the shoe table. The dress and jacket's rack were right beside these tables, so I quickly went through them next. Then I went to the medium table, the small table, then the large table. If I saw something that I liked and could possibly be in my size, I grabbed it. Once my bag was over flowing, I moved off to the side and started trying clothes on. The reason that I went to all of the tables was because not all of the items were put in the appropriate tables. 

By this time, everyone else was pretty much trying on clothes too, so we were all crowded around the mirror. This was actually a lot of fun because everyone was giving each other styling tips. If someone had an item that they no longer wanted, there were 5 people standing there that were happy to try the item on themselves. This is how I was able to score the army green tunic/dress that I got. The woman that was trying it on just didn't love it on her, and since I was saying how much I love it she quickly handed it over to me! I did this with a couple of items that I was trying on as well. 

After I had tried on my items, I went back to make a few more trips around the room. Surprisingly there were still people coming in with bags of clothes and accessories. I was able to score these booties when a girl walked in with a few shoes. I nabbed them before they even had a chance to hit the table. The back quarter of the shoes are worn, but the rest of the shoe still looks great. DIY glitter shoes are all over Pintrest, so I plan on sprucing them up. Always go back and look again as people may have put items back.

My clothing haul! This is what I scored:

A pair of booties (I am going to glitter-fy the back quarter, thanks Pintrest)
A Purse
A hat
A Scarf
Pair of gray skinny jeans
Dress Pants
Two Tunics,one is more like a dress, but it's too short to wear without something under it.
Four shirts
A Cardigan
A Sweater
Two jackets
Fancy Lace Leggings

I've been looking for a few particular items lately, but have either not been able to find them at a reasonable price or I have just not been able to find the perfect style for me. The swap allowed me to pick out pieces that I would not have looked at in the store, and see the true potential in an item.

So how did I find this particular swap? I found it on Meetup.com. This particular swap had 200 participants, but most are not that large. If the idea of a large clothing swap seems daunting to you, then organize a swap with a group of friends (or sorority or book club or community group).  I can't wait to attend another swap, but I won't be able to participate for a bit as I'm currently happy with my closet. :)

Shoe Review/ Confession

Do you ever feel like all you do is run errands? It was nice to have the man around to help out with the errands, because let's face it, grocery shopping with someone else is much better than doing it by yourself! We were having dinner with his family that evening as well, so I couldn't wear my sweats out, but I wasn't going to do my errands in a dress. (Especially since it was raining off and on all day).

(PS, I wouldn't wear my sweats out normally. It may have been acceptable in college, but not anymore).

(This is suppose to be showing you the earrings. Not my jacked up phone case. haha)

Shirt: Old Navy (old, but I feel like they always have something like it is stock)

Shorts: JcPenny (old)

Flats: Payless (old)...these sure have been worn a lot lately

Earrings: Francesca's Collections (Spring 2012) (the two silver hoops are from the original piercings so I don't count those for my earrings)

Necklace: I honestly cannot remember where this came from. It's a little old (surprise surprise) but I feel like it might have come with a shirt? 

Rings: gifted- old

My new shoes!

These are my new work-out shoes from DSW (New Balance).

CONFESSION:  I actually hate shopping for tennis shoes because it is usually such a hassle. One of the main reasons that I don't wear heels is because of the way that I naturally stand. My feet rotate inwards so I really stand on the arches of my feet, and therefore I am suppose to wear shoe inserts along with supporting shoes. (These are custom made inserts, not the ones by Dr. Scholls).  I obviously don't wear them with my sandals or flats, but I try to put them in my boots and similar shoes. Because of this, I have to wear tennis shoes that have sides that come up a bit higher than normal, so that my foot can fit into the shoe without the shoe pinching me. I thought that I had found a pair from Under Armor that was going to work, but the pinching occurred when I did anything other than walk. I really liked how the Under Armor shoes were so light weight, but they didn't have very good traction, and I felt like I was slipping and sliding everywhere. The sales guy at the stores tried to tell me that I didn't need my inserts because these shoes had such great support. **I have to wear my inserts when I work out or I will get horrible shin splints as well as sore knees/hips/ankles for a week if I don't.** Good try though sales guy.

Review:

Anywho, these New Balance shoes don't pinch my feet, and they have enough room for my inserts and my foot. I have a pretty normal foot, with a medium width, and they fit me really well. They also have a good grip, so I wasn't sliding all over the floor when I was working out yesterday. (yay!)

P.S.- I'm loving the Tippi Sweater from J. Crew. However I'm not sure that I can spend $55 on a sweater right now. (I'm on the cheap side and currently don't have a very large clothing budget to work with). Maybe this one that I tried one from Target wouldn't be so bad after all, since I plan on putting a button up under it anyway. 

Catch up

Saturday started out pretty busy...and now it looks like it is going to rain, so I think I'll switch into my rain-boots! I'm not ready to start wearing jeans yet, but today certainly has called for them. Or maybe it's just chillier outside than I'm use to.

This outfit is pretty much a replica of this one, just a different under shirt/shoes. 

Black Sweater: Charlotte Russe (old)

Shirt: Dress barn, (old) (I'm not s fan of the name, but I have found a bunch of cute clothes there)

Jeans: Express (old)

Flats: Payless, (from Plato's Closet)

Necklace: Charming Charlie (August 2012, sale rack)

Bracelets: black and gold: Express (December 2011) Gold: Forever 21( August 2012)

FROM 8-24-12

I think that it is about time to retire this shirt. The fabric just isn't what it use to be and you can tell that it has been worn a few times. I like this shirt because it is comfortable, but I think that it has done it's duty.

Shirt: Forever 21 (very old)

Shorts: JcPenny (old)

Flats: Payless (old)

Watch: Tissot (May 2012) love this watch!!

(I ended up wearing the watch in the next outfit also, but I forgot to take a picture with it. In fact, I forgot that I didn't have any jewelry on when I first took these pictures (below) and took a quick one before I walked out the door. The reason for the outfit change? The man and I were planning on going on a little date, but I went to his office to help him finish up some work beforehand. I needed something that was acceptable for the movie theater (I always get to cold in there) and a walk around town. This is what I came up with. I am the only one that makes sure that I'm wearing long pants and takes socks with me to the movies??

Shirt: Arden B. (old, from Plato's Closet)

Black Lace Tank: Forever 21 (August 2012)

Leggings: Target (old- i really need new leggings!!)

Flats: Target (old, Plato's Closet)

Belt: Came with a sweater dress (I think from dress barn??)

Necklace: Express- sometime in 2011

Rings: Purple-from the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show; 

Silver ring on pinky finger (also worn as a midi/knuckle ring) Consignment shop in the OBX called the Loft

J.Crew has similar silver ballet flats right now!

Royalty....nope

Sorry for the lack of updates, but the outfits have only been for babysitting esq adventures. (See the bottom of the post). 

Today has been a whirl-wind, but I wanted to make a quick post before I had to run again. I love this shirt, and it was one of my Plato's Closet finds. I know that there are a few people whom turn their noses up at the thought of consignment clothes, but there really are some great deals out there. Many of the pieces that I find still have the original store tags on them. How can you beat that? 

Shirt: VENUS (Plato's Closet-old)

Capri: Khol's (two years ago)

Shoes: Francesca's Collection (Spring 2012, sale)

Sunglasses: Target (Summer 2012)

Necklace: Express (2011)

Bracelet: gifted-old

Earrings: Claire's (old)

Feather Ring: Clementine (boutique in Richmond, VA)

Other Rings: gifted-old

*I really like this necklace, but it can catch on fabric very easily. This really limits what I can wear it with, but I still love it!

This is what happens when you have to baby-sit, run errands, go to the gym, and clean. The effort was just not there. I'm very sorry.

Shirt: Khols (old)

Shorts: Target (Spring 2012)

Shoes: Payless (old)

Day 1

I love clothes and shopping, but I just don't have the space (or money) to shop in the way that I want to. I'm trying to wear everything in my closet...let's see if I can! I've turned my hangers around, so that I can tell what I've already worn, and what needs to be worn. 

I'm in love with this necklace. It came from a jewelry maker from the Renaissance Festival in Maryland. I love the festival and can't wait to go back again this year.

The mirror is hanging on the back of the closet door going into the bathroom. Hopefully one day I can have the mirror that I dream about.

All of the clothes are over two years old...yeah I know.

Shirt: The Limited (I got it from Plato's closet)

Shorts: Target

Shoes: Payless

Necklace: one of the shops at the Maryland Renaissance Festival