November can easily turn into shopping extravaganza, thanks to the phenomenon known as Black Friday. In recent years, Canadian retailers have jumped on the bandwagon, so this has now become a sort of second Boxing Day. For the most part, I find the hype unwaranted in both cases. That is not to say that great deals can’t be found on Black Friday; it’s just not the end-all and be-all of bargain shopping, at least in my books. Equally impressive deals can be found any time of year … if you’re willing to shop secondhand. And you know where I stand on that.

This month’s shopping recap illustrates my point. In total, I bought 7 items for $210 (original retail approximately $1,910). Six of these items were bought secondhand, although most of them are either new or almost-new; the last one was purchased new at retail. Overall, I paid 11% of retail cost. The bulk of those savings comes, not surprisingly, from the pieces purchased secondhand.

[Quick wardrobe analytics: for the secondhand pieces, I paid, on average, 12% of retail prices. One of the pieces was discounted by 94%!]

It will be interesting to see how these numbers compare to any Black Friday shopping I end up doing. (I’ll be away in Ottawa at that time, so this post was prepped in advance.) I’ll review those purchases in my December wrap-up.

Alright, on to the details:

I have 3 pairs of black pumps, but only one that (a) is an almond-toe style, and (b) not patent leather. That pair has seen better days; I bought it in 2010 and have worn it frequently since then. Now, the 4 inch heel feels a little less stable than I remember it, pre-baby #2. I am a recent convert to the wedge heel, so when I spotted this CK pair at Winners, I decided that an upgrade was in order. These pumps were not on sale, and were a little more expensive than I like to pay for this type of brand, but I figured that I could probably get a decent Cost-per-Wear out of them over the next 3-4 years nonetheless.

My last pair of nude heels also “developed” issues after my last pregnancy. The heel felt too high, and the shoe felt a half size too big. Random. In the past, I would have looked past these issues, and suffered accordingly, but I’m over uncomfortable shoes at this point. I put my old pair in the consign/donate pile, and added “nude heels” to my to-buy list. Not long thereafter, I lucked into finding a barely worn (non-patent) pair of nude heels  on my local consignment store’s clearance rack. (The heel of my actual pair may be a bit lower than shown in the picture; actual inches aside, they are quite comfortable.)

I know, you guys. I did a double-take too. I found these at another local consignment store (Red Pony), also barely worn, and couldn’t quite believe the price sticker. The owner told me that the consignor had not specifically indicated whether the shoes were authentic or not, so she priced them accordingly. A close inspection + some Google-fu action convinced me that they are, indeed, the real deal. So I bought them, even though they are only “extra special occasion” shoes (think weddings, Christmas parties, and the like). I’m not generally a fan of peep-toe pumps, but these ones look terribly pretty on my feet. And they make me almost 6′ tall, which is a nice bonus (I have a lack-of-height complex).

I have been thinking about this dress for a long time. My work bestie bought it some time last year, and makes it look phenomenal. (We share a love of florals, in case you were wondering.) She swears it’s not only comfortable, but also machine washable and durable. Me wanty. But I figured that the logistics of “sharing” the same distinctive dress in our small department would be too complicated. Sadly, last month, my work bestie left to pursue another opportunity; although I am thrilled for her, I was pretty gutted to hear she was leaving … so I decided to make my own silver lining. This dress won’t make up for the loss of a wonderful colleague, but it will make me feel like a million bucks on a dreary Monday morning. (Side note: eBay is wonderful for locating NWT pieces from 2-3 seasons ago at highly discounted prices.)

Speaking of RL dresses, I also found this one at Value Village; with a 30% off coupon, it came to $12. On the same trip, I also found a Marc by Marc Jacobs dress, which was only $6. (My score paled in comparison to Cassie’s … I mean, just look at this.)

This is what happens when I’m bored and find myself on eBay. A dozen random searches later, impulse buy. My version is blue and brown (not red and pink as pictured), but won me over with the iris print. The buckle detail at the waist is also interesting. Did I need a new dress? Do you even need to ask?

As always, I’m linking up with Fran and the other budgeting bloggers, so head on over there for more budgeting fun. And then tell me: what did you buy this month?

Every month, I have the best (non-spendy) intentions, you guys. Well, as they say, the road to busted budgets is paved with good intentions. Or something like that. And here we are. In all fairness, I don’t have an actual clothes budget. Instead, I’m trying (harder) to be more mindful with my purchases. All told, I bought 7 items for $190 (original retail approx. $950). Here are the details:

I miss thrifting. Sadly, I very rarely have a chance to go these days. So I was thrilled to get a chance at some secondhand thrifting, courtesy of the lovely ladies behind Sister Thrifters and their end-of-summer backyard sale. Don’t have time to thrift? Follow these thrifting masters (mistresses?) on Instagram to see what lucky finds they’ve uncovered – maybe you’ll find your next (secondhand) thrifted treasure. I was immediately drawn to this blue floral tee, because of course. I also picked up two dresses (Lilka and Joseph Ribkoff) for $4 each. Cannot. Beat. Those. Deals.

I cannot resist dresses. I mean, really. At least this isn’t floral. And it’s a totally different silhouette for me. I’m really excited about wearing this to work – I think it’s got a slightly edgier vibe than my usual picks, so I’m curious to see if I can pull it off/feel comfortable in it. Psychically comfortable, that is. It’s a pretty comfy dress otherwise. The only downside is that it’s a poly blend. I almost never buy polyester these days. I was really torn with this dress, but the aesthetics won in the end. We will see if I come to regret it. [I don’t think so.]

I would describe this as, sort of … jolie laide. I can’t quite decide if it’s just too edgy-cool for my low-brow taste, or just plain ugly. I bought it because I’ve heard so many people bloggers rave about Equipment shirts, and I had earlier (in the same day!) passed on another, too-sheer version, and this one felt nice and silky, and looked work appropriate, and it was a steal of a Winners deal … and … Shall we go with impulse buy? I’m gonna blame the Joe Fresh dress for this one. It made me think I should take more fashion “risks”. Humph. Anyway, I’m going to have to make it work, because I hemmed and hawed for too long, and the return window expired on me (the downside of Winners, if you’re not a TJX member or whatever). Boo.

I’ve been holding on to a JC gift card since this summer, and I knew its time had come when I saw this “Dutch floral” print. I loved the vibrancy of the pants version, but they aren’t in the least bit practical (not to mention that they probably don’t flatter anyone over a size 2). [Why, oh why, did they not make a pencil skirt in this print?] The cropped sweatshirt seemed to have a lot of layering potential, so I picked it up during a 30% off sale; my out-of-pocket cost was a big fat zero.

I mean, I did warn you this would happen. This Spearmint Blake is in pristine condition (just a couple of small pen marks inside), and too lovely to pass up at this price. Of all my old MJ bags, this one is up there with the Mag and the Kirsten as a favourite. I do wish it was a teeeeny little bit bigger, but only because I like to stuff everything – kitchen appliances included – into my work bags. The Blake fits a lot of thing … but maybe not the sink.

How was your month’s shopping? Did you scare up a good deal or two? [Har, har!] Tell me everything in the comments, and don’t forget to check out Franish and the other budgeting bloggers.

P.S. There was one additional thing I bought this month, but it deserves its own post. Stay tuned.

September was … an interesting month. Life sort of exploded at me, which was more exciting and less terrifying than it sounds. But there were some downsides too. For a multitude of reasons, I’ve started questioning the blog’s existence again. I don’t know what to do with it. Worse, I’m not sure that uncertainty bothers me as much anymore. A sign it’s time to call it done? I don’t know. I’m not vague-blogging ya. I truly don’t know.

But enough about that; let’s tackle the subject at hand – this month’s shopping tab: 9 items, totalling $416 (original retail $1,951). Most of these were actually bought at the tail end of the previous month, but didn’t make it into August’s recap. I haven’t had much time for shopping lately.

I already have one black pair of pants (the BR Sloan cropped pants I bought last month), and normally I wouldn’t bother with a second. I hate pants. I stumbled onto this pair, though, and they are a very nice straight cut in a length I can wear with heels. For the price, they seemed like a good idea.

I fell for the colour. I love the Anya’s comfort level, but hate the faux suede material – it’s very prone to getting dirty. This is my last pair, I promise. J. Crew better not release a pretty new colour ever again.

Impulse buy. Love it.

Secondhand J. Crew pencil skirts are one of my weaknesses; somehow, they always come home with me. I love paisley, and I think the colours will work well with other pieces in my closet (like the orange schoolboy blazer I got last month). This was actually a new-with-tags skirt, so considering the price, I’m not complaining.

Major score. I rarely shop at Winners these days, but I’ve scored some fantastic deals there in the past year. This one is over of my faves. This is the best stock photo I could find, but trust that it looks amazeballs. I looooove wearing this jacket to work.

This dress caught my eye because the print looked like something that could pass muster at Anthropologie. When I tried it on, it fit like a dream. I couldn’t pass it up. And I love wearing it.

And more dresses!

You may remember I reviewed this Old Navy dress last month. I wasn’t down with paying full retail for it, but it was a very cute, wearable casual option … so when I spotted it for $12, I caved. I got the black/white colourway, and wore it here.

I’ve been keeping an eye out for this dress ever since it popped up on my local Kijiji at the beginning of the year … and the seller ignored my emails. (I wasn’t even looking to bargain. I just wanted the damn dress.) It took a while, but I eventually found it on eBay for a price I was willing to pay. I’m a big fan of this style (gathered bodice through the waist, flowy skirt) because it’s the most flattering on my body type. So I took a risk; the dress was listed as a XS. I am … not an extra small. Online reviews suggested the dress ran a size large. I can sometimes fit into size S dresses because my top half is smaller … aaaand you don’t care. Long story short, I lucked out. The dress fits great – with absolutely no extra room to spare.

Couldn’t resist. I seem to have a thing about bags that are somehow connected to Kirsten Dunst. First my Dentelle Speedy, now this. This is actually called the Kirsten bag, after – you got it – Ms. Dunst herself. It took me a while to figure that out, because this bag came out in 2004-ish, and apparently the internet was not invented until 2009 or so. Anyway, it’s beautiful. The inside is laid out just the way I like it:

You know what I found out in the course of researching this bag? Marc Jacobs once put out a bag called … wait for it … the Adina. Somehow, I feel this information completely justifies my love of all things MJ.

(I could tell you that this is the last bag I’m buying forever for a long time, but then I’d be lying to you. I still want a Blake, and I’ll probably eventually hunt down my namesake too. Keeping it real, folks. And keeping eBay in business too.)

And that’s another month wrapped up. I’m linking up with Fran, so you can ogle some more pretty things over there. Then come back and tell me how your September shopping looked, ya hear!