I was wandering Instagram one day, like a lost little puppy, when I stumbled across this woman talking about thredUP. ThredUP this, thredUP that.

She was getting a bunch of cute clothes and bags and shoes and would say how much she paid for them, which would come out to little or, more often than not, no cost to her.

Well, great. Good for her. I was jealous of her free stuff, but other than that, it all meant nothing to me.

Until I saw a link for a free ten dollar credit. I’m a thrift shopper. Ten dollars can go a long way. I was intrigued.

I clicked the link, and they had me sign up. I was willing to go as far as the check out, because I didn’t believe they would just give me ten dollars, I thought there might be a catch.

I do this a lot. Comply to whatever they want me to enter, until I go as far as “complete transaction” and realize I need to spend thirty dollars to get what I want. Then I’m done.

So I picked something at random, but sure enough, at the end of the transaction, the code was imputed automatically for me, and I got my discount.

Money signs probably cha-chinged in my pupils. With this new sign of discount, I realized: I was gonna buy something.

It actually took me forever to find something I wanted, I’m sad to say. A few days, to be honest.

I would go on, browse a little, but nothing. I didn’t like any of the tops. Some of it looked like stuff I would pass in the thrift store.

But if I got something cheap enough, I would be able to use the rest of the money to pay for tax and shipping and get that item completely for free. That was my goal for a while. Then I came across cardigans.

Cardigans came to about $6, leaving enough for the $2.99 shipping, so with tax, I wouldn’t get it free, but maybe for a dollar or two. Those numbers, I could live with. I would be most willing to spend that at a thrift store.

I was hooked on cardigans. I just couldn’t find the perfect one.

For whatever reason, I decided to get the thredUP app on my phone. That’s when I found it.

A Banana Republic cardigan with a lacy front, half sleeves, and a zipper, that, after discounts, would come out to $4.05 for me.

I seriously had to think about it. Four dollars was significantly more than two (don’t laugh, that’s %100 more). It also had a “tiny flaw.” It said “light pilling.”

Now, I didn’t know what the heck “pilling” was. I Googled it. It means those little balls of fuzz that show on clothes as signs of wear.

I take it back. I didn’t Google it first. I texted my friend who thrift shops as a business. When he heard that and that it was Polyester, he checked out. He wouldn’t buy it for his business. But we both joke that he’s a clothes snob.

I went to my closet and attempted to find something I owned that was polyester to try to imagine what the cardigan would feel like.

It was like midnight, though. I was dwelling on this. And I didn’t want to go to sleep because I didn’t want to lose the beautiful cardigan.

I was also keeping my friend up. Finally he said, “just buy it,” probably to get me to stop texting him. But with his professional blessing, I felt better, and hit the button that would change my life.

Just kidding.

But it was very exciting!

 

It came in the mail about a week later in a green polka dot bag, and wrapped in white tissue paper with a green sticker that read “enjoy!” The whole packaging I thought was really cute (be honest, that matters).

And it was PERFECT. It felt brand new. I guess it can look fuzzy, but I really don’t see anything wrong with it. And the zipper feels really nice.

I became a ThredUP believer.

I got really excited and told my friends about the site. Since I signed up, I now had $10 to share! That made me even more excited.

I felt really important, too. I have the capabilities to supply you with a free ten dollar credit. Are you willing to receive this gift?

ThredUP also rewards me $10 for each friend who uses the code. (I don’t really know how they’re making money. But I’m no business person.)

Because two of my friends used the ten dollar code (thanks for the support Julie and Lorraine!), I was back online again.

These Nine West shoes were $7 without any discount. So for those of you thinking you couldn’t get any deals with $10, I could’ve bought these for about $2.50 out of pocket. And I did.

You may recognize a lot of these pictures from my Instagram. I post a lot of my finds there, so be sure to follow me.

I also posted the rest of the items I bought in my last order, along with the shoes. I ended with a Forever 21 pink skirt (you’ve seen above) and fox sweater, a Olivia Matthews dress, and the shoes, all for about $9. Divided, it would be $2.25 per article.

So ThredUP is very thrifty and affordable (with the discounts). It’s an online consignment store, which means “HIGH end, fancy second-hand stuff.” Some of the articles can be expensive and some can be grungy. But it’s the same in any store.

It’s the treasure hunt of it. Remember the treasure hunt pep talk?

One other thing about ThredUP is that they only sell women’s, junior’s, and young boy’s clothes. Sorry men, it does stink. I guess that’s where my friend’s business comes in.

Anyway, I’m very excited about this store. It’s fun. And something I truly appreciate is that they’re honest about the true quality of whatever article you’re looking at, like with my sweater. And most of the time, they’re ten times pickier than we are.

If you’re interested, here’s the link for a free $10 credit of your own: http://www.thredup.com/r/AGXMWV. If it ever says something along the lines of “you have to spend $40 to get $10 off,” disregard it. It doesn’t apply to the free credits.

It’s just a whole lot of fun.

Good luck and happy shopping!