2024 Thrifting Wrap Up

As the year winds down, I like to take the opportunity to look back at my thrifting purchases. While I still make a thrifting mistake here and there, thrifting is a pretty low stakes (and low cost) way to determine if something is going to work for you, your closet, or your home. So let’s take a look at my thrifting winners and losers for 2024!

My Favorite Thrifted Home Items for 2024:

  • DRU Holland Dutch Oven, $6.99 – January 2024
  • Handmade Pottery Tray, $6.49 – April 2024
  • Starbucks ceramic mug, $3.99 – June 2024
  • Pampered Chef Bar Pan, $5.99 – July 2024
  • MCM Bamboo bowl, $12 – August 2024
  • Rifle Paper Co x Corkcicle travel mugs, $18 each – August 2024

My winning home items from 2024 were a mix of super useful and super adorable. The Starbucks mug, Pampered Chef bar pan and Corkcicle travel mugs have been used heavily since I purchased them — ranging from every day to a couple times a week. The handmade pottery tray and the bamboo bowl are also super useful, holding stuff in my den. The DRU Holland Dutch Oven is more of a ‘makes my heart sing’ sort of item, that I just love!

My Favorite Thrifted Clothing Items for 2024:

  • Laura Ashley skirt, $7 – February 2024
  • L.L. Bean 100% Cotton cardigan, $3 – February 2024
  • Vintage skirt, $8.29 – April 2024
  • Madewell Walker Chelsea suede ankle boots, $5.99 – May 2024
  • Coach Dakota purse, $29 – June 2024
  • Sorel sandals, $20 – August 2024
  • Target Pleated Running Skort, $5.99 – September 2024
  • Lands End Squall Waterproof Parka, $17.99 – December 2024

These are my absolute favorite clothing thrifted scores over the last year! The Laura Ashley skirt and Vintage skirt have both become my absolute favorites in my closet. The L.L. Been cardigan and Lands End parka (a recent addition) are more ‘sleeper winners’ in that they are super useful and keep me nice and warm. The shoe winners of the year – the Madewell suede ankle boots and the Sorel sandals are both comfortable and cute, and have gotten lots of wear. The Target skort is super cute and will go into heavy rotation once the weather warms back up. Lastly, that Coach purse. SWOON! It gave me the opportunity to try out my rehab skills and it’s oh so gorgeous and timeless!

And here were some of my 2024 mistakes that I will learn from:

  • Athleta Arrival skirt, $13.49 – January 2024
  • Kate Spade Viva Colores Sidney Skirt, $11.29 – June 2024
  • Anthropologie Skirt, $5.29 – June 2024
  • Halara workout dress, $12.99 – July 2024
  • Made in France bowl set, $9 – October 2024
  • Johnny Was dress, $9 – October 2024

For the three skirts and two dresses, I have the same issue… I need to TRY ITEMS ON. However, with all the dressing rooms closed, I take a gamble. While I can get back to my local thrift store within a week to make returns, when I thrift further from my house I can’t always get back out before the return window closes. So, to learn from my mistakes: I will be more selective when thrifting if I don’t know if an item will fit. And if possible, make sure to make those returns in time!

My mistake with the bowl is that I totally overlooked two huge cracks (they were covered by tape). Sigh. Lesson learned!

Moving into 2025, some wins that I’ve learned from is to ALWAYS do the vacation thrifting! Some of my favorite items of the year were purchased on our travels and in addition to being great items, they also have some fun memories built in. As for lessons to learn, I need to be more selective with items that may not fit and make returns when possible.

I can’t wait to see what kind of treasures we find in 2025!

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December Thrift Haul

I’ll be doing a 2024 thrifting wrap up post soon, but before we start winding down the year I need to share one last thrifting trip with you!

I only had one thrift store visit this month, but I’m super pleased with my two items:

Lands End Squall Waterproof Parka and bonus REI gloves, $17.99

I totally manifested this purchase and I’m so, so happy with it! The day before I went thrifting I was outside for an evening event and thought that I could really use a heavier winter coat that is long enough to keep my bum warm. Well, I found this coat the very next day!

It’s the Lands End Squall Waterproof Parka in Deep Sea Navy and it retails for $199. This particular coat is from Winter 2022 (you can tell by the inside tag), it is in fantastic condition and even has adjustable elastic in the waist so you can give it a little shape if you want. It’s the size I would have preferred, a color I enjoy and the exact cut that I was hoping for.

Even better, when I came home and threw it in the wash, I found that it came with a pair of bonus REI gloves in the pocket, which retail for $40. So that’s $240 of coat and glove goodness for just $17.99! Yay for secondhand. And now I’m planning to donate my previous winter coat (that was too short and too constricting on me when wearing a sweater) to a local nonprofit’s coat drive.

Kenneth Cole Reaction skirt, $6.99

I’m a skirt girl, so when I saw this circle skirt in a substantial material I went in for a closer look. It’s super flowy with pockets and I enjoy the grey/beige + white + black pattern. The waistline is a little bit big for me, so I stuck a belt on it to wear it to work last week.

I may take the time to figure out a new waistband situation on my sewing machine at some point… or I may just keep topping it with a belt so it can be adjustable based on my holiday eating!

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November Thrift Haul

After an awesome October Thrift Haul, it seems that the thrift scales have been balanced with this month. That’s right, I have ZERO thrift finds for the month of November. However, I do have a few fabulous secondhand scores from Poshmark over the last few months that I will share for this month’s Haul.

Garnet Hill Linen & Cotton Sweater with hood, $19

Source: Poshmark Listing

I have recently become somewhat obsessed with Garnet Hill and love, love, love their cotton and linen sweaters. However, they run from $100 – $160 so I’d really like to not pay full price! I’ve been stalking a bunch of them on Poshmark and when the Posher sent me a deal of just $19 for this linen and cotton hoodie, I scooped it up. It is exactly what I was hoping for – really soft, oversized and a great, chunky knit that isn’t itchy. I’ve been wearing this regularly with joggers on telework days (it looks fancy on camera for Teams calls), and with jeans when going out and about. 

Garnet Hill Linen & Cotton Sweater, $25

Source: Poshmark Listing – GarnetHill.com

Which leads us to this sweater. I was also stalking this one, as it is an oversized pullover style with the same kind of chunky linen and cotton knit. I was sent an offer for $25, so I went ahead and treated myself. I just got this one in the mail and haven’t even worn it yet.

Madewell The Regan Black Booties, $40

Source: Poshmark Listing – Madewell.com

I thrifted a green suede version of these booties and have recently started wearing them. They are so comfortable and go well with jeans, dresses and skirts, so I decided to search out a black pair. I found these never worn on Poshmark for just $40 and I think they will be perfect for days that I go into the office.

L.L. Bean Vintage Corduroy Skirt, $16

Source: Poshmark Listing

I’ve had a vintage corduroy skirt on my thrift list for months and months. When I found one I loved, it would inevitably not be my size… especially because vintage sizing is so wonky. I went up three sizes for this one, figuring that I can always tailor it to my body. As it turns out, the waist actually fits well – so be sure to ignore sizing when it comes to vintage and go by your waist measurements instead. This is currently sitting in my sewing pile so I can hem it to knee length. I can’t wait to pair it with a graphic t-shirt, chunky cardigan and my cowboy boots!

Rothy’s Sneakers, $17

Source: Poshmark Listing – Rothys.com

Jack’s Rothy’s were getting tight, so I started the hunt for the next size. The kid has been growing so quickly that I don’t bother with half sizes… so he went from a women’s 7 to a women’s 8 in the slip on sneakers. Which means that very, very soon he will be fitting in mine… These have been barely worn and were just $17!

If you’ve been thinking about trying Poshmark, you can use my special invite code to open an account and get $10 off your first order. Just use: POCKETFULOFJOUL And here is a direct link to my closet: https://poshmark.com/closet/pocketfulofjoul. Feel free to make an offer on something if you love it!

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