enchanté ♡

hey :) my name's Rhiân or Rhi, and quite obviously, this is my new blog -  thethriftoflife. As the name may suggest, I've decided to create this blog as a platform to share and discuss what some call 'thrifting' - or as I know it, charity shop-shopping. I began shopping in charity shops as a young teenager, years back when my sister became the manager of a local charity shop in our town. As a family, we were all used to hand-me-downs; I remember my mum coming home from work with bags full of donated clothes from her friend's daughters, and I thought it was brilliant. But before then we'd never shopped in charity shops, and as someone who now has what you could call an obsession with thrifting, I reeeeally can't imagine why. 

Not only are things in charity shops, as you would expect, ridiculously cheap; the thing that makes thrifting exciting for me is the variety of items that you could come across is huge. There's a misconception that charity shops are solely clothes shops, but even now I'm amazed at the things that I come across. Furniture is a huge deal. From 3 piece suites to dining room tables to huge bureaus to coffee tables to chests of drawers - all in near perfect condition for a third of the price you'd pay in any outlet. 

These days, I very rarely shop outside of charity shops and the reason is two, maybe three, maybe fivefold . 

1. When many charity shops do deals on garments such as "3 for £3", and when a lot of these garments have the potential to have been donated to shops completely new and with tags on, it really is too hard to say no. Because of this, I get frustrated with any high street store re the price and quality of garments to tolerate trying to shop in them. In places such as New Look, River Island, you simply aren't getting your money's worth. 
2. Without trying to sound like a hipster, I can't stand to wear the same as everyone else. There's something marvellous about wearing a blouse or skirt that you know isn't in production any more, or wearing a jumper that's been handmade, or hand-stitched. What you buy doesn't have to be completely different to what's in fashion at the moment, but your purchase can always be original. So many people are surprised at the answer they get when they ask me where I got something from. 
3. There's always huge opportunities to find clothes that are too big or out of shape, and then be able to alter them to fit you. I have an abundance of blouses that were a size 16/18/20, but have managed to sew them and alter them to my size. The same goes for furniture; you may come across a table that's covered in awful paintwork, or the colour of the wood is unsuitable, but you love the shape, the size, the pattern, whatever. In our house, I can think of at least 5 pieces of furniture that have been reworked, repainted, sanded down, and transformed into something new and original.
4. Rummaging. Scouring. Sorting through the rails and rails of clothes, or peering behind row upon row of books to find something that catches your eye is all part of the excitement of thrift-shopping. You don't know exactly what you're looking for, and you never know what you're going to leave with, and this is all part of the charm. 
5. If you find something that you can't alter or rework, there's the opportunity to sell on your purchase. I find myself growing out of things, or buying items that are too small/big/unsuitable when I get home, and there's just something not quite right (in my opinion) about taking things back to a charity shop for a refund. Many of the things I buy end up on eBay (another of my favourite things). 

thethriftoflife will be somewhere I document my thrifting purchases, document how I change and alter garments, revive bits of furniture. I'll also create posts, what I don't want to call 'tutorials', but some people have already asked me how I've created some of the things I've got in my bedroom etc, so I'll show how to recreate! The inspiration for thethriftoflife came from a variety of places - mainly other blogs that I follow where authors document their fashion choices, their vintage finds and creations, and some blogs that're based around DIY/crafts tutorials. I also want this to be a place where people can share their ideas, comments, and inspirations for thrifting and creating. I love seeing what others have hauled from a day of charity shop-shopping.

Looking forward to seeing how this goes, and to hearing about others' experiences of thrifting!

Love, Rhi xo

(here's some of my current favourite thrifted items)

pictures 1-3: a turquoise handmade mohair jumper, bought for £4.99. Will be putting up on eBay soon!

pictures 4-5: a very old Littlewoods short-sleeved jumper, bought for £2.99 The pictures haven't done it justice, I love the pastel colours in this.

picture 6: a snapshot of a red 'Christmas' jumper I bought as part of a 3 for £3 deal. 

pictures 7-8: a vintage St Michael (Marks and Spencer) blouse, bought as part of a 3 for £3 deal. I'm intending on altering this to my size. 

picture 9: another vintage St Michael double-breasted blouse, bought a couple of years ago. I wear this both as a shirt and as a blazer.