As the year winds down, I can’t help but look back at my thrifting adventures – both the wins and the ‘oops’ moments. While I still make a thrifting mistake here and there, thrifting is a pretty low-stakes (and low-cost) way to experiment and see what actually works for me, my closet, and my home. So, let’s dig into my thrifting winners and losers of 2025!
Oh, and before we get into it, I pulled out any secondhand items that were not thrifted, such as those from Poshmark or Consignment shops, so this is a purely THRIFTed wrap up…
My Favorite Thrifted Home Items for 2025:
- Handmade “Trip Around the World” quilt, $15 – January 2025
- Vintage Woolrich wool throw, $19 – October 2025
I didn’t do as much *home* thrifting this year, but these two items were welcome additions! The handmade quilt was just $15 for countless hours of the maker’s time. While these handmade quilts can go for quite a high price, I try not to be fussy about this kind of stuff and use things as they are intended. This one has migrated around the house and has been used in our den and even on the laundry room floor for our rescue dog to snuggle on while we are out.
Same goes with the wool throw – yes, it’s gorgeous and vintage. But it’s also a blanket. More specifically… my car blanket. I leave it in my car to cover the leather seat when Cooper comes for a ride and also have it as ‘just in case I break down somewhere and it’s cold outside’ insurance.
My Favorite Thrifted Clothing Items for 2025:
- Everlane sweater, $7 – Arizona Spring Break thrifting, April 2025
- Acme cowboy boots, $25 – Arizona Spring Break thrifting, April 2025
- J.Crew Tulle skirt, $3.59 – June 2025
- Gap flutter sleeve blouse, $4.87 – June 2025
- Vintage Allison Smith skirt, $7 – June 2025
- UGG Endell Boots, $24.79 – July 2025
Quite the ‘classics’ mix for this year’s clothing favorites! Looking at it as a gallery, each item mixes and matches well with each other and could totally be a capsule collection. Lots of natural fibers with the chunky cotton sweater, flutter sleeve blouse and vintage skirt. The tulle skirt was a great addition to my tulle collection and has been worn both styled for work and styled for the weekends. As for those cowboy boots – I mean DANG!? They were such a great vintage score and souvenir to bring home from Sedona, Arizona. Those UGG boots filled a hole in my closet, as I didn’t have any actual *winter, snow boots* and were perfect for the chilly, slushy, snowy days we had a couple weeks ago.
And here were some of my 2025 mistakes that I will learn from:
- Merona Cardigan, $5.50 – January 2025
- Sage Collective Joggers, $5.50 – March 2025
- Cotton dress, $10.99 – July 2025
Ok, first of all… this cardigan is ugly and I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought it. This got re-donated. For the joggers, they were a size too big, but I bought them anyways because they were cheap and I figured they’d be comfortable. Instead, the crotch bagged down to my knees within a couple hours of wearing them and I felt like MC Hammer.
While I like the pattern of the cotton dress, the top/bust area just fits me kind of weird. This one has been sitting in my sewing pile for a couple months, so I need to decide if I’m going to turn it into a skirt… or just re-donate it. All in all, not too many losers this year. YAY!
I can’t wait to see what kind of treasures we find in 2026!