Pocketful of Joules

It’s bimonthly Clothing Purge Report time! Rather than just showing you what I purchase, I also like to show you what items leave my house and how I sell or donate them.

First a quick reminder… here’s my criteria for where I sell:

• Poshmark/eBay: items that are in perfect condition.
• My Instagram page: items that are in perfect or near perfect condition. I’ll typically post a collage of what I’ve listed elsewhere.
• Facebook Sale Groups: items that are in perfect or near perfect condition in specific brands, such as Anthropologie, Boden, and Stitch Fix.
• Donate to Thrift Stores: items in good condition or showing wear.

May and June were super busy months for me with our Hawaii vacation, leaving my old job, and starting my new job. I didn’t really do any purging on Instagram, Facebook, or by donating to the thrift store. However, I did sell a bunch of items out of my Poshmark closet:

• FabFitFun Show me Your Mumu robe, $26
• Anthropologie top, $29
• Lucky Brand embroidered tank top, $20
• Kate Spade Trench coat, $85
• Hello sweater, $11
• Boden dress, $39
• FabFitFun necklace, $10
• DVF maxi dress, $86
• BHLDN dress, $49
• Blank NYC jean shorts, $28
• Rock and Republic jean shorts, $23
• Eileen Fisher sweater, $19
• Kate Spade purse, $69
• J. McLaughlin wrap dress, $35
• Current Elliott Jeans, $24
• Joie dress, $48
• Anthropologie maxi dress, $55
• Kate Spade jeans, $20

I sold a total of 18 items and my earnings were $676 before Poshmark fees (20%).

Most of the items were from my closet that I had worn over the years and fallen out of love with. Two items were from the FabFitFun box (cost $49 a quarter) that I didn’t love, so I resold them for a total of $36… making the rest of my quarterly box just $13.

A couple items were thrifted and flipped:

• I bought the Joie silk dress for $5 and sold it for $48
• I bought the J. McLaughlin wrap dress for $25, wore it twice and then sold it for $35.

I’m planning on doing another mid-summer purge of my closet and listing some more items on Poshmark. I’m also going to list some of Jack’s outgrown items in bundles for (hopefully) quick sales.

If you’ve been thinking about trying Poshmark, you can use my special invite code to open an account and get $5 off your first order. Just use: POCKETFULOFJOUL

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. If you choose to use my special Poshmark code to sign up for an account, you will get $5 off your first order and I will also get $5 off a future order.

I started my new job at the beginning on June and one of the things that I was weirdly excited about was actually working outside of my house five days a week. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED my work-from-home-in-my-pajamas days… but actually getting dressed up 5x a week is kind of fun.

For now. I mean, I’m sure I’ll be complaining about it in a few months. Actually, I’m hoping to go back to one telework day a week in the Fall, so it may be the perfect compromise.

Anywhoo, all these work days mean LOTS of work outfits! I share my daily look in Instagram, but I thought it would be fun to have a looksee at all my June outfits in one spot. It also helps me decide which ones need to go… or at least need to be hemmed/tailored/etc.

Week One:

Here is my first week of looks and I stuck my favorite in the center there. I thrifted that vintage pleated skirt last month and I LOVE how it looks with my faux wrap top and wedges. I plan to revisit lots of variations of this look. My least favorite look is the dress and cardigan on the lower left side. The combo of the high neck and low hem makes it look a little frumpy – so I’m thinking I’ll hem this one to knee-length and see if that improves it.

This was my first jeans Friday in YEARS and I like the mixed patterns of the floral sweater and leopard print loafers. I don’t really have many professional looking jeans Friday looks, so we will be talking about this again soon in another post!

Week Two:

Once again, my favorite look is in the center – the painterly skirt with a navy blouse and bright cardigan. This look was professional but fun, and even had pockets! Funny enough, my least favorite outfit this week was my jeans Friday look. I love that orange sweater, but the sleeves were all bagged out from pushing them up all day. I’m going to try and shrink it just a smidge in the washer/dryer so that it’s not quite so floppy.

Week Three:

I love that dark floral dress in the center photo (thrifted) and topped it with a simple (also thrifted) black cardigan. It’s just comfy and classic and looks totally work appropriate while feeling like pajamas. My least favorite outfit from this week is the black/white/red combo from the top right corner. It looks cute in the photo, but the silky sleeves of the tab-sleeved shirt kept falling down all day driving me nutty. I’m going to try to pin them discreetly next time I wear the blouse to see if that helps at all.

I love to thrift. You guys know this. There is nothing like the thrill of the hunt. Or finding something amazing and awesome for a fraction of its retail price. However, I make mistakes. Sometimes I get caught up in the adrenaline of finding something cool and I buy it… and never wear it. So, I started doing these little 6 month thrifting check-in’s to give myself a chance to look back on what I really ended up loving.

You can find my first 6 month thrifting update here from June 2018 and then the December 2018 update here.

{Pssst, you can find all my thrifting posts here: Thrifting Fun}

I went through my thrifting haul posts from January – June and here are my favorites:

Charles Gray London swing coat, $14.99

Thrifted in January

I haven’t actually had the opportunity to wear this coat yet. However, with my fancy new city job I’m sure I’ll be pulling this out to wear in the fall when the weather cools off. Technically it shouldn’t be counted in my thrifting favs post because it went straight into the coat closet, but it’s just so adorable!

UGG Emalie Waterproof Leather Wedge Bootie, $24.99

Thrifted in February

I thrifted these UGG booties at the end of February and they turned out to be a major winner. They were in perfect condition and super comfortable for being wedges. I wore them a few times with black tights before the weather warmed up and I packed them away in favor of bare legs and flats. These retailed for $180 and I bought them for $25. So I’ll be super happy to wear them some more when I unpack them in the fall!

Talbots 100% linen cardigan sweater, $5.36

Thrifted in March

I wear this sweater ALL. THE. TIME. I threw it on with jeans and a t-shirt in the spring and now I’m grabbing it to go with a tank top and shorts when I get a little chilly. I’m pretty sure the cost-per-wear is already down to about 50 cents. LOVE this sweater.

Black Runched Waist Dress, $7

Thrifted in May

I picked up this little black dress a the thrift store that doesn’t normally have any ‘good stuff’ but gosh is it good. The runched waistline is super flattering and the jersey fabric doesn’t wrinkle at all. I hardly own any solid colored dresses, so this was a much needed addition to my wardrobe to pair with my patterned sweaters and blazers! I’ve worn it once so far, see it here.

Have you had any super thrifting winners over the past few months?

I had a week off between my old job and new job earlier this month, so I made sure to take some time to go thrifting! I didn’t end up with any HUGE winners, but found some basics to add to my closet.

{Pssst, you can read about my previous thrifting adventures here}

Adrienne Vittadini open sweater vest, $6

I saw this super lightweight and soft sweater vest as I was flicking through the sweater section and it totally caught my eye. Adrienne Vittadini is a brand that I’ve seen previously at Nordstorm Rack. The sleeveless sweater style is a little out of my comfort zone, but pretty on trend with the boho style I like to wear on the weekends. I’m thinking I could pair this over a t-shirt and jean shorts. I looked on pinterest for some other ways to wear it and I love this look too.

Vintage Pleated Skirt, $7

I feel like pleated midi skirts are really huge right now and when I checked pinterest there are tons of outfits that I would love to recreate. This is a vintage brand, probably from the 70’s or 80’s and the stretchy waist is super comfortable. I think this will look fantastic with a lightweight tank top for weekend wear. I can pair it with a longer sleeve blouse for work, or add a tank top/cardigan combo for a pretty preppy look. I already wore it to work with a faux wrap top: you can see it here.

Black Cocoon sweater, $7

This sweater doesn’t have a label on it with a brand or size, just washing instructions. It is really soft and lightweight with mid-length dolman sleeves. I love lightweight sweater layers year-round, so I picked this up for $7 to add to my cardigan collection. I think this oversized cardi would look great with a more fitted tank top and jeans.

After washing it and letting it hang dry, I stuck it in my closet… but when when I went to wear it I noticed the back was all pilled up! I don’t know if I bought it that way, or if it happened in the wash. No biggie, I got out my handy dandy sweater shaver and fixed it right up! Oh, you don’t know what a sweater shaver is? You totally need to read THIS POST!

Cable & Gauge sweater, $7

I love Cable & Gauge sweaters (another Nordstrom Rack brand) and this rusty colored one is super pretty. It has elbow-length sleeves and a nubby texture. I can see throwing this on over a t-shirt and shorts on a cooler summer night.

I’d love to hear your thrifting stories! Did you find a diamond in the rough (literally or figuratively)?