Consignment Shop Hopping

As a new season approaches, most of us clean out our closets. Out with the old and in with the new! Switching our sundresses out for sweaters and boots. I took my fall cleaning to the max this past week by completely parting with garments I have either never worn or worn once. I figured if I didn't wear it within the last 2 seasons, I never was going to wear it. After sifting through the unwanted, I decided to take my clothes to the "buy-sell-trade" consignment shops to barter for some change. I really just wanted enough to purchase a new pair of boots or a pair of jeans. Or both. For those of you not familiar with the consignment shops, I'll explain. These shops will allow you to "sell" your new or gently used garments and they will either give you a percentage of the price by cash or through a trade if you see something in the store you like. First stop: Plato's Closet. Teeny bopper central. I don't know why I thought to stop here (first). Half the items already in the store where half my size and looks absolutely nothing like the clothes I brought to sell. While they critiqued every stitch and button on each one of my clothes and shoes, I shopped around. I found a few pairs of jeans to try on and happily found a pair of Paper Cloth & Denim brand jeans, which are one of my favorite brands. After they tallied up what was good enough to have in their store, they gave me my grand total. Thirty-eight freaking dollars. What? In all, they took a pair of Paper Cloth & Denim and Levi's jeans, a pair of suede boots from Wild Pair that I paid $150 in 2006 and only wore TWICE, a Bebe dress, Charles David shoes, a red python clutch,  and an Abercrombie & Fitch sweater and all you give me is $38? Here was the outcome: Trade Total: $38.15 Jeans: $18.00 20% Coupon: $14.40 I walked out with: $23.75 and these jeans... Second stop was Buffalo Exchange. This is more like it. Hip and trendy, Buffalo Exchange has a little bit of something for everybody! More designer brands and accommodates to the twenty-something crowd. I carried my leftovers into the store and let the queens do their work. I picked around, tried on a cute French Connection dress (which I had too much body for) and even tried on some nice shades until they were done. This time I had nothing to trade for so, I opted for cash. My outcome was far better: Retail Value: $202.70 Trade In Value: $170.23 Cash: $72.36 Not much of a win, but I did manage to get some cash and a nice pair of jeans out of somethings that were just collecting dust.