Goodwill Akron In-Store Blogger Thrift Challenge

Top row L to R

Cyndi Martin, inspiration: pageant girl, $13.88 (Ms. Ohio Valley, 2014)
Amy, inspiration: casual, $21.86
Rachel, inspiration: work to evening, $21.33
Sarah, inspiration: Indiana Jones, $17.61 (KSU fashion student)


Bottom row L to R

Alex Vaccarello, inspiration: summer, $14.39 (KSU fashion student)
Lindsey, inspiration: work/office look, $17.07
Abby, inspiration :preppy, $15.46
me! inspiration: spring/bright & casual, $17.59
Click photo to enlarge


Last Saturday, I hosted an in-store blogger thrift challenge at Goodwill Akron on Waterloo Rd in recognition of Goodwill Week. Eight girls, including myself, had 30 minutes to style a look under $20. Because I helped plan the event, I hadn’t planned on participating but I am so glad my friends at Goodwill convinced me to do so. I did however, decide to exclude myself from the voting process. 


 After we all selected our clothes Supermarket Sweep style, we headed for the stage where a Goodwill employee announced our looks individually. A group of shoppers, family, friends, and the Akron Beacon Journal gathered around to see what the fashion show was all about. They then got to vote for their favorite look. The winners: Rachel, Cyndi, and Sarah.  Every girl was a winner in my book!

I’ll let the girls tell you about their personal experiences on their blogs (see above) but as for me, I really underestimated what a thrill it was going to be. I’m not a competitive person at all, but the fact that I knew we were under a time constraint gave me a rush of hapxiety (happiness + anxiety).

I love color so this bright casual outfit totally reflected my personal style. I already wore this to work and to brunch with my family for Mother’s Day. 

I went straight for the cardigans because this burst of yellow caught my eye. I picked up the Forever 21 cardigan and rushed over to the blouses where I found a navy and white striped shirt as well as this floral blouse, I couldn’t decide which one to use.  At this point it was 5 minutes in and I was already sweating. Because the cardigan was a loose boyfriend style, I opted for a pair of skinny jeans rather than a wide leg pair. I rushed over to shoes where I picked up a pair of purple pumps that coordinated well with the floral blouse – until I turned the corner and found these bad boys. Done deal.

I quickly tried everything on and snapped a few photos in the dressing room to send to Katie and my sister for their opinion.  As I exited the fitting room, I grabbed a lime green clutch and headed for the registers – bam I was done in 15 minutes! Total head to toe: $17.59. 

Goodwill raffled off a personal thrift styling session with me!

Following the challenge, I taught a thrift workshop to a group of wonderful women. We had some great discussions and lots of awesome ideas were tossed around. I left feeling totally inspired and happy to have inspired others.

What I enjoyed most about this event (aside from the fact that we all got to keep the clothes we styled) is that the results reflected the personal styles of each participant. The great variety proved that no matter your style, anyone can thrift shop. Not to mention, the Beacon Journal picked it up and a picture of me teaching the thrift classes landed on the front page of the community section of the Sunday paper!

I want to thank all of the participants and Goodwill for collaborating with me on this project. I am passionate  encouraging others to tap into their creative sides through thrift shopping so being able to accomplish this goal meant a lot to me.