Fiftieth post; Here's to a few more

I mentioned it briefly back in one of the first posts that I made on this site just over five months ago, but I started shopping at thrift stores back when I was in college.

At that time, I was going to school and working two part-time jobs, and by purchasing most of my clothes at thrift stores and various garage sales (including a great, yearly church rummage sale that took place near my college), I could update my wardrobe on a fairly regular basis and still stay within my budget. I could even find some incredibly outlandish outfits to wear to parties or even a (*gasp*) rave.

After I got out of college, student loan debt loomed. Thrift stores then took over as my main clothing purchase place, and I shifted into an incredibly stripped-down lifestyle for a couple years to pay down debt and then start saving for a down payment on some sort of house.

During those more spare years, I had a very basic wardrobe and rarely deviated (the same could be said for my eating habits as well). I didn't own (or even like to wear) jeans, I never wore shorts, and I basically wore some sort of slacks and a collared shirt every day (other than weekends, where I'd drop down to a t-shirt). I didn't view my wardrobe as anything other than utilitarian, and there were several years were the entire amount I spent on clothes and shoes combined clocked in at less than fifty dollars.



As I mentioned in the aforementioned linked post, my attitudes towards clothes changed over time, and meeting my wife only helped influence some of those changes.

I mentioned that I used to hate wearing shorts above, and that's largely still true. I've been pretty body and self-conscious for a long time, and I figured that by starting a blog like this, it might help me get over things a bit.

I've still only told two people I know about it, though, which might explain the small readership... :)

The other main reason I started the site was that despite maintaining two other sites, I felt like I'd become a bit complacent about my writing. Starting a blog about a subject that was completely different than what I'd written about before (and something I still feel like I'm learning a great deal about every day) seemed like a good way to keep my interest level up over the long haul.

I've tried to leave the format fairly open, as I didn't want to pigeonhole myself to strictly fashion and/or style, and it should probably come as no surprise that my favorite post since starting the blog isn't about either.

If you've read anything on here and enjoyed it, I appreciated it. I'll try to make the next 50 posts even more interesting.