Be the best dresser in the office without maxing your credit card limit.  Long ago are the days of rolling out of bed 10 minutes before class and throwing on some gym shorts and an oversized t-shirt. Dressing professionally is *essential*  in the workforce and can immediately elevate you in the eyes of your colleagues and boss. Dressing professionally can be expensive and hit your bank account hard - but it doesn’t have to!  Thrift and second hand stores can help you crack the code on dressing your best.  Follow these 7 tips below to make your next work shopping trip successful:
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1. Prep yourself.  Shopping in thrift stores is not something you can just swing by in the middle of your errands to grab a couple things.  Prepare yourself for the miracle of the thrift store adventure.
2. Bring the squad. Invite some friends to join to bounce ideas off of and get a second opinion on your items, but only the ones that will tell the truth!
3. Fill Up. Eat a meal beforehand, there is nothing worse than hangry thrift store shopping.  You will not have the patience necessary to be successful.
4. Put it on to take it off. You will be changing in and out of your clothes often to try items on, be prepared.  It doesn’t matter how cute it is, don’t wear that button up romper.
5. Scope out a good store.  Some stores are notorious for having not-so-great options, others always have great pieces.  Identify a thrift store near a higher income area or one that has a lot of fashionable residents.  My personal favorite thrift store is right near our sorority area, every time I go there are great quality and name brand pieces for fractions of the original price.
6. Focus on quality. Thrift store purchases are inherently cheap and for most stores the don’t mark up name brand clothing.  When searching, focus on the quality. Look for those designer tags and quality-made items. The cheaper items will not last and probably won’t fit as well.
7. Try it on! The key to professional clothes is having the right fit.  Try everything you are considering on. This can help in knowing how clothing fits and you’ll usually notice the ‘nicer’ clothing brands fit insanely better than your Forever XXI tops from five years ago.