Nancy chose this fun theme for March which seems oddly appropriate since March brings such strange and unpredictable weather. One might not be very surprised if it did start raining actual cats and dogs. One might also not be very surprised that this theme took me straight down a wordsmith rabbit hole…What are the origins of this odd saying, It’s raining cats and dogs? It turns out nobody really knows, not even the Library of Congress. But there are lots of theories. One theory is rooted in Norse mythology. Odin, the god of storms, was often pictured with dogs and wolves which symbolized the wind. Witches, who were believed to…

Since this is Jodie’s inaugural post as a member of The Thrifty Six, she had the honor of choosing this month’s thrifty theme. All six of us reside in the northern hemisphere where we still have one-third of the winter season to go with 8 weeks behind us and 4 weeks until the spring equinox. Where I live in the very northern reaches of New York State, the spring equinox is much less spring-like and very much mud-like. Most things don’t start to bloom around here until mid to late May and real spring weather usually arrives just in time for the summer solstice. Generally in my part of the…

On December 29, 2022, English fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood passed away peacefully surrounded by her family in Clapham, South London, at the age of 81. She is largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave styles onto the runways and into mainstream fashion. The punk scene of the 1970s in the United Kingdom was shaped and dominated by Westwood and her husband Malcolm McLaren, fellow fashion designer and manager of the quintessential English punk rock band, the Sex Pistols. The husband and wife team had a unique ability to synthesize fashion and music which they brought to 430 King’s Road, London, in the 1970s in the form of…

It was my turn to choose a theme for December’s thrifty style post and I ended up quite thoroughly stumping myself. I wanted a style prompt that was suitable for the holiday season without getting locked into creating an actual holiday outfit. As much as I love a good festive outfit for any holiday, not everyone does so a broader prompt was needed. Feels Like Home felt like the perfect answer to my theme choosing dilemma especially since I will be spending the duration of the holiday season snuggled up all cozy and warm at home! As I was trying to think of preloved pieces in my wardrobe that feel…

I think Nancy stumped us all with this month’s thrifty theme of We Are Not Angry Birds. But we rose to the occasion and conjured up a gorgeous array of avian inspired looks that are sure to make you smile. I generally take style challenges fairly literally which would have led me to wearing a bird print or maybe feathers. But this outfit came together long before I had the chance to do some research for my literalist approach. I mean, what is an angry bird anyway? And how do I ensure that I am not one? I am familiar with the Angry Birds media franchise with those furious feathered…

This month’s theme for the Thrifty Six was chosen by Lucy and she went with the seasonally appropriate topic of autumn outerwear. Outerwear, meaning coats, jackets, or other garments that you would wear on top of your outfit, is probably the most thrifted category of items in my wardrobe. I live in a place where we experience winter-like temperatures for approximately 9-10 months out of the year. So over the course of a decade living here, I have managed to amass quite an extensive outerwear collection. When you combine the local weather with menopausal cold flashes, this girl needs all the warmth I can get from October through June. I…

For this month’s Thrifty Six challenge, Jane chose a fun theme to bring the summer season to a close…Outfits Inspired by Travel. We went traveling on lots of little weekend trips this summer, kicking off the season with a weekend of Festival Camping at Smoked Country Jam in June, followed by a weekend trip at the end of July that included a day in Burlington, Vermont, followed by a day in Lake Placid, New York, where we visited the John Brown Farm and Olympic Stadium. Our final summer trip was a weekend in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in mid-August to deliver a graduation gift and have brunch with my sister. For the…

It was Grace’s turn to choose a style theme for August’s thrifty collaboration where 6 international fashion lovers join together to show you how to be stylish on a budget while also doing something good for our planet. Tossed away clothing drastically contributes to our landfill problem while the overproduction of clothing required to sustain our throw-away culture dramatically impacts our climate change issue. Too many clothes, and too many new clothes in particular, are a real problem. I am just as bad as any other consumer who has fallen prey to the fast fashion monsters. It is an addiction that retailers tapped into a few generations back and they…

It was Emma’s turn to choose this month’s Thrifty Six theme and since July is her birth month (Happy Birthday, Emma!), she decided to have a little garden party with us to celebrate. Whether it’s a birthday, a wedding, an anniversary, or just a beautiful summer’s day, why not get dressed up in a pretty frock and take a stroll, have a picnic, or celebrate something else wonderful in a gorgeous garden somewhere. We headed down the street to the garden at the Jefferson County Historical Society where we spotted one of the gardeners planting flowers throughout this lovely outdoor space. You can even see some her unplanted flowers scattered…