Ally: Sometimes self-employed moms need a bit of an incentive to get their ass out of the suburbs. Usually, the promise of money, wine or gift certificates does the trick. So, good on ya, Value Village Bayers Lake for offering L-A and I two $50 gift certificates to come out to try your brand new store.

This past Saturday, Toddler G and I met L-A at Value Village (address: 165 Chain Lake Dr  Halifax). I had pre-determined my shopping strategy for the morning. As I am well into my pregnancy, I’m not really feeling “inspired” lately to purchase new duds. Even jewellery isn’t making me weak in the knees. Therefore, I thought my review of the new Value Village could appeal to all the moms out there looking to keep your kids looking fresh.

I am not new at thrift shopping. I was raised on this shit.

Please, I found a Kenny Rogers tour shirt at Frenchy’s back in 2010. I got this.

The smell of used clothes doesn’t bother me, the thought of pushing through undesirables (both clothes and people) to find winners is a challenge I embark on whole-heartedly. So what did I find?

That’s right, a whole lotta kid clothes, along with a t-shirt for the hubby and a selection of books. Now, full disclosure, I did go a bit over my $50 limit. The total came to around $83 I believe. Which, for the amount I took home, was not a lot at all.

I was able to get the not-yet-arrived Baby G a wide array of onesies, leggings (Leggings for babies!!), a safari inspired dress from Joe Fresh that was brand new, a bunch of bloomers (SO ADORABLE), four sleepers, and a hoodie that looks like it came from J-Lo’s line, but sadly didn’t.

I also got Toddler G two pairs of shorts – really cute plaid pair and a pair of those exercise shorts that make me cringe but make his “legs feel real nice”, two Spider-Man shirts, Spider-Man sunglasses and a pair of Lightening McQueen slippers.

Oh, sorry, I can’t hear you judging over there. What’s that? Why is she dressing up her kid in tacky, branded apparel from Marvel and Disney?

The kid is happy. Therefore, I don’t care.

Anyway! I also got some tupperware glasses and as previously mentioned, a selection of books. I’d like to stop here and talk about the books for a second, ok? So, you know how L-A makes fun of like…ALL the music I listen to All the time? I’d like to point out for those who are not in the awares that L-A reads children’s books and enjoys them immensely. Now, I’m not saying I’m judging, I’m just saying that it’s a little RICH that my love for Cher Lloyd is chastised by a lady who can’t read good.

No, that’s mean. I’m kidding. I’m sure L-A knows how to read, right? Plus, I was easily convinced to purchase a young adult novel that L-A declared to be, “The best YA novel I have ever read”. I also may have been the one to suggest that make Pretty Little Liars the first book we read for our Book Club That is a Good Idea but Will Never Happen.

Ally’s Scoring like a French figure skating judge for the new Value Village Bayers Lake: 8/10.

The store is extremely large, but well organized. I didn’t spend much (or any) time looking through the clothes for adults, but I can say without a doubt that I will 100 per cent be back for more kids clothes in the months to come. They had a wide array of brand names for kids, and all clothing was in great condition. Book selection was fantastic as well. I could have spent a whole day sorting through books. The jewellery did look amazing, which tons of quirky rings and bracelets to be had. Sadly, I just don’t even feel like accessorizing my maternity wear these days. Sad, I know. This is a great new location for Value Village, and Toddler G declared it to be “more fun than going to the playground, cause it’s freezing outside.”

 L-A: I have zero shame in reading YA books. Books for teens are awesome. Well written and you can read them in a day? Sign me up. However, in my defense, Ally was the one who said, “they’ve got a great selection of YA”. Also, reading PLL will be a first for me (I watch the TV show religiously). And the Sarah Dessen is one of my favourites, not one of the best ever (for best ever according to me, read John Green or Courtney Summers). Moving on to the actual field trip.

 

Second hand clothing shopping scares me. I like a well-curated consignment store where someone else has done the work for me. They’ve picked out the good shit and they charge me more for it. I’m  usually okay with that. Stores like Value Village and Frenchy’s scare me. There’s so much! I can’t even deal with the quantity to really look to find the gems. There’s a smell I don’t understand and I usually have to fight a dust allergy. However, this is a very new Value Village, so dust allergy wasn’t an issue. It’s also less scary than a Frenchy’s because it’s got some organization happening. And I had my thrift shopping zen master at my side and a toddler who sang Hedley (or so I’m told. I know Hedley is a thing, but I don’t know any of their songs. Or his songs? Is Hedley a person or a band?).

Guess what? It was a total success of a day. And I found things on my own, with Ally to say, “yes, that looks good” or “no, you fail. You are not my friend if you wear that.”

The focus was on jackets because, let’s face it, I have more striped t-shirts than you can shake a stick at and I probably would have tried to buy more. Plus I firmly believe in the power of the jacket.

 

Total cost of 2 YA books, three jackets and a watch? $61. Even if I didn’t have a $50 gift certificate, I’d feel pretty happy about the whole thing. My only problem right now is trying to get the Value Village smell out of a jacket that has washing instructions in a foreign language (possibly Japanese. The pictures seem to indicate that I shouldn’t even hand wash it. Dry clean only I guess).

The green jacket may be my favourite of the three. But my real favourite of the day is this guy.

I’ve been in need of a watch for awhile, but haven’t found the right one to commit serious cash money on. And then it was in the case with a watch face the size of a kitten. And it seems to keep time well. I’m super pumped to wear it to work. Now I’ll know what time it is AND I won’t be that girl who looks at her phone while in a meeting (I hate doing that. It looks like I’m the rudest, but I really just need to know what time it is and if I need to dash to a different meeting).

L-A Scoring like a French figure skating judge for the new Value Village Bayers Lake: 8.5/10

I hate that I have to drive all the way to Bayers Lake for anything (downtown is just more my jam), but this was totally worth it. I want to go back for the giant rings Ally mentioned and maybe another watch. And for YA books. And I was pretty impressed with the selection. Hell, they even had fancy Coach sneakers there (not my style, but I’m sure someone will dig them). If I wasn’t moving, I would have hit up housewares hard.