Yeah. I caught that part, L. On the bright side, at least you know what maker/style to look for, at op shops. One of my older sisters does that all the time. She only likes certain(really upscale, expensive) designers, so, she looks specifically for those designers, when she goes to consignment shops. It takes patience, but she usually gets what she wants.
I generally browse for the colour I want, and then I just have a look at stuff my size and see if anything grabs me. Best part is, op shop clothes are usually a few years old and/or stretched, so I'm a size 10 (US 6-8) instead of a 12-14! Feelgood shopping. Also, my hair is long enough for an updo, almost. Like, I can do cool things with my fringe, and then pull the rest of my hair back and pin it up somehow. Somehow. Why is the comp I dance as lead is going to be the girliest my hair has been in a month. Also, I learned how to do liquid eyeliner a little bit.
Thrift shop...charity shop...not sure what they're called elsewhere in the world. Charity-run shop that sells clothes, furniture, bric a brac etc. cheaply, and donates the proceeds to their charity.
Great that you have a strategy. For me it is look for my small size first and then if anything catches my eye. Rarely do I get something, but at least it is something that keeps...
Question for The Void: what's your strategy for dealing with different colored laundry? Dark clothes, I got that. The black stuff, dark gray, dark green, dark brown, dark jeans, etc. White and pastels aren't a problem. But what do people do with brightly/intensely colored stuff? It's really not enough for a load on its own, and I don't want to put them in with the light colored stuff, but putting it with the darkest colors seems strange. Thoughts?
I put it with the darks, generally. The issues are water temperature and whether something's going to bleed, and if it does, whether it's going to hurt whatever it's in with. I wash both darks and brights in the same temperature, and I've never had trouble with any of them messing up the others. (I did ruin a load once in my ignorant youth, when I got lazy and combined lights and darks. But that wasn't the question.) If something's just absolutely not color fast, to the degree that if I put it in a sink of water, the water immediately changes color, that could be a problem. But in my experience, those things don't tend to be machine washable in the first place. Speaking of non-machine-washable, I just ruined a good work sweater by putting it in the dryer. It's still good for casual wear -- nicely faded to go with my jeans. But now I need a new one for work. Frustrating. So maybe you shouldn't be taking my laundry advice. The laziness in defiance of labels does periodically get me into trouble.
All my clothes go in together. I use hot wash. If it cannot withstand that then I probably won't buy or use it. There are a few exceptions such as my suit tops that I treat separately, but otherwise everything goes together.
It depends on the individual item. Sometimes items that are highly pigmented are not color fast, and need hand washed. If the item can be washed in the washer, I might wash it with another load, or lights or darks, depending on color. Or I might run a small load in the washer of like colored items.
I've never tried them, but I'm a little suspect. A few clothing items I have are highly pigmented, and the color runs a lot when I hand wash them. I'm not sure I could trust a color catcher sheet to get all the runoff from not getting on other clothing items.
