As an indirect part of my “Thirty Before Thirty” list, I’m trying to make better purchases. {Click on that link to see all of my money related “to-dos”.}

What makes a purchase “better”? Well I’m trying to only make necessary purchases. Unfortunately I have a few weddings coming up – with overlapping guests, which makes it hard to wear the same thing. Not to mention that I literally don’t have an item of clothing dressy enough to wear to either. (Not that they’re super dressy weddings. More like I don’t fit in to anything I own. Let’s not talk about it.) I don’t want to spend the cash on a brand new dress. Much less TWO brand new dresses.

So I made a deal with myself: I could buy ONE dress, but it had to be versatile enough to wear to BOTH weddings. And I couldn’t spend more than $75.

I’ve been looking for weeks now, and couldn’t find anything that fit both criteria. Until today.

I wandered into a store on Newbury Street on lunch and within minutes I found a black, short sleeved trapeze dress by Betsey Johnson that screamed “Buy a thin patent belt and cinch me! Layer on some chunky necklaces! In the fall, pair me with tights!”

I grabbed it, tried it on and it was a perfect fit.

BUT JENNY. THAT SITE LISTS THE DRESS AT $359. YOU FOOL. WHY DID YOU TRY IT ON?

HAHA! The store I wandered into? “Rescue” – a thrift store on Newbury Street that has a section of higher end, second hand clothing. The dress? Only $50! Twenty five whole dollars UNDER budget — which leaves me room to get a belt to cinch the waist and maybe a necklace or two to dress that baby up.

The dress is in perfect condition and in fact still had original tags on it. I don’t know who brought that dress into Rescue, or how it ended up there in such great condition – but to that person, all I can say is THANK YOU! Your dress has a happy new home.