What better time to celebrate National Thrift Shop Day than the week before school is starting! Aug. 17 is your day to thrift away and find all your dorm room decor items on a college budget! Make sure to use #thriftshopday on social media to share your thrift story with Savers. According to Savers Shopping Survey, "Today’s 'thrifters' aren’t shopping thrift out of necessity; 76 percent of Americans are choosing thrift with the top two reasons being that it’s cost-effective and feels like a treasure hunt." Not only is it fun to thrift shop and get high quality at a low price, the survey also says, "Savers offers savings between 70 and 90 percent compared to other full-price and discount retailers." That means you can easily create a dorm decor/wardrobe with your college budget at Savers! Don't believe me? Check out 'how I created my own DIY dream room with only $100 at Savers.
With the start of school approaching, everyones in what I like to call pre-shopping panic. This is the time everyone's asking, "What do I need?" "How much money can I spend to decorate?" and most importantly "Where do I get it?" Lucky for you, I have teamed up with Savers and Value Village to give you all the answers! In case you're behind a decade, thrift shopping is the new biggest thing. (Thanks, Macklemore.) I don't know if you've ever shopped at Savers. But I truly think it's one of the better feelings in the world when you walk away with something that's under $5 and looks like it cost you $50. As a wise man once said, "But sh**, it was 99 cents!"
I was given a task to create the greatest DIY dorm decor for under $100. Thanks to Savers and Value Village I was able to create the following dorm ideas for the college student.
1. Vinyl Records
Who doesn't love an old school vinyl record? Here is a twist on the classic vinyl to give your drab dorm room an old school vibe:
I grabbed an old clock from Savers and a vinyl record. I extracted the hands/battery pack from the clock and stuck it through the center hole in the vinyl and voila! A super fresh way to tell time.
Next to the clock, you see a triangle shape. Now this project was fun! I took three vinyl record cases and drilled eleven holes down each side of the cases. I took twine and laced it through each hole to create a shoelace type of effect and laced together the cases into a triangle. This is great to store on your desk to hold your notebooks, laptops, and files!
Clock: $3.99
Vinyl Record: 99 cents
Record Cases: 99 cents each
The best part about vinyl records is that its basically a two-for-one DIY project. We used the cases above for the triangle storage; now we can use the actual records to hold keys, medicine, pens, perfume/cologne, etc. All you need is a cookie sheet, a glass bowl and the record.
1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees for about five minutes with the cookie sheet and glass bowl turned upside down on top.
2. Place the record flat on top of the bowl and set the timer for eight minutes. Check on the vinyl every few minutes.
3. After the time is up, pull it out. You can shape the bowl easily while its hot if you want a specific shape. Otherwise, let it cool and then take the newly formed vinyl bowl off the glass bowl.
The outcome is below: a super cool bowl to hold all your knick knacks.
2. Jewelry Holders/Tassel Decor
For those of us who love earrings but struggle to find a place to display them, this DIY is for you! All you need is a cheese grater and some spray paint. I painted the cheese grater and just hung earrings in the holes. I added a sunflower to the top for some extra fun!
Personally, I love necklaces and always forget to wear them/can't remember which ones I own. So I found a wooden board with painted flowers on it and got some drawer knobs and drilled them into the wood. It's the perfect addition to any dorm room and allows for easy access to your favorite jewelry!
You can see hanging tassels, but what you don't know is that they are strips of a plastic tablecloth hanging on leather rope. For this DIY, I bought one tablecloth and cut about 12 strips per tassel, then tied the leather rope to the top and repeated those steps nine times. Such a simple way to spice up your dorm room! Add any letters you want (your name, initials, etc.) to personalize!
Cheese Grater: 69 cents
Fake Sunflowers: $2.99
Wooden Board: $3.99
Knobs: $7
Tablecloth: 99 cents
Leather: (I got a bundle of twine, leather, lace, tulle, and wooden hearts/sticks) $3.99
3. Scarf Holder/Bracelet Holder
This piece is called a “standalone,” meaning I didn't do anything to it, except add my own scarves!
The second DIY in the picture is a Mexican Coke bottle to which I added a lace trim at the bottom and sunflower on top. It is a perfect fit for all my bracelets and watches to go as well as gives my room a totally vintage look.
Wooden Holder: $3.99
Sunflower: Listed above
Lace Trim: Listed above
4. Coffee Cups/TV Tray
Typically, you get a roommate when you go to college... meaning you have a scary encounter with a human that you've probably never met before/know nothing about. This process can be a whole lot easier if you have a peace offering such as a mug muffin! I found two matching coffee cups at Savers and took a permanent marker to them. You can be as creative as you'd like... maybe your roommates initials or monogram! I found a great recipe for a Blueberry Muffin in a Mug that is simple and easy to make in any dorm room!
Next, I found a cookie sheet, spray painted it gold, and hot glued a lace ribbon to the back of it and glued on some twine flowers and made a TV tray! Trust me, this will come in handy whether it be a late night of homework and a bowl of Top ramen, or a girls' movie night that needs a bowl of popcorn. This tray is perfect (not to mention totally adorable)!
Coffee Cups: 69 cents each
Cookie Sheet: $1.99
Lace Trim/Twine: Listed above
5. Magnetic Board/Coffee Infuser/Lights
This is my favorite DIY Savers steal! I found a vintage cookie sheet (on the right) and drilled two holes in the upper sides to run the tulle through to create a hanger. Then, I found the desk supplies I often use. I used adhesive magnetic strips and put magnets on the supplies, and they stick right to the cookie sheet! It is a great addition to your desk to cut down clutter and have all you need right in front of you!
Next, I found a mason jar and taped off the sides into two triangle shapes and spray painted them, took the tape off and it leaves a really cool look on the typical mason jar! Then I put salted carmel coffee beans (from Winco) in it with spray painted wooden sticks/hearts which absorb the coffee bean smell and create an infuser!
Lastly, I took a strand of Christmas lights (if you're like me, you have 300 sets to spare) and ping pong balls. I hammered in a nail to the top of each ping pong ball and stuck the ball on the light creating an ambient lighting system to go over your desk or bed!
Cookie Sheet: $3.99
Magnet: $1.99
Tulle: Listed above
Mason Jar: 99 cents
Wooden Sticks: See above
Ping Pong Balls: $1.49
6. Headboard
This is my masterpiece of DIYs! All you need is a piece of fabric, easily found at Savers, and a giant cardboard box, found at Home Depot, Spencers, any appliance store!
1. I cut the cardboard into three triangles with lengths equaled my dorm bed frame.
2. I found some batting (fluffy white cotton stuff) and laid pieces of it over the cardboard triangles and staple-gunned it on.
3. I stretched my fabric over the top of the cardboard and batting and staple-gunned that as well (hot glue would work, too).
4. I attached a giant piece of cardboard to the back of all the triangles to keep them together.
I like to think of it as my very own tiara even though sometimes I don't feel like a princess in my (occasionally) dingy dorm room.
Fabric: $6.99
Cardboard: Free
Batting: Free
Need back-to-school clothes but not the back-to-school price?
Not only does Savers/Value Village have all the room decor you could want, it has a great selection of back to school clothes! Let’s all agree Macklemore had the right idea in 2011, “Savin’ my money and I'm hella happy that's a bargain, b**ch”. Also, shoutout to Savers for supporting fashionistas everywhere that are just tryna get our groove on in a financially-savvy way. Here’s what I found for my back to school look:
P.S. Shout out to Kate Dugan Photography for the amazing photos!
Look #1 Grunge-Chic: Under $25
The first thing I saw at Savers was the Seattle Mariners shirt, and I fell in love when I saw it was only $1.99! Then, I thought it would be the perfect grunge-chic top to pair with a necklace. I found the blue necklace for $4.99 and paired it with these cute booties for $16.99. A grand total of $24!
Look #2 Sorority-Chic: Under $10
I’m not a die-hard brand name shopper, but I know a good designer when I see one. Let me tell you, my friend Tommy Hilfiger is a stud in the fashion world. This is his design and originally it cost $80, but at Savers, it was only $9.99! Talk about thrift-shoppin’.
Look #3 Sporty-Chic: Under $15
I’m not sure when/how this trend started… but I am loving it! The basketball player goes Hawaiian is totally in style, and thank goodness because this dress is too cute to pass on. I’m pretty sure we have Miley C. to thank for this strange/awesome combination of sassy and sporty. I found the dress at Savers for $7.99 and paired it with the pink necklace for $5.99 to create this look coming to a total of $14!
Look #4 Casual-Chic: Under $5
Let’s be honest, everyone has that one “go-to” shirt when they want to be comfortable but also look fly. This is now mine, (thanks again, Savers!). I found this gem on the rack for the low price of $4.99 and fell in love. I suppose you could call it love at first sight… we moved pretty fast and it came home with me the same day and I haven't parted with it since (heart emoji).
To wrap up this DIY bonanza, here are some of my final thoughts on Savers/Value Village. There is absolutely no better place to back-to-school shop than these thrift shops. Admittedly, I once was against the thrift shop for the typical stereotypes: dirty, uncool, etc. However, the past few years I have come to realize that these stores are quite literally the greatest stores around. You get nice things for a discounted price. This means you’re reusing, recycling and reducing at the same time. Come on, Flagstaffians, tell me that's not the college dream! So this back-to-school season, shop smart, shop Savers.
Shout out to KateDuganPhotography for the pictures, Edelman for the gift cards, and Savers for giving me the best back-to-school decor!
