Much like Macklemore, with only $20 in her pocket, Rebecca Hillis went to pop some tags.
I was beside myself with excitement ... every piece of clothing in my cupboard and for the kids is from the op shop.
- Rebecca Hillis
The Daily Advertiser issued Ms Hillis with a challenge during National Op Shop Week – what can you really get at an op shop for $20?
We put Ms Hillis to the test to see if she could bag a bargain and buy an entire outfit at the same time.
This year’s National Op Shop Week theme is “Op till you drop” and Ms Hillis certainly lived up to it.
She took the designated $20 and hit up Riding for the Disabled’s store on Baylis Street and the Salvation Army on Friday.
She got two pairs of pants, a jumper, three tops, a jacket, a vest, beads, scarf and shoes for the round figure of $20.
“I was beside myself with excitement,” she said.
But her value for money should come as no surprise as Ms Hillis has been a thrifty op shopper for years.
Years ago, Ms Hillis was a single mother of three boys and money was tight.
Op shopping took precedence over frequenting expensive boutique clothing stores.
“Every piece of clothing in my cupboard and for the kids is from the op shop,” she said.
“I never look like I’m an orphan.
“I feel guilty if I buy retail.”
Ms Hillis’s obsession with op shopping started when she was living in Melbourne and she needed to make her money spread further.
It quickly turned into a way of life with her eldest son, aged 15, now obsessed with finding a bargain too.
“Op shopping here wasn’t really a cultural thing,” she said,
“But the face of op shopping has changed.”
Ms Hillis said if she purchases five items while shopping, she scours her closet to donate five items back.
“You don’t have to feel guilty, you just put it in a bag and donate it back,” she said.
“It’s supporting a charity that can go on and do really good work.”
Ms Hillis predicts that she has saved thousands of dollars over the years and even buys furniture and appliances at discount prices at op shops.
Her best bargains are a pair of $700 shoes she purchased for $1 at The Rock and a Leona Edmiston vintage kaftan worth more than $100 purchased for a few dollars at St Vincent de Paul.
“It’s about finding those little gems … you’ve really got to treasure hunt,” she said.
