I would consider myself a thrifty individual-I don't think I own any clothes that cost more than 25euro (with the possible exception of shoes or things my parents bought me for my birthday!) so when I'm not charity shopping or trawling penneys I tend to acquire items from various places. My best friend Lorna has regular wardrobe clearouts and always lets me look through the out pile before she throws it out (she's my only friend who's roughly the same clothes size so this is always a magical and lucrative event for me!)
Lost and founds are also great as in schools and colleges they often sell off or give away their contents after a certain period of time. My friend Conor acquired his trademark green chequered coat and a particularly awesome scarf from the lost and found at one of the soceities in my college.
My favourite hat was actually found on the ground by a friend of mine. Ditto one of my favourite pairs of earrings (lucky break, I found one one day then found the other a few days later a few hundred metres away!). Obviously you have to wash these things pretty well before wearing them just to be safe but its the same as getting them from a friend or acquaintance. Earlier this week I found an absolutely gorgeous scarf in the alley near my house so I'm set for the rest of the cold snap!
Now I'm obviously not encouraging stealing-anything that I've found is something I've only picked up after seeing it in a location more than once; i know how awful it is to come back to wear you think you dropped something and find its gone, even if you didn't expect it to still be there.
For most people the easy option for finding something cheap and non-generic is the charity shop which is one of my favourite places and also means that, while you get something for a steal, you're also giving to a deserving cause instead of probably paying into some sort of child labour by buying on the high street. I'm lucky enough to live about 10minutes from a town that has a ridiculous number of charity shops. While you do get a higher quality of second hand clothing in town you can't beat having a whole pile of shops together in one place for easy comparison. My best find in a charity shop was my favourite pair of boots i got them nearly new for just 3euro because they were unpriced and the heels were scuffed.
