Is it a bad sign when you have a frequent shopper card at your local Goodwill? Personally, as the proud holder of such a card, I don't think it is. Thrift stores are a great opportunity to buy cool clothes at a cheaper price. They also provide you with a chance to experiment with your wardrobe without going broke doing it.

As part of this week's quest for cheapness, I gave myself the task of buying an outfit (yes, the ENTIRE outfit) for less than five dollars. And I don't mean some ugly scarecrow get-up that I only pull out on Halloween. I'm talking about something nice.

Being the experienced thrift-store queen that I am, I set about this task with my usual expertise. Believe it or not, even thrift stores have sales, so I called up New-To-You.

New-to-You is part thrift store, part consignment shop, and they were having a half-price sale last Saturday. Such sales are important, because even stores selling clothes that were donated to them can be pricey.

Being that finding women's pants with a 35-inch inseam is a joke, I always look at men's pants so I have a shot of actually finding something. At New-To-You, the men's pants are marked with their waist and inseam measurements, so it's not a bad idea for women to know their size in men's pants before they go to the thrift stores.

Also, many thrift stores do not have fitting rooms, and knowing your measurements can save you a lot of time while pants hunting. I found a pair of olive-green pants in less than five minutes, with little flaps on the back pockets and cute little letters stamped on the butt. (Word to the wise- always check the zippers and crotch areas of pants, because they might be too worn or ripped).

Knowing that I needed a top that would match my pants, I should have steered clear of the sweater isle, but I have a sweater fetish (as displayed by the 27 I currently have in my closet) and I fell prey to the rack of knit beauties. I found a gray lambs wool sweater with red horizontal stripes. (Another thing to note - the sweater I found was dry clean only. Keep an eye out for this type of thing because it might not be worth it to buy something for a dollar if you have to spend $2.50 cleaning it!)

Shirts are hard to find, because if you like button-down shirts, you have to watch for missing buttons. Sometimes you will think you have found the perfect shirts, but later you'll see the ring-around-the-collar or the yellowed armpits. It can be ugly. I was lucky in that I found a fitted Express shirt with a green diamond design that seemed okay.

Are you wondering how much I've spent yet? Well, in accordance with my goal, I spent only $4.55 on the pants, sweater and shirt. Of course, then I saw a pink bandana at the counter for $.50 that I just had to have so I went five cents over the $5 goal. Damn impulse buys!

For great thrift store buys near you, check out the Salvation Army Thrift Store, 26 Stimson, or the New-to-You Shoppe, 9 W. Stimson.