College students are notorious for being penny-pinchers and learning how to live on a budget but Oklahoma college sophomore, Crystal Yonkers has taken living on a budget to a whole new level.
(prHWY.com) December 16, 2011 - Seattle, WA -- College students are notorious for being penny-pinchers and learning how to live on a budget but Oklahoma college sophomore, Crystal Yonkers has taken living on a budget to a whole new level. Crystal has vowed to live off of only what she could find at her local thrift store for a whole year.
"Browsing through my local thrift store I started to notice that it had everything I could ever possibly want or need there", Crystal Yonkers explains. "I see it as a challenge to use only the things I can find in my local thrift stores to provide items for my entire apartment."
With the exception of food and a few household necessities that can't possibly be found in a thrift store everything will have to be purchased at the thrift store. Yonker's local thrift store features everything from furniture, bedroom accessories, clothing, books, movies, jewelry and toys.
"I'm visiting my local thrift store daily. They have those colored sticker sales and I just go nuts buying things I need", Yonkers explains. "It's a great way to get what I need and not have to spend all my money."
Secondhand Rose, a thrift store in the town next to where Yonker's lives has jumped on board with the challenge. Should Yonker's complete the task at hand and only rely upon thrift store goods for her apartment for a year, Secondhand Rose will award her at $5,000
scholarship that can be used towards her college tuition.
"We love seeing the local college students embrace the thrift store scene", owner of Secondhand Rose Sally Higgins said. "When we heard about Crystal's challenge we thought we'd give her an incentive to carry on with her goals and help her with the cost of tuition should she meet those goals. She's a very determined and talented young lady and she has her whole future ahead of her."
Crystal Yonkers started her challenge three months ago and is still going strong. Her friends and family have decided to help her see through this challenge and are making daily trips to
the thrift stores for her to scout out items that she needs.
"When my friends heard what I was doing they thought I was completely nuts", Yonkers said from her partially furnished apartment. "They thought I'd be decked out in rags and hand-me-downs but you can find some really great clothing items if you take the time to look for them."
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