Thriftiness

Inspired in part by Grace, I went by a used clothing store (Glue on Oak) in search of a steal or two. I think in general the stock is more 70's polyester/costumey- but I was pleased to find that everything in the store is currently 50% off.
My favorite thing to buy at thrift stores and used clothing stores is jeans. In general, I'm never completely happy with the jeans I own and am always on the lookout for the perfect pair. I've found that a good way to get designer jeans on the cheap is to look at used clothing stores. I think they have more name brand jeans than Salvation Army type stores do these days because people know they can sell them. The other benefit of shopping for second hand jeans is that they're perfectly worn in!
On this particular shopping trip, I found a pair of DKNY jeans for $16. Sweet! Less sweet was the logo in cursive on the back pocket, surrounded by tiny rhinestones. Personally, I don't like my jeans to scream "Hey! Look directly at my right butt cheek!"
Fortunately, I know from experience (I'm looking at you, Michael Kors. Put down the bedazzler and walk slowly away.) that it's not all that difficult to remove rhinestones and logos that aren't embroidered from your jeans. Rhinestones tend to pop right off if you use your fingernails and I had good luck shaving the logo off of these jeans with a knife blade. (Mine was pretty dull so I didn't have to worry about cutting myself- if you're going to try this at home, use a cutting board!) Sometimes when I do this, I can see a little bit of an indentation where the rhinestones and logo were, but a couple runs through the washer take care of it. Of course, I didn't think to take a picture of the jeans until I was done so you'll have to take my word for it. Sorry!
As I was scraping her name off the butt of my new jeans today, I wondered who would be more dismayed by my anti-brand attitude- Donna Karan or the 6th grade version of myself who would have killed for a pair of brand name jeans (specifically, Girbaud, since it was the early 90's)?

Do you buy used clothing? If so, what are your fix it up tricks?