Thrifty

I have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with "thrifting."

Or, rather, shopping at Goodwill. I'm not sure I'm hip enough to say that I "go thrifting."

It started when I found out that I was having a girl (after having a boy), and I was contemplating how to afford another entirely new wardrobe (we rarely get hand-me-downs).  My first trip was to a small store in a regular neighborhood and there wasn't a whole lot, and what was there was hard to find and I almost threw in the towel and left, but when they rang me up I was amazed to see that the total was about $30 for around 20 items. It's hard to beat that even on a great Old Navy sale day.

A recent haul: Janie and Jack jeans for my son (like new) for $3.79. Also, I took a chance on some $3.50 shoes for my daughter...the size was European (I don't know why I didn't whip out my phone and figure out the size and brand--I guess I was just in a gambling mood for the price of a latte) but eyeballing them, they looked about right, and they seemed very well made. I looked them up when I got home; I didn't recognize the brand since I don't usually bother checking out $80 kids shoes. And the size was perfect. BAM.

The thrill of finding cute things that I would never pay retail for (but will gladly fork out pennies on the dollar for) probably would have been enough to keep me coming back. But wait! There's more!

Walking through the racks of clothes that have been cast off--nice clothes with tags still on, even clothes that are still current--I started to feel the weight of all of this consumption. I started to think about how so many people would prize these things we just toss away. I started to think about the people working in the factories to make these things that we want so badly and then quickly consider junk. I started to think about the money that I spend at Target--not a ton of money, obviously; it's Target (though it does add up). But I'll spend $10, $20 on something cute and here's its equivalent for $3, $5.

The clincher is the people who work there. They've clearly seen some...stuff in their lives. The day I bought a vintage globe, a Cozy Coupe, a $80 Educo dollhouse for $8, and a walker/scoot toy (while I had both kids with me), they called someone to help the looter me out to my car. The guy who helped me appeared to have done some hard drugs in the past, but he was so nice and eager to help. And I would much rather my money go toward programs that help people get legitimate work than just be another drop in the bucket for some of the big brands--many of which use some shady business practices in order to keep their stuff cheap enough for us to buy frivolously.

An added benefit (aside from my bleeding heart rationale) is that often I find stores are using lower quality fabrics and sewing to keep costs down (I'm looking at you, Target, Old Navy, Gap) and after you wash them once or twice you have seams opening up, pilling, ruffles that go wonky (mama does NOT iron play clothes), etc., and buying secondhand allows you to see how the clothes will wear.

Love it. Can't say enough good things about it.

Will probably write more about it.

You are on the edge of your seat, yes?

Of course you are.