Reuse... Thrifting!

My second attempt at catching up on my 2009 list (linked above.) I've been making steady progress, but I haven't been blogging like I had hoped over the last week or two, so I'm catching up!

Instill 10 new "reduce/reuse/recycle" habits and blog about each one.

The second good habit we've really been focusing on is reusing via thrifting. We've always been a thrifting family. Quite frankly, economically it's the best choice for us in many years. However, back to this conscious and purposeful living idea... we're making a concerted effort to first shop thrift stores.

Clothing:

For years we've purchased clothing at local thrift stores. I just couldn't justify spending money that we didn't have on clothes for our daughter that would end up with a blown-out knee in a matter of weeks. Even buying clothes at a discount store such as Target or Wal-Mart (ok, so we don't shop at Wal-Mart, but that is for other reasons of conscience) we would constantly spend and spend and spend to keep her in a pair of pants! We began buying her clothes first because by shopping the end-of-month sales we could buy jeans for $2 or $3 a pair, many times finding them new with tags if we searched hard enough. Our older girls loved shopping thrift stores because they could find vintage t shirts and quirky fashions that they liked. We eventually morphed into buy books at the thrift store. We tend to be middle of the road with book buying. We love books so we have them stacking the shelves, but we also love using the library so we don't purchase everything that we'd like to read. I've recently found that a specific store in our area has the best books! I've also become chatty with an employee so I'm learning when they put out specific items, when they mark down their sale items, etc.

We branched out into finding glassware and even craft materials. (Just watch out for lead traps... painted dishes, etc) I've been finding fabulous deals on board games for the kid lately. I have an aversion to "noise toys"... if it has a battery and flashing lights then I won't buy it. I like rag dolls, wooden toys, and things that require imagination. Now that we have a little one (granddaughter #1, 17 mos) we've been able to find her the best wooden toys for pennies. Though it was on Craig's List and not a thrift store, we were recently able to find a set of 100 wooden castle blocks that were used by three generations of a family... only $20. I feel guilty grabbing them for my kid and grandkids when they could bring a fourth generation of that family joy, but better my house than a landfill. :)

Here's an example of our latest thrift trip, though it could have been better if we had shopped the sale color for the day. (The store we went to lists a different sale each week by color of tag on the items.)

For the kid:
1 pair jeans, new with tags listed at $38 but we paid $4
1 pair corduroy pants
2 long sweaters (long, knee-length cardigan style)
3 shirts

For me:
5 cotton shirts (3 new with tags)
1 wool vest, vintage and in great shape, and it's red! My favorite color!

3 board games (1 new in shrink wrap)

2 puzzles (1 new)

1 dictionary (ours is falling apart beyond repair)

8 books (several in brand new condition, and several to use in our unit study plans next year)

1 book for the granddaughter (A fun book of activities grouped by month - I love it!

Total out of pocket: $87


It was definitely more than I had planned on spending that day, but it was chocked full of goodies that I just couldn't pass up. I'm hoping to get into a good routine so that I know which stores are good for which types of items. All in good time. We're saving money, less is ending up in landfills, and we are giving money to an organization that provides quite a lot of very worthwhile programs. (We love Volunteers of America and Salvation Army best.)

Another benefit of shopping thrift stores comes through re-purposing items. I love finding a great skirt or pair of pants that can be turned into a skirt for the kid. Or, finding an item that has fabulous fabric to use in a sewing project for our little grandbaby girl. I love seeing a wool sweater with holes as a new bag. Life is all about the way that you view things. :) I've been reading a lot about using thrifting as a source of recycled yarn by frogging sweaters and what not. I've yet to try this, but one of these days I will!

Go hunt out a thrift store. With a little washing and care so many treasures can be found. It's reduces so many things... the amount of cash flowing out of your wallet and the amount of trash flowing into the landfills. Re-using items is a fabulous way for a little effort to affect a lot of change.