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iler on the way home and buy a tube of mascara for 9 amy says 4 purge amy says that a good look at the items in your closet could help to put your spending practices into perspective plus if you haven t worn something in a year then chances are you re not going to donate it to go goodwill where it will resurface in the reuse market i ve always been pretty good at saving but it was spending that i needed to work on and i don t mean that i needed to spend more after reading some of the thrifty chicks posts i realized that i wasn t always fulfilling my thrifty living mantra not to mention doing my part for the planet the cheapest option isn t always the best option the best option and therefore the best use of my money is the clothing and the wares that are good quality and going to last only in the reuse market can you consistently find items that are both good quality and inexpensive posted by shopping golightly at 7 27 am 38 comments wednesday november 2 2011 about the only item aside from groceries we buy new without second thought thrift store family of horses for my little pie my piper this weekend i picked up this family of horses at goodwill they are tucked away for the holidays for my little piper i will not wrap them on christmas morning they will be sitting somewhere about the living room for her to spy besides would it not be animal cruelty to box them from my daughter s imaginative point of view these horses have feelings personalities and eventually names shouldn t i respect that she loves horses and when she cannot play or ride real ones she turns to her extensive collection of papo and schleich figurines piper ensures she has the current pocket sized catalogue to determine what papo figurine she might like next for a treat or birthday sometimes she just looks at it like i used to thumb through the jc penney catalog yes these are mass produced toys but the quality is certainly not lost yes they re imported from france and germany and yes they re plastic but the only shelf packaging they have is a small price point tied about one of their legs easy to remove without leaving that annoying sticky residue tear it off and you re ready to play daddy doesn t get a hernia attempting to open some ridiculous packaging piper plays with these figurines for hours a week in this photo we see the fairies have rounded up the horses in a tinker toy corral i know a lot of children play with papos and schleich rarely i mean very rarely does one find them in a thrift store i imagine that s because they become a legacy toy something that is kept for the next generation they withstand the wear this is just like it s highly uncommon for one to spot a wooden train set in a thrift store a papo or schleich can even enchant adults and most other brands of plastic figurines just don t make the cut the family of horses i found at goodwill are not papo they larger figurines more expensive than their little papo and schleich cousins these horses sit on the toy store shelf in loads of packaging for about quadruple the price do consumers ever think of the price of packaging no one knows for certain if we did know we d probably rather not pay the price of the cardboard penitentiary and just set our toys free regardless i m happy to pay the thrift store price sans packaging after the round up the horses convene on their own i graduated college in the early 90 s recession until i landed my what i will call the career job at the lincoln park zoo society in downtown chicago i worked the floors full time at crate and barrel they did something unique in store display and design naked and alone stands the kitchenaide artisan empire red stand mixer daring crate and barrel consumers to see it for what it really is time after time i witnessed the disappointment in a customer s eyes when they eagerly brought an espresso machine off the display shelf up to the register desk and i d journey to the stock room to pull an espresso maker new in the box to send home often the customer didn t want the one in the box they couldn t see it or touch it can t we just take this one while holding the actual item they realized that photographs on the box were not enough to make them satisfied about their purchase the same thing happened with glassware china and pot and pans we watched it over and over again let s have a round up of wise toy purchases for children aside from the papos and schleich figurines my daughters have experienced a lot of mileage on thomas the tank and brio wooden train sets tinker toys and lincoln logs if you re going to invest in toys invest in something that will be a toy meaning it spawns imagination not hands it over thoughts ideas posted by shopping golightly at 5 21 am 13 comments monday september 26 2011 unconventional harvest the autumnal equinox was last friday the 23 rd fall is my favorite season not only am i a person who loves sweaters and hats but also i love a good harvest an unconventional one of course we ve been harvesting vegetables and berries from the garden for some time i m writing about the stuff that falls from trees and i m not talking apples though apples are appreciated last week the call came in from modern mommie they re falling bring some bags and meet me on the north end of marion parkway now she didn t need to say what i knew acorns we scavenged the grass and gutters for acorns with the endearing help of modern mommie s three year old daughter who simply refers to them as corns she was completely enchanted and very serious about collecting why because acorns are beautiful a mass produced holiday anything made in china doesn t stand a chance when placed next to an acorn yeah not even a plastic acorn can beat the real deal but they manufacture them anyway and people buy them when they could just pick them up for free go figure once you bring them home roast them in the oven at about 180 degrees to be rid of any little natural critters worms that like to burrow into the nut if you pick up an acorn with holes in the nut best to leave that one on the ground you ll note the caps will fall off after the nut dries and shrinks a little wood glue will take care of that an aside i ve always wondered what the people in china think as they paint decorations for christian and jewish holidays i m certain its a very different experience from when their ancestors made items that pertained to their culture funny how for thousands of years imports from far away lands had high value and often represented fine craftsmanship something friends came to admire now it could be a plastic easter egg or a plastic carnival whistle the horse chestnuts will be falling soon here s a garland i made several years back i ve about 30 feet of horse chestnut garlands maybe more readers will ask so i ll explain now to make this garland take freshly fallen horse chestnuts which are not edible and grab that drill drill holes completely through the chestnut while fresh try to drill after they ve hardened and be prepared for a trip to the er roast the chestnuts in the oven on a low setting say 180 degrees until they dry out and harden up string them up and hang them in a place to completely dry if there is any moisture left in the nut it will mold from the inside best to ensure it s really good and dry that s it you have an organic homemade garland that will decorate your home for years and cost you nothing but some fond memories collecting and string here s something to think about young children love collecting acorns and chestnuts it s something they can do without help bring some cider and gingersnaps along when you go when the holidays arrive the acorns and the chestnuts hang on the tree and the children feel a nice satisfaction of seeing they truly contributed to the magic of the holiday tree modern mommy s little one had a terrific idea she told us we need to place our corns in a nature bowl she was right so out came the wooden bowls from the thrift i prefer to purchase bowls carved from one piece bowls at thrift stores may come home a little scratched but sandpaper will take care of that i often sand off any finish and prepare the freshly exposed wood with mineral oil they re simple and eloquent and cost something crazy in convention retail but you don t need to pay that price when you thrift this beautiful bowl was purchased at a half off sale for 1 50 this is art found for 6 this myrtle wood bowl somehow magically ripens pears to a mouth watering perfection our bread bowl for 3 now s the time to prepare citrus and clove pomanders to dry in time for the holidays young children enjoy this most when the fruit is pre punctured in patterns cloves slide in the peel without struggle before racing out to buy holiday decorations which have probably already arrived in local shopping malls take a look in your back yard or a walk in the woods nice memories at little cost that build up to something magical and meaningful for the holidays there s one more reason i take note of the autumnal equinox it s mr golighty s birthday among a few things we made a hand stitched book of poems about his favorite things please list in the comment other handmade holiday decorations your family enjoys ah if only bittersweet grew wild in colorado wait roses do hmm something with rosehips would be nice least i not forget the ponderosa pinecones they re a bit sharp but beautiful a small eye hook drilled into the base with a ribbon slipped through make for something beautiful to hang post script on a recent reconnaissance mission i saw that pottery barn is selling wooden balls with acorn tops glued to them made in china 14 50 buys you 56 fake acorns i don t have 56 acorns i ve a couple hundred they re also selling wine corks i doubt they re recycled corks rats a missed opportunity to compare the cost of wooden bowls posted by shopping golightly at 9 29 am 22 comments monday september 19 2011 new position blue jean distresser officially announcing availability as a blue jean distresser for the fashion market now hollywood starlights can wear and feel the truly and honestly distressed jean from hard backbreaking work no more fake wear from machine scrubbing or acid washing the real wear market is open i ll even offer a line of double distressed starting with a pair from the thrift store that s twice the honest wear they ll be green too these jeans will be engaged only in healthy work hike mountains garden bike build honest actions to establish the true and telling signs of honest work special orders can be taken too say you want that horseback look i ll ride horses or perhaps you re more of a construction type i ll remodel my home and accent with a few paint splatters from the roller be assured the extra 200 900 you will be paying for that distressed look will be genuine wear take these above for example they ve held up over ten years and now i only use them as work clothes i ve planted countless gardens hiked mountains painted rooms refinished furniture and many other life activities in this pair see here s me and petite poe at 12 000 on mount emmons in this very pair in 2004 yup these jeans have truly made the circuit such masterpieces take about ten years to create so order now i m certain there are plenty of prospective blue jean distressers just waiting to be called to action please list your name in the comments and we ll start our list of professional blue jean distressers call me crazy but i think the machine market is quite passé leave your comment to become a professional blue jean distresser only honest workers apply women who work family farms i beleive you will now have a second job we shall be the john henry of blue jean distressers except we shall not die in the end our hard efforts will put our children through college just in ways we hadn t quite imagined posted by shopping golightly at 2 14 pm 10 comments labels thrift humor wednesday august 24 2011 it ends and begins on septemeber 2nd on september 2nd a group of about 300 american consumers will hit a personal milestone with the exception of a few items like undergarments they will not have purchased any new clothing for a full calendar year the will have completed their pledge to the great american apparel diet the first annual diet was launched in 2009 often times when people remove something from their lives for a set period of time they race out and indulge once they ve met their goal like if i gave up baked sweets for a year i d have a huge sheet cake waiting for me to jump upon and roll around in so that every pore of my body could soak up that butter cream vanilla sugar i don t have the impression these consumers are going to be renting u hauls to hold all the goods from some wild shopping frenzy after september 2nd i imagine they ll simply sign up for another year of not buying new i imagine they ll recruit friends to join radically changing your shopping behavior in america is a personal and spiritual journey we re blasted practically everywhere we go to purchase items many items that serve no real personal purpose it s time to consider if you re ready to join this group for the coming year should you take this challenge and hold to it i promise other parts of your life will change too all for the better i ll sponsor you email me when you re fighting the urge yes many people treat me like i m cute because i shop reuse this is not fluff this is how we choose to spend our money our personal resources me i m now in need to go out an buy a batch of cupcakes if you know of other retail diets please list them in the comments posted by shopping golightly at 6 24 pm 9 comments wednesday august 17 2011 the consumption economy is dying let it die al a the atlantic posted by shopping golightly at 3 37 pm 0 comments wednesday august 10 2011 pushing the re set button on american retail my mental back burner s been simmering since the former post a plea to anthropologie i fell short on a few critical points about this business proposal keep in mind the mission of this blog is dedicated to a robust reuse market we do this by offering tips testimonials photos and stories from our readers sometimes we must pull back our sleeves and climb out on the fragile limb of brainstorming alternatives to the current retail system strange how this can be such a touchy subject our american retail system has effectively constructed many mental obstacles on our consumer highway new product retailers cling fast to their current mo which is slowly and not so slowly in some cases destroying their customers purchasing power even the most simple business model shows we can t buy much if we have no money who wins then example do we wait until we ve tapped all the global oil wells before we are forced by a monumental crisis to significantly make change there is such a thing as change that can benefit both retailer and consumer it s time it messes with my brain to witness how short sighted the american cultural ecosystem has become we...