I glanced at the printer just now and noticed the thrift store price tag still written on the side, and it’s been here at least a couple of years. Must remove that one of these days.
Choosing to live the way we do doesn’t always pay the big bucks we were used to in the past. We’re forced to live as thriftily as possible now, so we’ve always done a lot shopping at the thrift stores and at garage and estate sales. They’ve become a primary resource for almost every piece of clothing we own, and for miscellaneous kitchen ware, and other household items, large and small. I rarely buy anything new anymore.
When we first started relying more and more heavily on the resale market, I would sometimes find myself starting to feel very sorry for myself as I walked through row after row of used clothing, wondering why I chose to do this in the first place, chastising myself for not having a “real job,” and generally sinking more and more into a depressive state. On those days, I just had to get out of there, and not go back until the bad feelings passed.
And they did. And even more quickly after some trips to the shopping mall. It was retail therapy in reverse. Noting the cost of regular goods, and NOT buying them went a long way to improve my mood. When you see an Eileen Fisher skirt for $169.00, and you remember that you just bought a similar Eileen Fisher garment —last year’s style— for only $3.90, it definitely cheers you up and makes a believer out of you.
We’ve also been collectors forever, so, of course, the various secondary markets are great for finding the odd item. If you are a collector, then you know there is nothing like the thrill of the hunt. Or, maybe it’s really more like the thrill of the find, when you find the perfect item for your collection, and your heart goes pitter patter. A little Weller pot for $1.00. A little piece of gold jewelry that slipped under the radar into the $2.00 costume jewelry basket. The rug for your dining room for $30, which exactly matches your living room rug which you also found two years ago at a garage sale for $150, which retailed for $1,600.00, originally. Definitely a mood lifter.
Not only am I saving money all over the place, but there are a ton of goods out there that are destined for the landfill, and I’ve saved a lot of them from that fate. So, I figure I am also doing my part for recycling.
Having developed an eye for spying the collectible, we also buy good stuff which we don’t really want to own. What we don’t want, we resell on eBay or in our space at at the antique mall. Mostly it’s collectible books, but once we scored really big and found a bronze horse sculpture which we paid $39.95 for and resold for $8,000.
I’ve totally rationalized my thrift store shopping. Intermittent reinforcement is a wonderful drug. We’re out there hunting every week, and I hardly ever get depressed anymore.