Digressions on Thrifting

Are thrifty genes are inborn, or do our early experiences have more of an impact on whether we're splurgers or penny-pinchers when we grow up enough to have our own spending money? For some (like me, presently, with an unemployed partner), the thrill of the bargain hunt is mitigated by the downer of necessity, but for others there is just an excitement in digging for treasure and getting it at an amazing price.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizziehiggs/4475248395/

When I was a little girl, visiting my grandparents' summer place in the middle of nowhere Connecticut, my greatest joy came in trips to (what was to me, at the time) the most amazing place on earth: The Victorian House, a ramshackle old Painted Lady with an incredible series of rooms packed to the brim with every kind of knick-knack, kitchen item, old book, vintage fur, enormous carved highboy, broken doll, old postcard and vinyl record an estate sale could produce, plus a fabulous little squash-faced Pekingese who always manned the counter. I could amuse myself for hours in the costume jewelry or book section (here I found my first copy of Desiree and learned that my namesake was Napoleon's first love...) and spent many long hours tentatively brushing my fingertips over inlaid furniture and shining sterling tableware.

As the child of a single parent schoolteacher with conservative-- perhaps even 'tightwad'-- purse-strings, I also learned very early on that several hand-me-down or used-clothing-shop outfits were far superior to just one new outfit. It took me many years to release the resentment I felt at the time to be forced to be so much less fashionable than my (rather wealthy) peers, but I now realize that I learned skills that the girls whose mothers spent weekends in Bloomingdale's would probably never acquire (whether they'd ever have the financial necessity for such skills is another matter, but they say money can't buy happiness anyway, right?).

I see homes decorated with the latest from Pier One and Crate and Barrel and it's not that they're not lovely, but it seems to me that they are entirely lacking in personality. There are no special items lovingly lifted off a dusty shelf and polished to reveal their beautiful potential; no fascinating old objects of dubious origin but obvious perfection for the room; nothing with any fond memories attached. In these beautiful, sterile places, no old friend would ever possibly inquire "but, my dear, where did you possibly find that stunning wicker sphere set displayed in that fruit bowl!?" No, indeed. Ditto for the latest Ann Taylor dress or Tiffany necklace. Cute, but anyone could put it on... I prefer a little inventiveness, a touch of the unique, which may take a bit of rooting to find, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Tell us about your own thrifty roots!

Today's Thrifty Treasures

Today's finds are brought to you by the local Goodwill. We've been looking pretty much every week, just in case someone gives away a gorgeous skirt suit that is not in a "teeny" (seems rare). Didn't find anything in that department today-- although there was ONE petite suit, it had the strangest pants- they zipped in the back (?) and definitely gave us a penguin crotch situation. No good.

But, thankfully, we didn't come away empty-handed, as the jacket rack presented us with a decent find (we're always on the lookout for bright blazers with more than one button and not totally-80s-styling, which are often hard to come by!) in one of our favorite colors:


The buttons are silver-toned with a great funky crest pattern. Love the cut-outs at the bottom! Yay. It's polyester (microfiber) which we kind of hate, but eh, for this color we made an exception. It'll go with tons of stuff we already have and add another bright piece to our awfully-black professional wardrobe for $6.49.

Second score:


Polish cobalt-and-clear bowl, clearly never used, only $5. We have a real thing for cobalt glass and have been starting a wee collection. One can never have too many mixing/fruit/decorative bowls, can one?

The last thing we'd like to discuss today is not exactly thrifted, but bears mentioning. Lately we've been trying to keep the nails painted, but it goes from professional to scary pretty quick since we have nearly no patience for waiting for them to dry and certainly not for a topcoat, so they begin to peel pretty quick. Enter, for our waiting-phobic pleasure, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry polish. Seriously, no kidding, we grabbed some remover and a gorgeous orchid purple called Lovely Lilac and headed into the work bathroom, from which we emerged not five minutes later with dry-enough-to-type, perfectly smooth and even nails. Two coats. Less than five minutes (a lot of that time was taking off the stubborn chips of the last attempt). The longevity is yet to be tested, but it's still going strong after a long day on the computer. Highly, highly worth the sort-of-exorbitant-for-nail-polish price of $6-7.

What We Bought: Goodwill Scores Galore

Something called us to the Goodwill today on "lunch" break... of course that "something" was ostensibly the need for Like A Virgin outfit goods (we're seeking a white lace bustier and corset, crazy 80s belt, etc.), but it turned out to be the.most.perfect. leather jacket in our size, absolutely buttery-soft and in mint condition, crying out from a few blocks down for us to come and claim it!

leather poly-lined blazer, Margaret Godfrey, $7.99

Gasp! It feels like lamb or kid to us, but is labeled only "100% leather" so we're not positive. It's really quite fitted and lovely, so disregard the rather squarish shape of this photo on the hanger (and those to follow). No doubt you will see them all on very soon!

After discovering this lovely approximately 6 seconds into the store, we carried it around searching for the (elusive) Halloween items and also any pretties from the list which might catch our eye.

We tried on a wool pencil skirt (check- warm skirts) but it was a no go for our figure. (Hmm... other pencil skirts have worked alright; not this one though). We tried on a black-and-white floral blouse-type thing, but the banding "under" the bust hit us mid-boob. D'oh. Then we tried on this lovely nubbly (kind of like corduroy, only dots?) skirt, which is on the list as a "warm skirt" option, though not in a print (there really weren't any!)

cotton skirt, mac n jac, $4.99

Pardon the hanger, again. Here, have a closeup of the fabric and the lovely little crochet-lace trim:


(Much more lavender/mauve than this carnation/raspberry showing...)

In our travels through the shoe and housewares section, we also spotted a lovely little handbag; we had already fulfilled our recent wish for a teal purse, but the one we bought was awfully large and didn't have the croc embossing we were really craving, so this perfect little number is a terrific alternative:

croc-embossed faux-leather handbag, no name, $4.99

The man had suggested that we be on the lookout for a raincoat for little money, since we still have (ill-advised) plans to camp one time this Autumn... so we were thrilled to discover, in the Halloween idea racks of all things (? Sherlock Holmes?) a lovely black cotton with polyurethane (sounds gross but waterproof) coating trench by Banana Republic, $7.99. Pictures came out horrible, but trust us, it's cute. It's a black trench. You've seen them before. Our friend suggests adding a contrasting belt-- we're thinking perhaps leopard?

Whilst in the dressing room, we spied a rack of additional items. Some seemed to be tried-on cast-offs, as they were tagged, but among them was a practically brand-new and un-priced 100% silk sweater in a lovely steely blue:

silk sweater, Ann Taylor, $4.99

Perfect fit, nary a snag nor pill (who owned this? An agoraphobic?) and did we mention 100% silk?? The slate is not a color we'd normally wear, although it bears a strong resemblance to some blue-green sweaters we'd sworn not to further propogate, but here's a strong case for one-in, one-out; surely some inferior acrylic bit can go in its stead. It's not a print, either. But it is fabulous.

While we stood in line waiting to pay, a terribly amusing tourist was being rung up for a sweater and paused to ask "is this used?" And the clerk said "well, yes." And she said with a shudder "is everything here used?" And he said "pretty much." And she said "um, well, no thank you then, sorry," and walked out. And we laughed and laughed with the clerk so as to keep from following her down the street and berating her about the state of the world and her ignorance and stupidity and snobbery. Anyway, once she was done and it was only the crazy lady asking the poor man which section of collectibles she thought she could sell her new crap in, we were able to ask him if we could try on the simply gorgeous purple suede jacket hanging up behind the registers. And oh did it fit. Ours. Thank you.

plum suede jacket, Live a Little, tags still on for $89, $10

Our grand total was just under $40. Easily a tenth of the retail price for these brands (and especially the suede and leather). We love Goodwill!

Happy thrifting!

Resale Shop Revisited: Raspberry Beret

This chilly but lovely Saturday, instead of camping (due to freezing temperatures predicted), we took a swing up to Raspberry Beret in Wakefield, MA (our first trip discussed here) which is quite near the man's house. He dropped us off and went home to see about assimilating the new clown fish to the tank, and we went in, armed with a list (from the Wardrobe Evaluation), determined to buy nothing that was not on it. We failed. Sigh.

In our defense, there really just wasn't much going on for prints, or warm skirts. We did try on a few blouses and one wool and one leather pencil skirt but they just didn't work.

What we bought that was on the list:

A) Our long-coveted blue shoes!!! Yes! A single pair in the store-- Nine West-- and they fit perfectly (score! $11). They have a peep-toe, so we're going to have to get used to visible tights toes or we're not going to be able to wear them until next year. Gasp! Quelle horreur. Here they are, in all of their metallic, crackle-finish sheeny glory (great condition; they look to have been worn only a few times, and definitely not by a girl who has to walk anywhere):




B) A fabulous velvet blazer. Or maybe it's more of a coat. It was in the outerwear section. It's knee-length, blood-scarlet crushed velvet (brighter than the burgundy-ish showing here). From H&M - marked down from $24 to... it might have been $16? Right around there. Probably the most expensive item.


(Please pardon fiance's messy room and even worse light than usual, and note that the jacket is not asymmetrical, just looks it due to the pose). Isn't it just divine?

Things not on the list...

1) Bright purple down vest, NY&Co with tags still attached, originally $99, at Raspberry Beret a mere $10.

Isn't this a very Audi smile? Tee hee.

We think this is an amazing piece for the price. It's a simply gorgeous color, real down, not too bulky but awesomely warm, the silkiest polyester we ever did feel, and it has great detailing like an adjustable (inside) drawstring waist and snap-down-able pocket plackets to keep us from feeling like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man, plus dual-action zipper and snap closures. Lovely.

2) Teal velvet beaded scarf, $6. We own a few similar things so this was a Bad Desiree, but it was too pretty and in such great condition that we couldn't pass it up at this price.


3) Ruffly cardigan sweater with bell sleeves, mohair/nylon/wool blend, Ann Taylor, $11. We know we banned ourselves from new purple cardigans, but the rationalization here is that it's such a light purple, almost white, that we think it could be dyed a much stronger color. Perhaps... mustard? (Maybe we'll give that whole yellow thing a shot; it looks so fabulous with purple).

We got these five pieces for just over $50... how we love others' cast-offs!
How did we do?

Happy Weekend!

Goodwill Score!!!

We took a quick, sweaty little jaunt to our local Goodwill on lunch yesterday. Unfortunately it's not one of those sparkly clean new ones, and smells like a home bum's tighty whities, but it's the only shopping in the area, so we suffer through.

We were looking for a summer dress for the office- something cotton and cute with a circle skirt, perhaps? Eyelet, even? Alas, the dress rack was filled with wretched polyester tents and horrific prints, so we came away with nothing... until we spotted, out of the corner of our eye, on the "not-yet-put-away" rack, something aubergine, and ruffly, and *gasp* beaded!

Upon closer inspection, it was a silk dress. A gorgeous one. In our size. By Laundry, which we're pretty sure is some sort of crazy expensive brand. Um. Yeah, sure is. Wow. It looked awfully narrow despite the tag, so imagine our excitement when it not only made it over the girls but totally and absolutely fit like a dream. Er, as long as we find some Spanx.

We paid $7. The silk alone is worth more than that, never mind the (seemingly hand-sewn) beadwork. Oh, we're so happy. We have nothing to wear this to, but we'll find something!




A tremendous thank you to the crazy woman who decided to toss this in the Goodwill pile for laziness, because any sane person would have at least tried to consign the thing.

We sense a lunchtime addiction brewing.

Do you love Goodwill? What have been some of your most amazing scores at thrift shops?

High on Bargains

Oh.My.God.

We went to Raspberry Beret. It was amazing. Truly. We're still a little light-headed.

The boutique is beautifully and absolutely perfectly arranged-- by color and size! We could just die. The entire place is gorgeously decorated, from the giant vintage mirror to the dressing rooms filled with silk embroidered throw pillows and wrought iron hooks... Just a pleasure to be there and take in the exquisitely designed wall displays. But the clothes, of course, are the main event...

Pictures will follow but we just had to post about what we got, right this moment.

8 items, $102.00 (most things were marked down further than the price tag because they had been at the store a certain amount of time! Score!)

Lace plunge-neckline evening gown, $16
Forest green faux leather megahandbag, $17
Black & white floral a-line skirt with ribbon belt, $8
Black tiered crochet-trim summer skirt, $10
Black chiffon-trim beaded shantung skirt, $15
Multi-chain teal & turquoise glass bead necklace, $17
Purple suede pointy-toe pumps (marked 6 but fit my 7 feet perfectly!) $14
Turquoise lightweight boatneck sweater, $5
We are so absolutely thrilled and can't wait to drag our man back to the store (haha). A bonus for him, they had a lovely ottoman between the fitting rooms; a provision he calls the "man corral" and one that we rather enjoy for its prolonging of the disinterested shopping companion's patience!

We have no idea to what event we'll ever wear the nude-with-black-lace-overlay evening gown, but it fit so magnificently and was so inexpensive that we had to have it. Surely we'll go to some sort of fancy event someday? It is a classic style, with a tulip skirt and some serious decolettage, so we're pretty sure it won't look dated in a few years. We're thinking of it as an investment piece. For not much of an investment :) (Oh how we love second-hand!)

We were hoping to find a few more bright accessories, but the green handbag and purple shoes should go a long way to livening up our regular black-centric outfits (which we further propogated, heavily, we're aware).

You should absolutely check out this store if you're in the area. Next stop, the Cambridge branch...

Thrifting Weekend!

Just a quick post here- wanted to mention what appears to be an AMAZING consignment shop here in the Boston area that we're going to check out this weekend: Raspberry Beret (two locations: Wakefield and now between Harvard and Porter Squares on Mass. Ave!), named after a Prince song, painted bright fuchsia and, from the looks of it, totally awesome.


We absolutely can't wait to peruse their stock and hopefully come up with some fun new pieces in bright colors and some terrific accessories... reading other daily wear blogs, we're starting to feel a little boring. And boring is the last thing we ever want to be :(

We will report back! Has anyone else been there? What are your favorite thrift shops? We wish we lived in the Pacific Northwest for Buffalo Mercantile, easily the best, biggest resale shop we've ever seen. Here in Boston we're quite partial to Oona's in Harvard Square, even if it's more of a vintage shop (read: expensive) than thrift per se... and we can't wait to check out the new Goodwill in Davis and Poor Little Rich Girl and Artifaktorie, too-- any reports on those? Lastly, Urban Renewals in Brighton is purportedly an amazing source of vintage costume jewelry (according to InspiredVintageJewelry) and also well-organized and not-too-expensive clothing. We miss the AmVets that was a few doors down, and haven't found anything comparable in terms of prices at any of the shops (even Goodwill wants $7 for jeans these days!)

Please leave any tips or reviews of your favorite!