Category — Reuse and Recycle

Thank you to Chelsea Pech, who writes for beautyxpose.com. She interviewed me and wrote a lovely article about the joys of secondhand shopping which you can read here.

63 Years Old & Still Going Strong!

I bought a used vacuum right after my husband and I got married, 22 years ago. The vacuum was already 41 years old at the time. It set me back $35.00 and worked wonderfully up until a few weeks ago, when it started consistently breaking new belts. I hauled it out to my car and took it to one of the few repair shops in town. The service cost much more than the vacuum did when I bought it, but was less expensive than buying a new one. And of course, that’s what the repair shop people wanted me to do—buy a new one. They tried to sell me when I first walked into the store and again over the phone before they fixed the old one.

Aside from it costing more to buy new, I just hate the thought of filling the overcrowded landfills with anything that still has use. Now that it’s been fixed, the vacuum works like a charm and has plenty of good years left. The next time it needs to be repaired I’ll be shopping around. Not for a newer model, but for a different repair shop.

My daughter loves her new prom dress

My daughter found her prom dress last Saturday. It cost five dollars at a local thrift store and is in perfect condition. Garments that are only worn for special occasions often are in wonderful shape because they usually only get worn a few times. Except for a minor alteration to the shoulder straps, the dress fits her like a dream, looks nothing like what everybody else will be wearing, and according to my quickie internet search, comparable dresses by the same manufacturer run around $150. And although she loves this dress, since prom is months away, my daughter has time to continue to snoop around the thrifts, just in case there’s something out there that she likes even more. I can afford to spring for another five bucks, or even ten, if it’ll make her happy.

It seems that every time I go into a bookstore, I see another volume about how to start off with a basic tee shirt and then slice, dice, knot and sometimes sew it into a one-of-a-kind garment. Of course, this is the sort of project that lends itself beautifully to the secondhand wardrobe because the thrifts (and maybe even your own closet) are loaded with give-away tees.

My favorite book that takes the reader step-by-step through the slice-‘n-dice process is called Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt, by Megan Nicolay. She shows the reader how to turn an oversized, boxy tee with advertising slogans and logos into a decorative addition to your wardrobe. So grab those tees that are from the company picnic, your last 10k run or your neighborhood hardware store opening, consult with Megan and make them into a little halter top, skirt, or maybe even a wedding gown.

The other day I found myself in need of a stack of used long sleeved tee shirts. I do programs for kids at schools and libraries and I’m scheduled to do one next Wednesday where I teach the kids to make stuffed animals from the sleeves of used tee shirts.   

I thought I had plenty of sleeves for everybody. Then I spoke with the librarian and found out that many more kids had signed up for the program than they had anticipated. I suddenly found myself with just barely enough supplies. Thank goodness that Goodwill has 2 for $3 days! 

Yesterday I strolled into the store, went straight to where the long sleeved shirts are located, looked for the ones with the discount tags, and within 10 minutes I had just what I needed. Not only that, I got a bonus for my secondhand efforts—in with the tees that I will use for my recycling program, I also nabbed a few that are in great condition and that fit me just right. 

We give away a lot of clothing. We have to; our house would explode if we didn’t. Any item that’s on its way out to the secondhand shop gets piled onto the stepladder in our kitchen. The stepladder pile is currently three feet high and includes a winter hat, a pair of unworn shoes, pants, shorts, a tee shirt, a sweater, two pairs of sunglasses, a purse and two books. Why, we could outfit several people and have them sit out in the bright sun while they do some reading. Instead I’ll pack it all up and bring it and the other bags of clothing that have been patiently waiting in my garage to my favorite local charity. 

My favorite charity is not the one that has a huge thrift store three blocks from my home. This huge thrift is a church-affiliated store. A year ago I went to their church for the funeral of a dear friend. During the service the pastor announced that we would get to see my friend again in the afterlife, but only if we believed as he told us we must.

I decided right then that I would no longer support this particular charity by giving them my used stuff. Instead I drive an extra 10 minutes to my favorite place, the one with all of the great community programs. I really love this particular organization. I have volunteered my time at their women’s shelter, food pantry and day care center. Although I don’t always have time or money to give them, I frequently have stuff that they can either use or sell to keep doing what they do so well.

I was reading over the parent newsletter from my daughter’s high school, yawning away, when an article suddenly jolted me into wakefulness. The article was a call for donations of slightly worn formal wear for prom. A few students are organizing the effort and their plan is to make the clothes available to kids who can’t afford to buy new formal clothing. The students are calling their project Cinderella’s Closet. Since reading the article, I’ve learned that across North America there are hundreds of Cinderella’s Closets. They are also known as Fairy Godmother’s Closet, Operation Fairy Dust and the Corsage Project. 

Perhaps the best known of these programs is the Glass Slipper Project, located in Chicago (www.glassslipperproject.org/index.html). They have provided prom clothing to more than 10,000 girls since they began in 1999.  

The benefit of these groups is not just that they help kids dress appropriately for their proms; they also actively help to reuse garments that usually get worn just one time. What a great idea.

In my last blog, I mentioned that I bought myself a Gap corduroy pea coat when I was out looking for secondhand bargains. Here in the Northeast, we usually have only a few weeks per year of weather that requires a mid-weight coat like this one, so they can be hard to find. A few years ago, I bought a coat for just this sort of in-between weather. It’s a lined LL Bean field coat (via Salvation Army) that I’ve never found especially flattering on me. I’ve been on the lookout for an upgrade for a few years now. Now that I found my pea coat, I’ll pass LL Bean on to my favorite charity. There’s no reason for it to take up space in the landfill because it’s still in great condition and this way it will become someone else’s exciting treasure.

Although I tend to think of used clothing as something that’s great for those of us who don’t have loads of cash, on my visit to Connecticut where I found the pair of Ferragamos, which I’ve written about in the last 2 entries, I noticed an unusually large number of consignment shops. They were all in wealthy suburban areas, close to New York City, and I wondered why people who live in such lavish homes are selling their used clothing. And do the people in those lavish houses also buy from the consignment shops? 

I don’t have any satisfying answers here.  One friend suggested that women who don’t have jobs but who do have lots of expensive stuff might need to sell off some of their $1,000 purses and $2,000 dresses just to have cash for themselves. That made some sense, but it doesn’t explain the sheer number of consignment stores. Anyone out there want to enlighten me?