Autumn is well upon us, and people who have been struggling to stay afloat in this lousy economy all year are now faced with the prospect of the coming holiday gifting season. Which can be daunting in the best of times, but can be positively depressing for those not used to not having cash or credit for the consumerist frenzy. This post is about helping to trim the gift list if you haven’t done so already, plus how and where to find gifts for loved ones that they may cherish forever, help maintain and spread the joy of the season, and not cost an arm or leg.

Previous Posts:
Christmas in a Depressed Economy
‘Tis the Season: Gift Ideas

1. Analyze your gift-giving habits, trim the tree.

In our free-wheeling consumerist culture the Christmas shopping season represents half or more of retailers’ annual intake and an average middle class family’s greatest expenditures on unnecessary items for the year. If your family is struggling, the credit cards with their usurious interest rates have already been cut into small pieces and thrown away, consumer loans have been paid down or frozen in place, and promises to self not to spend more than you’ve got have been made. Don’t change a thing just because the holidays are coming!

If you have a lot of friends and extended family for whom you’ve bought gifts in years past, networking with them early is a good idea. See if doing something other than gifting this year could be a thankful relief to them as well as you. Pot-luck holiday get-togethers are fun, and no one person has to provide all the food and drinks. “Re-Gifting” parties can be great fun too, where you give some trinket you got from someone else in the past (it’s been just taking up room in the closet or on the shelf ever since) to someone else. Chances are someone will remember who gave Fred that hideous tie he’s never worn and laughs will ensue. The holidays are for fun, so have some!

If you’ve got children, find out what they want most instead of just gathering their wish lists of every toy they’ve seen advertised on TV. For children old enough to know Santa isn’t Bill Gates, one big gift can be better than ten little ones. Items like bicycles, roller blades and other sports equipment can be purchased second hand and refurbished, maybe personalized with glitter paint and trim. Go for things they’ll really use and enjoy, stay away from basic junk.

2. Seek out mainstream and even obscure second hand, consignment and/or junk outlets in your area.

There’s nothing like serious holiday shopping among the hugely varied items at a resale outlet, where the perfect something for someone on your list could be found. Often area churches, animal rescue outfits and civic organizations host thrift shops. In many places there are great private resale shops that offer amazing items from art to furniture, crockery to costume jewelry. Don’t overlook those even if you also plan to shop at Goodwill or Salvation Army.

I’ve found beautiful handcrafted chess sets and boards, totally unique hand-whittled puzzle boxes, antique glassware and china, beautiful jewelry boxes, hand-crafted doll houses, etc. in some unlikely haunts. Sometimes something just needs cleanup and a couple of touches, sometimes you can put a lot of yourself into it with a new paint job or fixes, and again you can always personalize. Commercialized junk doesn’t tend to become someone’s most treasured keepsake. Remember it’s all about the thought and effort, not about the price tag.

3. Know your local resources.

If your area has a Freecycle club, think about joining. You can get rid of some of your closet-clutter and maybe get items for gifting. Great for baby furniture and accessories, bicycles and such, often tools, household items, yarns and needles, fabric and sewing machines, books, clothing, home repair and building supplies, etc. All free.

Keep up with your area’s want ads and garage/yard sales as well. Spending Saturdays thrifting and bargain-hunting can be both fun and rewarding as you add to your collection of things “perfect for…” whoever will most love that gift. Your time and effort adds to the value of any gift you give!

4. Think Creatively!

Many people don’t know that you can make a wonderfully colorful and snuggly warm blanket out of a stack of old sweaters. They make great stuffed animals too, if you’re handy with a sewing machine. Purses out of old jeans, sparkled up with some craft store jewels and studs are always welcome presents to the teen set. For younger girls a box full of sparkly costume jewelry is great, as is a laundry basket chock full of fancy dress-up items (including high heels and hats!). For already-creative young’uns, a bunch of items from which they can salvage feathers, beads, trims, etc. may be just the thing. Art supplies can often be found second hand in areas where artists are, I always buy up as much paint, brushes, pastels, pencils, charcoals, canvases, sketchbooks and whatever else as I possibly can.

5. Have Kitchen, Will Travel.

Consider pouring your heart into food for family and friends this year. Make batches of yummy fudge, lots of Christmas cookies, try your hand at hard candies, etc. Such things are always most welcome during the holidays even if they don’t tend to last long in a crowd! If you have to go to the company party and are expected to bring a gift, fudge always works even better than some cheap soap or cologne or tie, and you don’t have to worry about whether you’ve drawn a man or a woman’s name from the hat.

6. Gift of your time and talents.

Have a friend or relative working two part-time jobs, barely getting by and who could really use a night out? Know a caregiver who is stressed to the max? Stumped for something for the teenagers? You can make some beautiful cards (post on that upcoming) and include ‘tickets’ for babysitting, house or pet sitting, a home-cooked meal (at their convenience), even a movie night in your den using your big-screen TV and DVD player. To be redeemed later.

Whatever your talents are or time you can spare, it can be gifted. If you sew, you can gift that. If you cook, gift that. If you have a vehicle, you can gift chauffeur duty. If you paint or craft, you can gift those too. There’s no reason to spend money you don’t have on things to give away to others who may not need or appreciate them just because it’s the holiday season. If you plan wisely and aren’t shy of new adventures, this could turn out to be the most holiday fun you’ve had in years! Even better, once the real spirit of the season infects you, it’s hard to get rid of even when the economic situation isn’t so tough any more.

So start planning, see how much fun you can turn this into by involving your kids, your spouse, your friends!

Awhile back this blog featured a three-part series on Necessary Household Basics for keeping a clean house by concocting your own soaps, scouring powders, metal polishes, starches, fabric fresheners, bug repellants, etc. The list of ingredients were all common, inexpensive substances like salt, vinegar, borax, baking soda and corn starch. Saving serious money on soaps begins with saving the last of the bar soaps (and motel bar-lets) and turning them liquid by dissolving them in water.

Part 2 of that series offered some easy recipes for making the useful products. Like making an excellent metal polish by mixing vinegar and salt into a paste, or a fine scouring powder by mixing borax and soda. And of course, if you haven’t enough liquid soap to produce the laundry detergent or diswashing soap, you can always go ahead and purchase a jug of good ol’ Dr. Bronner’s organic liquid soap for making your mixtures. It’s not the cheapest of ingredients, but it’ll certainly go a long way! The money savings are significant all around.

I personally tested the recipes. I liquified my large collection of motel soaps that a friend who travels for a living gave me last Christmas (dozens of little bars) in a large Coleman cooler, because I didn’t feel like cleaning out one of the garden 5-gallon buckets at the time. Then mixed in the recommended amounts of borax and soda (purchased in the largest sizes available at the store, basic generic brands) and still haven’t put much of a dent in the resulting cooler full of laundry soap. Of which I use two kitchen soup-ladels per load, gets the clothes as clean or cleaner than any commercial laundry soap I’ve ever used, and produces clean clothes that smell almost as good coming out of the dryer as they’d smell coming in off an outdoor clothesline! I figure my batch will last 4 or 5 months at least.

Thus it was with some interest I read an article from ScienceDaily entitled Toxic Chemicals Found in Common Scented Laundry Products, Air Fresheners. Seems a University of Washington began a study due to reports from regular people that bathroom air fresheners and smells from laundry products that cling to their clothes were making them sick. The researcher found that all six top-selling products tested emitted at least one chemical regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal law. Not a single one of those toxic or hazardous chemicals was listed on the product labels. Whoa.

The chemicals identified included such nasties as acetone (if you can smell it, brain cells are dying), limonene, acetaldehyde, chloromethane and 1,4-dioxane. In all, researcher Anne Steinemann identified nearly a hundred volatile organic compounds emitted from the six products tested, and NONE were on the label. Five of the six emitted one or more “hazardous air pollutants” known to cause cancer, all considered by the EPA to have NO safe exposure level.

Yet another good reason to do it yourself and save a lot of money in the process. Dr. Bronner’s soaps (I love the peppermint particularly) do have scents, there from organically grown plant substances like… peppermint. Or lavender or lilac or… well, you get the picture. Borax and soda don’t release volatile organic compounds, they just clean and freshen clothes while getting out some persistent stains. Your health will certainly thank you for it – asthmatics reported adverse reactions to scenting chemicals at a rate of 20% – and health care isn’t cheap these days either.

Isn’t it nice that people doing things for themselves and saving money can also be living happier, healthier lives in the process?

Links:

Necessary Household Basics
Dr. Bronner’s
Toxic Chemicals Found in Common Scented Laundry Products, Air Fresheners

Part 2: Keeping Things Clean

In Part 1 of this 3-part series I listed some basic ingredients to purchase that can do double or triple duty in your home cleaning, disinfecting and treating small first aid issues while saving you big money and at the same time NOT polluting your home or our collective environment.

In this part of the series I’ll list some easy recipes for mixing your basic ingredients into useful household products. This doesn’t take a lot of time or heavy effort, and can be done on a weekend afternoon easily once every month or two (as they get used up), or mixed on the spot for particular jobs.

In The Laundry Room: Everybody must do laundry. Whether or not you’ve got an infant in diapers (cloth is best!) or small children who love to make mud pies, or older kids who sweat a lot, or just working adults who must wear good clothes or uniforms daily in their jobs, you’re going to have to wash clothes. And while the price of food and gasoline keeps rising out of sight, most people already know that good laundry products are a significant chunk of change out of the budget.

I mentioned in Part 1 how to make liquid soap out of the dregs of bars that melt all over your tub and sink by just putting them in a container with water and letting them dissolve. That’s good hand soap that can be put into a dispenser, but can also provide the basis of laundry soap if you’ve enough of it. I have a friend who must travel for her job, and who collects those little motel soaps through the year, gifting them to me at Christmas so I’ve got sizeable baskets of rock-hard teeny-soaps still in their wrappers. I use these to make liquid soap, and liquid soap to make laundry soap. Alternatively, you can use Fels Naptha laundry soap bars, which are inexpensive and go quite far. The three bar package can make about 6 gallons of laundry soap, which should get most households through at least that many months even if there’s a lot of laundry to do! Ivory soap bars or flakes work very well for baby laundry, and is still among the least expensive of basic soaps you can buy.

Recipe: 2 gallons liquid laundry soap

1.5 cups liquid soap or 1 cup grated bar soap
6 cups water
3/4 cup baking soda
1/2 cup borax

Mix water and soap in a large pot. Stir in soda and borax. Heat over low medium stirring with a wooden spoon until everything is well dissolved. Bring to a boil and boil slowly for 15 minutes. Remove from heat (it should have the general consistency of honey). In a bucket with tight-fitting lid add 1 quart of hot water, then add the soap mixture and mix well. Add enough cold water to make 2 full gallons and blend the ingredients thoroughly. After 24 hours this mixture should set to a light gel. Store the bucket next to the washer, stir it with a wooden slat or spoon before each use, use 1/2 cup per full laundry load.

It doesn’t really have to be a gel, a liquid will work fine. It also won’t suds up in the wash, but that’s okay. The ingredients will all do their jobs. This laundry soap costs about 50¢ a gallon, which is many dollars cheaper than a gallon of liquid detergent at the grocery store!

Recipe: 2 cups dry laundry soap

Some people simply prefer a dry laundry soap to a liquid. This is also easy enough to make.

1 cup grated bar soap
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup baking soda

Put these into a quart size jar and shake well. Use 2-3 tablespoons per laundry load (depending on size and soil). This mixture takes up less room that a bucket of liquid, and works quite well.

* If you have a baby in diapers, you may wish to use Arm & Hammer laundry soda instead of regular baking soda, as it will absorb more acid than the regular. But for general laundry needs, the cheaper baking soda works fine.

Recipe: stain remover spray

1/3 cup tap water
1/3 cup household ammonia
1/3 cup rubbing (denatured) alcohol

Mix ingredients into a clean spray bottle, shake to mix and use as needed to pre-treat stains on clothing (particularly good on collar and underarm stains).

Recipe: fabric softener

2 cups white vinegar
2 cups baking soda
4 cups hot water

Mix the vinegar and water, then carefully mix in the soda (slowly… or it will foam like you won’t believe!). Add about 20 drops of essential oil (lavender is nice, so is cedarwood, rose, whatever you like). This recipe will make about a gallon, you can put it into a cleaned-out gallon plastic jug. Shake gently before using.

You can also put some of this in a spray bottle and use it as a freshener like Febreeze.

Recipe: starch

If you like your shirts crisp or work in a uniform that needs starch, you can make your own by simply mixing a tablespoon of corn starch in a quart of water. Put it in a spray bottle and keep it near the iron.

In The Kitchen and Bath

The most important household products you’ll be using in the kitchen and bath are scouring powders and disinfectants of some variety. These of course will do double duty, so you’ll want to keep a spray bottle of disinfectant separately in those rooms, along with a jar of powder.

Recipe: surface disinfectant

1/4 cup ammonia
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 cup water

Mix these ingredients together and put into spray bottles to store in the kitchen and bath. It cuts grease and kills bacteria, can be used to clean countertops, sinks, tubs, showers and toilets.

* Remember… NEVER mix ammonia and bleach! None of these recipes use bleach, but don’t get careless!

Recipe: scouring powder

We all need some good scouring powder on occasion to get tough stains off sinks, tubs and toilets. Mix equal parts baking soda and borax, put into a lidded jar and keep where it’s needed. Shake it a bit and shake onto a wet surface, scrub with a sponge, rag or brush.

* Always be sure to label your home made cleaning products when you make them. You can use printer labels and a Sharpee (waterproof ink). That way nobody makes mistakes!

Around The House

There are other cleaning, deodorizing and disinfecting jobs to do around the house. Here’s some hints on those…

Stains and odors

Salt works great for getting serious stains out of carpet. Wet the stain and shake salt on it amply, let it sit overnight before vacuuming.

Carpet odors (pet or baby urine, general funk) are well absorbed by plain baking soda. Shake it onto the carpet and allow to sit for at least an hour, then vacuum.

Urine stains on kid’s mattresses can be sprayed with a borax and water mixture, allowed to dry, then vacuumed with the brush attachment. You can add a little soda too, it won’t hurt and will absorb even more odor.

Mildew anywhere in the home is best cleaned with a mixture of salt and enough lemon juice to make a paste.

To deodorize plumbing drains pour a cup of white vinegar down it once a week. Let stand for half an hour and flush with cold water. If your drain is slow due to hair/grease clog, pour a handful of baking soda down the drain and then add 1/2 cup vinegar. Rinse with hot water, the clog should dissolve.

If your dishes from the meal are greasy, add a tablespoon of vinegar to the soapy wash water. Vinegar also cleans dishwashers, steam irons and coffee makers well, just run some vinegar through once a month. Wash microwave ovens with vinegar and water.

In the third part of this series we’ll look at some recipes for first aid and insect repellants that will come in handy over the summer months, using these same cheap ingredients. See you then!

Posts to This Series:

Part 1: List of Ingredients
Part 2: Recipes
Part 3: Bugs & First Aid

If you enjoy Selena’s video, don’t forget to check out her blog! There’s plenty more knowledge where that came from…

Previous Posts About Thrifting:

Thrifting: It’s An Art Form!
Credit Crunch: How to Survive the Recession
Living on Less: The Alternative Economies
The Payoff: Thrifting and Re-Selling
Free Yourself from Debtor’s Prison
Tips for Avoiding Pressure to Shop
Craig’s List: Great Resource or Scary Place?

At our house we’ve been getting the winter flannels, sweaters, long johns, excess blue jeans and coats out of the boxes and closets they’ve been hiding in since last spring, and I am once again amazed at how much of this stuff we’ve got. I gave up long ago trying to figure out where it all comes from, since it just seems to show up in my laundry, in 55-gallon trash bags in the shed, piled into storage nooks and crannies, etc. A lot of it doesn’t really fit anybody in my family, and I’ve suspected more than once that old clothes stashed away like that reproduce in the dark just like wire coat hangers do…

I’m usually amazed as well at how much of this excess fabric is frayed, holey or otherwise compromised enough not to be wearable without major repair (and they’ll still look pretty ragged). These are the kind of old clothes the Goodwill doesn’t want, you can’t really use, and would most likely end up taking space in a landfill somewhere if you don’t do something else with it.

Luckily, there are some really cool things you can do with all these cast-aways that will turn them into coveted gifts for your loved ones and items you may not want to give away when you’re done with them.

All those unraveling old sweaters would make an excellent lap or baby quilt. It takes some care, but could become a regular family heirloom for just the right person. Cut off the sweater body from right underneath the arms, and then cut off the cinch-ribbing at the bottom. Open one side seam and you’ve got a rectangle about 18″ wide and 3′ long. If there are holes in the body, you can cut away that part.

You’ll want to sew the strip or square to an underlining of lightweight muslin (or material from an old sheet) to prevent it from unraveling. I’d go ahead and zig-zag behind the fine straight stitch as well, just to make the quilt last longer through many washings. The pieces can be large or relatively small, regular or irregular in shape. Just piece them together into the size of quilt you want, and sew them together in the usual way. Line with thin quilt batting and line with flannel. I like flannel for the edging too. Tie-quilt it with color-coordinating yarn or buttons 8-10 inches apart.

The sweater bodies can also be turned into throw pillows, and arm sections can be stitched together to make winter scarves and hats, or mitten liners. Old Christmas-themed sweaters or sweatshirts can be used to make Christmas stockings or tree skirts. The cut off cuffs and waistband ribs of sweaters can be turned into nice coozies for drinks, and smaller squares of sweaters make nice potholders and oven mitts.

Again underline with muslin and sew the panels right-sides together on three sides. Turn it inside out, turn the fourth edge under and whipstitch.

You might even consider making stuffed animals out of old sweaters. They’re automatically cuddly, and make great Teddy bears, rabbits or other stuffed critters.

Old blue jeans can also be cut and stitched into some nifty items. There is of course the basic blue jeans quilt, but think about the possibilities of a quilted blue jeans slipcover for your couch, or even upholstery! The pockets make useful TV remote holders or a place to stash pens and note pads, etc. Cut off the legs where they join the crotch and sew the bottom with a double seam, maybe some beaded or yarn fringe, attach a sturdy strap made from material from the legs and you’ve a fine purse. Put a rope through the belt loops to cinch it, or attach a flap cut from leg material.

If you’ve got teenage boys (as we do around here) you’ve probably got some of those baggy, big-legged jeans with destroyed pant bottoms where they’ve been dragged on the ground and walked on. There’s enough material in those pant legs to make some nice shopping totes or book bags. I’ve even seen a used jeans backpack with rivets and pockets all over the place!

Jeans Couch by Karen Robbins

The only thing I’d add to your imaginings of the nifty things you could make out of all those old jeans, is the idea of leaving a topside raw edge when you’re quilting the pieces together, still using the double seam. As the material is handled these raw edges will fray, or you can help them along by pulling the weft. Looks comfy.

Check out some of the great links below to get you going, and follow some of their links to patterns and helpful hints. One of the most coveted of Christmas gifts among my family and friends over the years are new-and-better comforters, quilts and pillow covers, along with the hats, scarves and mitten-liners that go in the stockings. Tell us about some of the cool things you’ve done with old clothes!

Links:

Textile Fusion: Project Workshops

Blue Jean Blankie

Blue-Jean Bed Skirt

Frugal Life: Blue Jeans

Blue Jeans Quilts

Wise Bread: 25 Things To Do With Old Jeans

Simply Thrifty: 13 Things You Can Make Out of Your Old Blue Jeans

Thrifty Fun: Craft Uses for Old Jeans

We’ve covered the subject of thrifting, or purchasing second hand, but there are times when you’ve just got to have new. Shoes, socks and underwear, new clothes, winter coats, household items, art and craft supplies, whatever. If your budget is tight, before you go shopping you might wish to find out where the factory outlet stores and discount outlets in your area are.

These are retail outlets that carry factory-direct items, seconds, and clothing, shoes, coats, bedding or household items in discontinued styles or colors. The prices are significantly lower than can be found at most stores, and the products are usually made in America.

Living on a shoestring budget requires a person to be resourceful, and it doesn’t hurt to remember some of the things you were taught in Home Ec classes, like how to sew. Many community colleges offer evening classes where you can learn the basics for a small fee. Schools, churches and businesses often offer evening classes in crafting, where you may find that you’ve a real flair for making things yourself.

For instance, my daughter and grandson went shopping at an outlet store last weekend. He bought a nice pair of goth-style pants for $8 because they were missing a drawstring on the hem of one leg. He got a dark green collared shirt with shoulder tabs for $4 because it’s a discontinued style. And my daughter got a nice pair of black slacks for $1 because one of the back pockets is stitched closed. You have to inspect factory seconds carefully before you buy, make sure that what’s wrong is something you can live with or fix yourself. If the zipper is broken, you should know how to install a new zipper. If the arms in that shirt are two different lengths, you probably won’t want it (unless your arms are two different lengths).

I’ve seen winter coats at the coat factory outlet for $10 in discontinued styles that will keep you plenty warm and look very nice. I’ve bought shoes for $10 or less that last just as long as $50 shoes and are every bit as fashionable. In many cities a group of factory outlet stores can be found all together in a strip mall. And because I live in an area where there are several textile factories, there are outlets for fabrics and accessories as well. At one, there is a bin of stuffed comforter fabric that goes for $3 a pound – all it needs is binding on the edges and a pound is enough to spread 2 full sized beds.

Getting supplies for crafts and useful items (like comforters) at deep discounts also allows you to make gifts for people that are very much appreciated. Weddings and showers, Christmas and birthdays, baby things. You’d be surprised how much money people spend on gifts over a year’s time, and there’s always an occasion coming up where someone would be thrilled to get something you’ve made yourself.

It takes a little investigative work to find the outlets in your area, but they should be listed in the local yellow pages. With a plan of action and an itinerary you won’t waste any gas getting around, either. Many craft and wedding supplies can be purchased at deep discount over the internet direct from the factories, supply warehouses or on eBay. When money is tight you don’t have to do without, you just have to restrain the urge to make impulse purchases or shop at higher-end stores. There’s no reason to pay a hundred dollars for a winter coat at the mall when you could buy the identical coat at a factory outlet for $25.

And the big up-side to learning how to buy at discount and make things yourself is that your family, friends and neighbors will notice. Before you know it you could be organizing fun shopping excursions with your friends, and might be earning a little money by creating centerpieces, door prizes, wall wreaths and silk arrangements for other people’s weddings, banquets and baby showers!

Links:

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Household Solutions

Peak Directory: Online Discount Outlets

Discount Craft Supplies

Anything Crafts

Thrifting – shopping at secondhand stores and estate/garage sales for bargains – can do more to stretch a tight budget than shopping at Wal-Mart ever could. Even better, many secondhand outlets are charity sponsored, so the money you do spend goes to worthy causes. I am particularly fond of the smaller Catholic Charities and a couple of Kiwanis/Lions outlets in my town, but for basics and a large selection you can’t beat Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

Once you get into the spirit of thrifting it can become addictive, so do be careful to keep yourself to a set budget, only occasionally allowing yourself to make that ‘extra’ purchase because you might never find that item again if you don’t get it right now. When they say “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” they mean women, mostly. I have bought so many bargains at secondhand stores in my life that my motto is “she who dies with the most junk wins.”

Everybody needs clothes, and I’ve found that no matter what styles you need or favor, you can always get good quality at a low price if you choose your outlets carefully. This includes business wear – your basic suits for men and women, accessories like scarves and ties, dress shirts and blouses, even ‘tasteful’ faux pearl necklaces and earrings. A higher end consignment shop will offer good quality items and they’ll cost a little more too, but there are basic styles that never really go out and if you can get a nice 3-piece suit for $25 or a week’s worth of skirts, blouses and blazers for $30-$40, nobody will be able to tell that you bought them secondhand.

School clothes for children and teenagers is always a chunk of income this time of year, so it helps if all you have to purchase new are the socks and underwear. There are literally 4 gigantic racks of jeans and slacks at our area Goodwill that are practically new, come in all sizes, and are fine for school wear. Shirts, blouses, t-shirts, sweaters, blazers and vests. All new enough and stylish enough to please just about any kid.

When I’m thrifting (usually with my daughter who calls herself a “professional thrifter) I’ve always got my eye out for those absolutely hideous ’70s style caftans, formal dresses and/or robes that harbor yards and yards of often rich material that can be easily recycled into costumes for the troupe or personalized gift-quilts. A good thick brocade fabric can cost more than $10 a yard at the fabric store, or you can buy that formal skirt with 3 or more yards in it for $5. I try very hard to stay away from the kitchen and knick-knack aisles, as I’ve entire cabinets full of cute, amazing bargain stuff I still haven’t found a good use for!

Thrifting comes with an attitude, so be forewarned that the competition out there is stiff. But there’s just nothing like the feeling that you’ve saved a boatload of money on some fine ‘new’ clothes (well, they’re new to you, aren’t they?), directly supported useful charities, helped some rich people get rid of their barely-used old stuff so they can go out and purchase brand new stuff – at the usual retail markup – and contributed significantly to NOT trashing the planet with overeager consumerism and conspicuous consumption habits.

A note to those who will be thrifting with or without the kids is to look out for Christmas-worthy items because it’ll be that shopping season soon and it never hurts to be ahead of the game. There will be decorations and seasonal items, some of which will help make your home more Christmas-y, some of which will make good gifts for friends and relatives or for exchanges at school and work, and some of which may be later re-worked in a crafty way to become something entirely new.

So… start your engines, and let’s go thrifting!

Links:

Apron Thrift Girl Blog

The Thrift Shopper Website

Books:Secondhand Chic by Christa Weil; Retro Chic by Diana Eden and Gloria Lintermans