I like to think of myself as a pretty passionate recycler. I'm seriously considering starting a compost pile. I re-use envelopes from junk mail for note paper and use junk mail for paper in my printer (I honestly can't remember the last time I bought paper). I take my old magazines to the library and put them in the free magazine pile so someone else can enjoy them. I even mine the trash when I'm taking it out for items that Sweetie may have thrown in there that are in fact recyclable (his biggest no-no: yogurt containers and cat food cans). We even took all of the crap that the oak trees are currently barfing up on our driveway and used it as mulch for the flower beds (this may turn out to be a bad idea, but I figure it keeps the moisture in the soil, so it can't be that bad, right?) I just hate the idea of adding to a landfill anymore than I have to.And, I do recycling in other ways too. I buy most of my clothes now from a consignment store here in town. As befitting a woman of my station (and snobbery), it is a rather upscale consignment store - they carry St. John, which I personally wouldn't be caught dead in, but I know the value - with Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahnik and Seven Jeans (but never in my big-ass size). Yesterday's haul was two pairs of pants (one in melon, God help me), one necklace at $10 and one pair of fabulous shoes for $16:
I think these will be my saucy shoes that I will wear whenever I'm feeling muy caliente. Wine Boy likes them already.
But the recycling didn't stop there yesterday! Oh no. Not even close. The local PTA of our extremely large and populous school district held their annual book sale this weekend. 60,000 books were laid out in the giant athletic center gym and you could rub elbows with all sorts of humanity while thumbing through what seemed like thousands of John Grisham novels. Despite the heavy emphasis on the mainstream fiction (I counted at least three copies of The Da Vinci Code and the sale had been open for about two hours already), I was able to find some delectable titles:
I was particularly excited to get The Autobiography of Malcolm X, The Sound and the Fury, and Spy Catcher which is a biography of one of the premier CIA spycatchers during the Cold War. I also found a vintage book from 1946 that is in excellent condition called The Last Hurrah which I had never heard of, but it looked interesting. In the end, I got 11 books (including one for Sweetie) for $7.
Ironically, it was at the same book sale two years earlier that I spotted a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting and I picked it up for a 50 cent investment. At the time, I had yet to find out that I was dealing with infertility and figured it was only a matter of time before the book would come in handy.
Some time today, it will find its way into the recycle bin as part of the circle of life and a key example of my passion for recycling - because frankly, I don't want a reminder of what I've lost twice now in the house any longer.
5 comments:
Go Green! I very much try to be conscious of recycling as well. My co-workers think I'm crazy for using the (stupid) banner pages off our printer into our fax machine. Which then I reuse AGAIN for scrap paper after the incoming fax is no longer needed. I might not be the best "all over" recycler, but I try to do my best when I can.
As for those shoes ... definitely a good score!
I LOVE the shoes. We need a second hand store like that. All we have is a Salvation Army with dingy t-shirts & faded 1991 acid washed jeans & scuffed ratty keds. Oh well. My sister works at Macy's & I get all her hand-me-downs so it's all OK.
We also have a used book store. They mainly stock Westerns, Trashy romance, Grisham, and Si-Fi with half naked girls toting guns & straddling captains chairs. I did find Lovely Bones & The Poisonwood Bible hid among the piles.
Composting is really, really easy and the stuff that results is absolute garden gold. You can put all your kitchen scraps (except meat and grease) into it, and use the compost as mulch, potting medium, fertilizer. If you ever want any tips, just shout. I'd love it if everyone who could, would compost. And contrary to what you'd think, an active pile does not smell nasty--the nice aerobic bacteria take care of that, leaving only a nice, earthy scent.
You're so lucky to live in proximity to rich ladies! They are always getting rid of perfectly awesome stuff. Here, it can be a bit tough to find truly fancy-pants stuff on consignment. But you can definitely get the occasional cashmere sweater for $6 or so.
Recycle on!
In addition to being fabulous, the divine Mrs. X is thrifty. I'm impressed and inspired. I have so much crap, too many clothes, too many books, too many shoes (but that will always be) and I need to declutterize my life. (And stop spending money on crap so I canplan for my Plan B in somewhere other than Phoenix. :-)) I like the way you do it. And I like your shoes.
Glad to hear that the shoes are a hit - I knew when I saw them that I had to have them.
I didn't realize how rare good consignment stores are either - I love mine.
Melanie - I'll help take some of those clothes off your hands - or, take them to your local consignment store! You can make money and declutter. And, someone else can get some good use out of your gently loved clothes.
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