Becoming Thrifty

Living in the Seattle with it’s zest for recycling, and going ‘green’ is starting to rub off on me.  Wait, before you get excited let me explain.  I’m not in favor of the 20 cent tax on grocery bags Seattle is proposing to its constituents next month; nor do I believe we shouldn’t use salt to melt the ice on the roads for fear of it running off into Puget Sound (a salt water body), regardless of the fact the the icy roads were so bad that police officers had to park their cars at the bottom of a hill and walk (yes, I said walk) up the hills to get to their calls.  I have however been shopping at Goodwill lately and using Freecycle in an effort to save money and recycle at the same time.  As you may know I am a political conservative, but recycling and saving money transcends all boundaries (or at least it should). 

My kids love going to Goodwill.  We find the coolest stuff there (see pictures below) and it’s affordable!  It all started when I wanted to buy Hayden his own desk (he’d been using a cardboard box and needed something more substantial).  Pottery Barn was way too expensive; there was nothing within close proximity listed on Craigslist; I have never had a good experience with ebay; hitting garage sales was too much work; enter Goodwill.  On our first visit I found a desk!  But I had brought he stroller with me and it took up all the room in the trunk (we drive a Prius- another very Seattle thing to do- gag me) so I hurried home, dropped off the stroller and came back only to find the desk was gone.  Lesson one: if you see something you like, buy it on the spot!  Don’t think you can come back for it later because someone else will leave with your pirate booty.  Our next visit I bought 8 pillows to use as cushions on our patio furniture.  I even found material (old table cloths) to use as upholstery for the cushions for a fraction of the cost at a retail store.  We also have purchased a Leapfrog bingo game (unopened) for $1, and 6  plastic tumblers for $3 .  But our best purchase to date was Hayden’s Batman bike for $6.  Granted, it needed training wheels and a new tire inner tube  but he loves it and is so proud of it and it would have cost us lots more had we purchased it new elsewhere.  BTW, in order to get it home because it wouldn’t fit in the trunk, I had to smash it into the front passenger seat.  The barista at a Starbucks drive thru was humored.  (That is one thing I love about WA, all the drive thru coffee shops!  Target, Subway and Whole Foods should jump on board the drive thru train). 

As we’ve been spring cleaning I’ve come across some things that we don’t need so I offered them on Freecycle (a Yahoo group acts like a local swap meet- and everything is free.  check it out).  I off loaded some marine navigation software to a high school geography teacher.  I also gave away our bike trailer (used it twice and both times the kids screamed bloody murder the entire ride), and various baby items.  It felt great knowing that this stuff was going to get used and appreciated. 

In conclusion; check out your local Goodwill.  You never know what you may find- or who you’ll spot shopping there. 

 

I made the cushions and pillows!  Pillows from Goodwill, and the two tumblers are from Goodwill as well.
This table was sitting next to the dumpster at our apartment complex with the price tag still attached, but it was FREE for me!
	Hayden’s beloved Batman bike.