I'm trying to get back into posting more of our "generally frugal" lifestyle stuff, rather than just the thrifted clothes stories I've mostly done for the past while. So what is there to share? I could say something about our stop this morning at the closest supermarket, which gave us some discounted banana bread and mini muffins (handy to freeze for company), but also a small tray of cut-price beef cubes, which Mr. Fixit turned into an astonishingly good Slow Cooker Goulash. We included some of those red peppers we froze last week, and served it with a just-enough-left container of sour cream.
I could also write something about a couple of odd put-together leftover meals we've had lately, but I'll spare you the details. To misquote Milo in Bloom County, it's food and we're gonna eat it.
But if I'm allowed to talk about thrifting and clothes, there is a Providential side to finding used stuff that I've seen so many times, and I think I'm finally getting smart enough to realize, first, that it's no accident, and second, that I shouldn't try to outjump God on these things by buying something new, or even something used but more expensive than I really want to pay. Because, so often, there it is right in the thrift store, or at the yard sale, that thing I was looking for, or at least a reasonable version of it. Thrifting patience, unlike Slow Cooker Goulash, is a dish best served cold.
On a weekend trip to the outdoor antiques market, I had been looking at a 1980's white short-sleeved blouse with a lot of pearl embellishments. It kind of reminded me of the crazy big shirts we wore during university (think the Brat Pack fashion era). It also reminded me a bit of my wedding veil, which was pearl-bead-embellished. Anyway, the nostalgia vibes were strong, but I know for one thing that a shirt covered with pearls would be a bear to wash and take care of, not to mention looking a bit out-there. It was also more expensive than I really wanted to pay for a crazy big shirt, so I left it in the booth. But the idea of a fancy-ish white blouse was still playing in my head. Today we were at Mission Thrift, and I found a white short-sleeved blouse, German-labelled, probably somewhat vintage. Instead of pearls, it's decorated with a lot of little stretchy pleats, kind of like grownup smocking. Also, it was quite a bit cheaper. So: sometimes you have to say no, and then let the better choice come along.
Also, I was looking at a clothing store online that is asking a breath-sucking amount of money for solid-coloured jersey midi skirts. I kind of liked the dark blue one, and I could imagine it working with some of my fall sweaters; but there was no way I was going to pay that much for one skirt.
So, on the same trip to Mission Thrift, there it was, a longer, dark blue, jersey skirt. This one, I think, was homemade; it has no labels at all, and the seams appear to have been done with a serger. But you know what? I have the feeling that if I bought a jersey skirt online, it probably wouldn't end up being any better quality, or fitting any better. So how weird is that, especially when the skirt rack is not usually my main stop at the thrift store, but for some reason I just thought I would take a few extra minutes on the crazy off-chance that there could be something close to what I was looking for. Actually, if there hadn't been anything with the skirts, I had also thought of scavenging the dress rack there--I've made skirts from dresses before, and it's often not as hard as you'd think. But in this case, I didn't even need to do that, because somebody went ahead and made the skirt I was looking for, and then donated it to the thrift store.
Which makes me both shake my head, and nod it with an "uh huh, I thought that's how it might turn out."
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