i'm over here in the green section, see you by the hats

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/03_04/EastendersBBC_468x316.jpg

(jk - the leather one looks ace)

who are those miserable-seeming people?

the ginger lady is the iconic Bianca, from British aspirational soap opera 'Eastenders'

aha
i've heard of that but clearly not familiar with the characters

tbh i'm pretty useless at figuring out what people mean with solitary image posts

sorry, that silver puffa jacket is kind of famous over here!

no need to apologize! i wish we all could be more forgiving of people not knowing things/needing to ask questions, self included.

i forgot to post about this when i executed the score but i scored so huge at this very small thrift last month. i got:

* black sweater with a sexy blue/white leopard on it (i am in love with this sweater)
* bizarre gigantic black sequined shirt/dress with red feathers around the collar that makes me look like phyllis diller or a shrunken latter day liza minnelli (idk where i will wear this but it's mine now)
* amazing brown/orange peasant dress with laces that corset up the back that fits me *perfectly* and is comfortable (this is going to be nice for special occasions)
* psychedelic orange/pink/brown/green flowered skirt that has *shorts underneath it for total comfort and protection omg* (i can comfortably play drums in it!!)

i got all this for $14.33!!!! half price for the holidays, love this place so much

also let's all raise a glass to the next few months when Kondo-following people will be discarding their perfectly good but joyless items and making them available to us at reasonable prices. i feel like i could start my own store if i shopped well enough during the next 6 months!! all the vultures are gonna be out though...

also i will mention that upon paying my $14.33 i felt a palpable noticeable surge of whatever that good-feeling hormone is. like i felt flushed with...what is it? joy!!!????

yay! very much looking forward to Kondo acolyte discards ... also, tis the season for discount cashmere

got some great thredup scores this week (i bought them in December, just came in the mail this week)

* black designer coat dress with chunky beads and jewels on the collar that fits perfectly ... tags attached, priced at $380 ... I got it for about $40
* this amazing art deco looking sleeveless top, kinda like the bodice of a fancy flapper dress
* 80s-ish puffy sleeved blue & black leopard print v-neck sweater

also, a not very exciting boatneck-ish black crushed velvet blouse that I bought for exciting refashioning -- a year or so ago I got rid of a bunch of clothes that hadn't really fit me since the late 90s ... including a half dozen cute patterned bras that I took apart and kept the cup fabric, which works well as a stitched on collar for a boatneck, scoopneck, crewneck, etc.

anyway, so now this blouse has a cute collar that is black & red lacy skull & bones, plus some additional beadwork I did

omg that is so cool -- how satisfying is it to wear a garment with a decorative bra cup collar?!?!?!

we should wear our black/blue leopard sweaters together sometime!!

ok that is a terrible idea but i am still enjoying the idea of wearing similar but not matching secondhand sweaters

that is actually an awesome idea -- we could perform together wearing said garments

yessssssssss
i can only travel in the summer or winter but i am fully into this idea and not even joking

yknow i have seen online animosity/competitive behavior between kondo-enthusiasts and thrifters -- 1) this is divisive and 2) who cares? don't fight amongst yourselves. keep giving it away/recycling your stuff and everyone's happy, the ecosystem is healthy. it's cooperation not competition!!

so weird! - the animosity/competitiveness - is it that the kondo-kin think thrifters are hoarders or gluttons in need of discipline or ...?

idk what they think honestly -- that seems otm based on what i can glean from the snarking i have seen.

to me it just seems like "defending my 'position' means insulting yours" mindset that seems to plague some modern online discourse. unfortunate, imo. i'm sure some people would say "lighten up, it's a joke" but isn't that what people always say to excuse themselves? idk i wish we could celebrate because this is a win-win for everyone.

That is so strange! Yeah, it would seem like a mutually beneficial system.

also there is the shared value of objects providing pleasure, er, joy

it is symbiosis of the highest order, what's not to like!?

also, it's not like I keep all my thrift scores forever -- I let things go when they cease to be useful or there are enough other things that have surpassed it in terms of joy and use value ... granted, I might have more things than some people believe I should, but what can I say ... i have so much love to give

especially when it comes to things that are relatively unique ... like the things I get rid of first are the more generic-looking items that would be easy to replace if I changed my mind

like i said, symbiosis!

“It’s a good time for thrift shopping. I have the people who are purging, and then I have the people that need those things and can have access to them at a lower price. It’s a beautiful, mutual symbiotic relationship,” she said.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/01/11/marie-kondo-has-everyone-tidying-up-and-chicagos-thrift-stores-are-reaping-the-rewards/

i have plenty of things to get rid of too. maybe i should organize a swap. i found the handout i made for aspiring swap organizers for my speech class last semester and i make it sound so easy! maybe it is easier than i think it is.

i think you just need a space and willing participants and a plan for what to do with stuff that is left behind ... clothing swaps have always been awkward for me because I'm significantly larger than most of my friends

since we don't have a thread for swaps, i will put my q here in the hope someone can give me a quick answer:

what is the most inclusive language for inviting women + femme people of all stripes ?

is the swap just for women's clothing? Others I've seen have been "all genders/gender identities welcome" -- but if you want to specify that the clothing to be swapped is gendered, do that separately? Also, you may want to say something about sizes.

opening it up to men's clothing would open a whole new can of worms that i am not ready to host in a week, so yeah -- just women's + children's at this point. the swaps that i have been to are all women's clothing but there are people of various identities there (not cis het men though)

this is why i haven't hosted before. too complicated!

i am definitely going to mention that there will be diversity of sizes and style + a changing room w a mirror
it's the invitation process that is giving me hives at this point :-/

then i would say, "women's and children's clothing!" "all sizes and gender identities welcome!"

ok thank you -- that is helpful!!

let us know how it goes!

someday i would like to host a monster swap for everyone but not right now. party planning is so hard for me! i get really hung up on things that aren't important and then the stress fritzes me out
i also want people to know that even if they don't have stuff to bring or don't want to swap they are still welcome to come over and hang out and meet some new people/talk with me and who knows -- maybe a free accessory or other item may fall into their laps! you never know what you're gonna get at a swap.

i will def let you know how it goes.
it's a week from tomorrow :)

i have since let go some of the items i found at the beginning of this thread almost 7 years ago! wow
time flies!
my swap failed btw. i had to cancel it!

It’s 2023 now and I just got home from a trip to hometown, where I visited my hometown first and fave thrift and scored many items to my immense satisfaction.
Haul included: 4 nice sweaters, one denim skirt, one pair cords, two blouses for work, one tweed jumper dress, and a pair of shorts to sleep in bc I forgot mine.
The thrill is not gone!!

yay!!!

a friend on fb who lives in Canada recently posted complaining about how fast fashion is most of what you see anymore in thrift stores ... I do a lot of it online now, and seriously, there is so much of it. I am tempted to suggest to the online thrift site I frequent that it should have a way to filter out certain brands. Like, can I just omit all the Shein, Lularoe, etc. crap?

I’ve never taken to internet thrifting in spite of years of attempts. Being in the store and being able to hold the items, it makes choosing so much easier for me. I tried on the skirt over my jeans but overall everything I bought fit nicely and I didn’t try anything else on before buying. Part of that is my size, I know. The other part is the eye, which doesn’t work the same way for me on a screen. I’m so relieved to have some fresh work clothes and not have to sweat it or shell out hundreds of clams lol