Jane Fonda Declares No More New Clothes For Her

merlin44
merlin44 Posts: 426 ✭✭✭✭

When I read of @rainbow's recent purchase of Nikes from Goodwill, I couldn't help but remember reading of Jane Fonda's recent declaration. I found it amusing as I've seen pictures of closets belonging to celebrities that are larger than my entire house. To each their own but in my mind, I find it ridiculous, such waste. For the last thirty years, I have shopped only second hand and thrift stores, my closet is filled with Tommy Hilfiger. jJill, Cabela, Old Navy, LL Bean, etc I buy not for the name but for the fit and quality. Rarely do I purchase anything even in these shops for the "full" price as they all have $1.00 days, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 price specials. Fortunately for me, my area also has several liquidation and outlet stores that carry food and household items at great discounts. It's a shopping game I enjoy and allows me to live comfortably within my fixed income, the ultimate in recycling. How do you beat the high price of living these days? (Great score! @rainbow)

Comments

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I automatically gravitate towards the clearance section, especially for items that have good quality but normal high price tag.

    Some thrift stores can be very fun.

    It's a treasure hunt, don't you think?

  • Obiora E
    Obiora E Posts: 517 ✭✭✭✭

    I am like my paternal grandfather (may he rest in peace) and unless i need it I don't purchase it (and even then I may not buy it). I have some clothes in my closet (that I still wear) that are over 20 years old. I usually keep my tennis shoes for 15 or more years. Many of the things that I do purchase I have found new in used store places (New Uses, Goodwill, Salvation Army, Peddler's Mall, and the like). I have lucked out and found items in unopened or opened boxes that had items in there that had never been used.

    I have my clothes mended and some of them become work clothes and others become rags if they get to the point that they are not repairable. I grow and/or forage most of the herbs that I use for teas. For the most part I have a plastic free house and reuse and reclaim what i can.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    One thing I miss about living close to Seattle is the variety of thrift shops. I've also purchased really expensive, second hand clothing for very little! A friend and I would often hit 3, 4, or more stores on a Saturday. We generally didn't spend over 10.00, and were very conscious of "what color tag is half price today?"

    In my community, we do have one thrift store, and I find books, kitchen wares, craft supplies, and some clothing there. But I sure miss my friend and our "shopping sprees"!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I know what I like, I go to the clearance for the areas that have what I like, ie certain tops, brands..

    I esp like garage sales. I got a light weight white (so as not to intimidate the bees) and to help keep from over heating, pull over top and very soft, good fit, for ONE DOLLAR lol last month for next season.

    I keep what I buy if after I got it home and wore it a few times that it does fit, look and feel for my preference, and esp that what ever it is, top/pants/skirt/dress....it will mix and match with things I already have.

    the final phase for me is that when things are worn out, and can't be repaired, by me, then it goes to the garden on me until it is un fit and un mendable lol. For the last 9 years I have been wearing the same shoes, and the worn ones in particular to the garden or just outside general wear. My shoes I always bought new for my profession and they were all very expensive to protect my back feet knees and over all posture. These are the shoes I am still wearing after almost 20 years, about 5 pair of them. Only one pair, the one I wear the most, is just about ready for the trash, UNLESS lol, I can figure out some other use for them first.

    Funny, and sad, the older we get the more we reallize that money is really 'time out of ones life'.

    And the freedom I feel when I shop for food where they also sell garments, is liberating. I don't need new clothes.

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019

    Hi @merlin44 - due to me Not explaining everything... you may have mis-understood, when I said yesterday: "Goodwill & guess What ! - Not only did they have tennis shoes in the Right size that I immediately knew were mine, they are new NIKE's with a $15 tag; so I asked if there's anyway they could be Discounted more ? And she said "Today is your lucky day, as only today the Green tags are $1.99 oh my stars LOL"

    Forgetting this is generally important to many Americans, the part I left out is that I have almost NO awareness of "Designer, or Specialty brand or names' (or whatever it is Americans call things like Nike). - Yesterday I went with an American-born friend who told me right then, Wow, beyond new, they're NIKE" - Yet I had no clue. --- All I knew is they FIT & well, & what a fantastic blessing. -

    And the reason I tried for no less an hour + to find a picture online: the lace Hooks not straight-across like usual, but Off-set. The ground-part is red+orange, & there's 4 holes under the heel, & with the pastel-green uppers are pink-Nike symbols, & inbetween these two is an Orange-part with the laces also Orange. The tongue is also Off-set. - It's the kind of Color-scheme a kiddo might like.

    Yup a kiddo like moi LOL

    And because I was raised with ALL Second-hand things, - as I shop for USED-things all my life, I remain very conscious of "what color tag is half price, or LESS today?"

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Sounds like a lot of you have kept the same size shoes and clothing. I have not, and I have bad feet, so I need expensive shoes that sometimes don't work out over the long haul. I feel better donating what I can no longer wear because someone will get use out of it.

    I had hoped for an Upcycle/Recycle category, but will use this one instead:

    I am now recycling restaurant take-out containers/plastic food trays for plant/garden use. Some of them with lids can work as mini greenhouses, most work fantastically as plant drip trays, as good a quality as those you can buy. Just today I rescued two plants off the big-box store "death shelf" and will be able to put a couple of the recycled trays to purpose. (The store clerk was happy I saved the plants. She said that eventually the store will throw them away and employees are not allowed to retrieve them.)

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019

    @shllnzl - re your "am Now recycling restaurant take-out containers/plastic food trays for plant/garden use. Some of them with lids can work as mini greenhouses, most work fantastically as plant drip trays, as good a quality as those you can buy."

    I have like 100 of such "Domed Mini greenhouses with the black bottoms": I take them with me for when Teaching gardening classes at the Library, & each person gets to take 1 home... 🤗

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @rainbow That is an awesome way to utilize a lot of those containers.

    I also use them to take food to my elderly neighbor (more elderly than me!)

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @shllnzl - Yes, I have used such containers for more even needier (than us) neighbors & too friends for decades as well.

    What do you think of us Starting a new discussion: "How to turn a big house into a huge Storage-shed" . oh & lest you think I am kidding, that about describes THIS house: "um dear, we can Not throw this, & that, & the other things away, BE CAUSE I will need this, & that, & the other things for yet another class I am planning... on teaching - let's see what year is this? - oh yeay maybe in 2024" LOL

  • VickiP
    VickiP Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭

    When we need something new, like the toaster quit working or the coffee maker the first place we look is the local no kill animal shelter thrift shop. We have scored a Food Saver and an old time pressure cooker, both came with directions and cookbooks. The next place is a shop that sells new items that have been returned, or open box or shop worn etc. I got a new discontinued Waverly comforter set (Still sells on Amazon for $225.00) for $20.00 as it did not have any packaging and had been in the shop for too long. As for clothes I always check the thrift store first, this week they had ladies tops for one dollar each, I only found one I liked. I have to be picky with shoes so I get those new, but I take care of them and I have a pair of Merrill Hikers that I wore backpacking in the high Sierras in the 1990s. I have replaced the insoles a few times and I do need to find a shoe repair shop to have some minor repairs made, but I still wear them when I go out in the woods. I really can't imagine buying everything new. And yes this type of shopping allows us to live comfortably within our means.

  • ines871
    ines871 Posts: 1,283 ✭✭✭✭✭

    " Habitat for Humanity " stores is where I buy All our Light bulbs from, for like 15 cents each, on up.

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @rainbow Your "Huge Storage Shed" comment hit close to home, pun intended.

    My husband and I live in a large home so we can have room for all our activities and all of our pets and plants.

    We will have to downsize when our retirement lifestyle slows down.

    I can't see me ever living in a tiny home, although housework would be easier.