One type of thrift I've come to love is kitchen thrift, vintage cookware. I’m not writing about Calphalon or Kitchen Aid, which can be purchased at thrift stores. I’m writing about enameled cast iron from Belgium, Yugoslavia, and old copper saute pans from France. Emile Henry ceramic baking dishes from France. Haunted cookware.
Haunted by the meals they have brewed, simmered, sauteed and served. There is a spiritual element to a well-worn piece of cookware. With is comes a long history of trial and error that eventually gave rise to perfection.
We often cover our pots, set a timer, and walk away never giving one ounce of thought to what’s lies beneath. That’s when the pot takes over and orchestrates the mix into a pièce de résistance. This seasoned cookware knows how to properly blend ingredients and make them sing. They are cooking companions, friends you can count on. It’s surreal to hold the brass stem of the copper sauté and have it almost tell you when to flip the crêpe.
Sometimes I ponder the possibility of a séance around my island chopping block, inviting the women who once held these pots into my kitchen. Perhaps we might have tea and share our stories.
Never, never frown upon a piece of fine vintage cookware. Be assured, it knows more about cooking than you. Well, unless you’re my 85-year-old grandmother who lives in a house that smells like cake.
Should you see a quality piece of cookware on the shelf at a thrift store, grab it, clutch it close to your heart, and race home. It will tell you what to prepare. You just have to listen.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Psychic Shopping. Do you have “the gift?”
There is a constant tactical debate amongst thrift store shoppers. To make lists or not, that is the question. I am list-less in thrift. I regularly and list-lessly shop at thrift stores in 10-minute recon strikes in conjunction with running the routine errands of my life and it rewards my pocketbook and my family. I learned to have an omniscient understanding of my family’s needs. Call it intuition. Call it psychic power. Call it Snake Eyes. But, find it and don’t leave home without it.
Though list-less, I
am strategic. My overarching goal is to avoid the retail pinch. I think ahead about changing seasons, upcoming events and growing children while I peruse the shelves and racks in thrift. I imagine this is how pioneers shopped, in advance and within budget. I might shop six months out. Why do some people consider it gauche to buy a winter coat in April, especially when that coat is in quality condition, costs $8.99 and will be needed for a six-year-old who has outgrown his or her current coat? What many don't know is that Americans are so wasteful that we toss brand new merchandise over to thrift stores where the shopper actually cay pay less than 10% of the retail cost for a new item. The coat in the adjacent photo is a fine example. Is it so smart to wait until October/November when coats are in department stores costing well above $80 and your child has already suffered through a few cold days?
What’s a retail pinch? That’s when the market has you by the you-knows, and you’re desperate. You think you are in immediate need of something. Retail pinches can be brutal. One chilling example happened last year when holiday shoppers (shivering en masse outside a Wal Mart waiting in the dark and cold at 5AM for bargains) were so harried to get inside they trampled a store employee to death. Another example from last year happened when two men were shot dead in a Toys "R" Us after an argument. Could we really feel that frantic about shopping to play out events that would end in manslaughter and possible second degree murder? I don’t think our nation was allowed to completely process those horrific events or do any national self-reflection on how insane holiday shopping has become. That’d have been a great story for investigative journalism, but no one picked it up because they were too busy reporting daily holiday sales figures, contrasting them to last year's and the projected figures for Wall Street. I used to run with that harried crowd and have near PTSD from the experience.
We’ve been trained to think daily. Granted, there are some days that are so rough and crowded, we can only think hourly. Daily tasks lead to daily lists. Ever draw little boxes next to the tasks to so you can check it once done? Ever made a checked box for something already done just to have an immediate sense of accomplishment?
Becoming parent taught me to place the stake out far beyond daily tasks. Parents need to think in terms of months, years and decades to keep up with the growth of a child. Time is not going to stop and wait for us to catch up – that becomes most clear with the onset of parenthood when you watch a newborn zoom through countless developmental stages in a mere year. Best to think ahead. When baby is born the crib, diaper changing station, clothes and car seat are all ready. Put up the safety gates before the baby tumbles down the stairs. Put safety latches on cabinet doors and drawers before baby can open them and pull out a knife. Have a new winter jacket before it gets cold and baby doesn’t have a jacket. Start saving for college at birth. How I wish I had learned this lesson of projecting long term retail needs long before becoming a parent. Alas, it's tough to live with the regret that accompanies hindsight. You don’t need to become a parent to shop smart and have vision.
Shopping in thrift stores gave me a new awareness of want, need and planning ahead. It is a place untouched by spending researchers and strategists. The thrift store is free from specialized marketing tactics devised to jack up the number of items purchased via impulse, along with a sales staff on commission. Thrift stores do not have strategists laying out the merchandise in the store so that a shopper must walk by X, Y, and Z to get to A. There’s no study on what music to play or specialized fixtures. The retail market plays a little dirty but because it's a part of the free market, no one really calls it dirty. Never mind that retailers (along with credit lenders) have preyed upon the consumer to the point where we are sitting on piles of retail waste - and are over our heads in debt. Never mind that US shoppers mostly buy products made abroad because companies bow to Wall Street rather than to balance out a sustainable economic system with manufacturing operations providing jobs to the folks that actually buy their products. It's The American Way, shoot yourself in the foot and act like it doesn't hurt like hell because you meant to do it. Okay, that's a bold statement. Truly harsh. But as we reexamine our banking system, housing markets, automotive industry, and the granddaddy of them all - health care - would it be so wrong to toss retail into the mix?
The thrift market leads seasoned consumers into a different form of shopping behavior that tends to benefit the consumer. As I have noted countless times, shop thrift stores for about three months and you’ll find that you develop a Flinch Point, a dollar amount that you must ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” My Flinch Point is $5. That’s right - $5. If an item is over $5 I really think about it. But, I really don’t have a Flinch Point if I go to the mall. I have it on high suspicion the retail market works hard to eliminate the possibility of a consumer Flinch Point because it is not in their best interest. Another behavior that accompanies the thrift shopper is that they tend to check their carts before checking out. They review their selections, and often put things back. The focus is on need and, often times, budget. Rarely does it seem mall shoppers perform a final overview of their purchase. Ever been asked, “Would you like me to put those items up at the register so you don’t have to carry them around?” Once it’s at the register, odds are that sale is now closed. Plus when standing in long register lines during the holiday season, one can almost feel the hot breath of consumer rage breathing down your neck. Best to not review your purchase there or the annoyed crowd behind you might react.
I’ve had a lot of people try to apply conspicuous consumption to thrift shoppers. Sure there may be some cases, but they are rare. Most thrift shoppers shop out of need instead of want. Thrift stores are not in the business of casting want or impulse. You see people rummaging through their carts near check out all the time. It's difficult to apply standard retail jargon to thrift because they are very different in operation. Sure, there's racks, cash registers, even returns but that's about it.
Given this, I believe retail does not want you to plan too far out. They focus on the here and now because it creates a false sense of urgency. When faced with urgency, you are more likely to spend whatever it takes to be relieved of it. No one likes the feeling of urgency. I've come to think of the word urgency with a dire need of a bathroom like a mother with a newly potty-trained child searching for a store that will allow her child to use their restroom.
This is where having an omniscient understanding of your future needs is essential. If you are focused on a strict list, opportunities will be missed. My crystal ball tells me that a stinging retail pinch is in your future. My knowing has done well for me at the thrift and, it actually adds some creativity to my shopping. I really do some of my best thinking in thrift stores. Perhaps Goodwill should open coffee kiosks and dot their stores with little conversation pits. I wonder what would happen if a congressional committee routinely met in a thrift store, free from external influences where they could really focus on the needs of the American public at large. Boy, that’s pie in the sky.
Speaking of government, let’s do a little Supreme Court word play on list-less thrift shopping, “I can’t tell you what I need, but I know it when I see it.”
A friend of mine cautioned me to not be so bold or challenging. If you're a reader you know my retort. In the words of my family's matriarch, "Someone's gotta!" Perhaps this was just a release of bad air. I've been holed up with bronchitis.
Though list-less, I
am strategic. My overarching goal is to avoid the retail pinch. I think ahead about changing seasons, upcoming events and growing children while I peruse the shelves and racks in thrift. I imagine this is how pioneers shopped, in advance and within budget. I might shop six months out. Why do some people consider it gauche to buy a winter coat in April, especially when that coat is in quality condition, costs $8.99 and will be needed for a six-year-old who has outgrown his or her current coat? What many don't know is that Americans are so wasteful that we toss brand new merchandise over to thrift stores where the shopper actually cay pay less than 10% of the retail cost for a new item. The coat in the adjacent photo is a fine example. Is it so smart to wait until October/November when coats are in department stores costing well above $80 and your child has already suffered through a few cold days?What’s a retail pinch? That’s when the market has you by the you-knows, and you’re desperate. You think you are in immediate need of something. Retail pinches can be brutal. One chilling example happened last year when holiday shoppers (shivering en masse outside a Wal Mart waiting in the dark and cold at 5AM for bargains) were so harried to get inside they trampled a store employee to death. Another example from last year happened when two men were shot dead in a Toys "R" Us after an argument. Could we really feel that frantic about shopping to play out events that would end in manslaughter and possible second degree murder? I don’t think our nation was allowed to completely process those horrific events or do any national self-reflection on how insane holiday shopping has become. That’d have been a great story for investigative journalism, but no one picked it up because they were too busy reporting daily holiday sales figures, contrasting them to last year's and the projected figures for Wall Street. I used to run with that harried crowd and have near PTSD from the experience.
We’ve been trained to think daily. Granted, there are some days that are so rough and crowded, we can only think hourly. Daily tasks lead to daily lists. Ever draw little boxes next to the tasks to so you can check it once done? Ever made a checked box for something already done just to have an immediate sense of accomplishment?
Becoming parent taught me to place the stake out far beyond daily tasks. Parents need to think in terms of months, years and decades to keep up with the growth of a child. Time is not going to stop and wait for us to catch up – that becomes most clear with the onset of parenthood when you watch a newborn zoom through countless developmental stages in a mere year. Best to think ahead. When baby is born the crib, diaper changing station, clothes and car seat are all ready. Put up the safety gates before the baby tumbles down the stairs. Put safety latches on cabinet doors and drawers before baby can open them and pull out a knife. Have a new winter jacket before it gets cold and baby doesn’t have a jacket. Start saving for college at birth. How I wish I had learned this lesson of projecting long term retail needs long before becoming a parent. Alas, it's tough to live with the regret that accompanies hindsight. You don’t need to become a parent to shop smart and have vision.
Shopping in thrift stores gave me a new awareness of want, need and planning ahead. It is a place untouched by spending researchers and strategists. The thrift store is free from specialized marketing tactics devised to jack up the number of items purchased via impulse, along with a sales staff on commission. Thrift stores do not have strategists laying out the merchandise in the store so that a shopper must walk by X, Y, and Z to get to A. There’s no study on what music to play or specialized fixtures. The retail market plays a little dirty but because it's a part of the free market, no one really calls it dirty. Never mind that retailers (along with credit lenders) have preyed upon the consumer to the point where we are sitting on piles of retail waste - and are over our heads in debt. Never mind that US shoppers mostly buy products made abroad because companies bow to Wall Street rather than to balance out a sustainable economic system with manufacturing operations providing jobs to the folks that actually buy their products. It's The American Way, shoot yourself in the foot and act like it doesn't hurt like hell because you meant to do it. Okay, that's a bold statement. Truly harsh. But as we reexamine our banking system, housing markets, automotive industry, and the granddaddy of them all - health care - would it be so wrong to toss retail into the mix?
The thrift market leads seasoned consumers into a different form of shopping behavior that tends to benefit the consumer. As I have noted countless times, shop thrift stores for about three months and you’ll find that you develop a Flinch Point, a dollar amount that you must ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” My Flinch Point is $5. That’s right - $5. If an item is over $5 I really think about it. But, I really don’t have a Flinch Point if I go to the mall. I have it on high suspicion the retail market works hard to eliminate the possibility of a consumer Flinch Point because it is not in their best interest. Another behavior that accompanies the thrift shopper is that they tend to check their carts before checking out. They review their selections, and often put things back. The focus is on need and, often times, budget. Rarely does it seem mall shoppers perform a final overview of their purchase. Ever been asked, “Would you like me to put those items up at the register so you don’t have to carry them around?” Once it’s at the register, odds are that sale is now closed. Plus when standing in long register lines during the holiday season, one can almost feel the hot breath of consumer rage breathing down your neck. Best to not review your purchase there or the annoyed crowd behind you might react.
I’ve had a lot of people try to apply conspicuous consumption to thrift shoppers. Sure there may be some cases, but they are rare. Most thrift shoppers shop out of need instead of want. Thrift stores are not in the business of casting want or impulse. You see people rummaging through their carts near check out all the time. It's difficult to apply standard retail jargon to thrift because they are very different in operation. Sure, there's racks, cash registers, even returns but that's about it.
Given this, I believe retail does not want you to plan too far out. They focus on the here and now because it creates a false sense of urgency. When faced with urgency, you are more likely to spend whatever it takes to be relieved of it. No one likes the feeling of urgency. I've come to think of the word urgency with a dire need of a bathroom like a mother with a newly potty-trained child searching for a store that will allow her child to use their restroom.
This is where having an omniscient understanding of your future needs is essential. If you are focused on a strict list, opportunities will be missed. My crystal ball tells me that a stinging retail pinch is in your future. My knowing has done well for me at the thrift and, it actually adds some creativity to my shopping. I really do some of my best thinking in thrift stores. Perhaps Goodwill should open coffee kiosks and dot their stores with little conversation pits. I wonder what would happen if a congressional committee routinely met in a thrift store, free from external influences where they could really focus on the needs of the American public at large. Boy, that’s pie in the sky.
Speaking of government, let’s do a little Supreme Court word play on list-less thrift shopping, “I can’t tell you what I need, but I know it when I see it.”
A friend of mine cautioned me to not be so bold or challenging. If you're a reader you know my retort. In the words of my family's matriarch, "Someone's gotta!" Perhaps this was just a release of bad air. I've been holed up with bronchitis.
Friday, October 23, 2009
We count calories. Why not carbon?
This is one from t
he archives, it ran in May of 2009 in The Christian Science Monitor. It's wise to pause and reflect. I believe this is what I was discussing with Little Pie while we took a stroll in the Adirondacks one day.
Little Pie is especially concerned about environmental issues. She tells me that "Too many people have let go of the thread that ties them to the earth."
Denver - Thanks to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), I see that my serving of Honey Nut Cheerios has 110 calories. This, along with dozens of other data points on the box, helps me make educated choices to do right by my body. I'm ready to tackle the day as an informed consumer of food.
Wait! That box: What "ingredients" went into that? Ditto for the plastic liner and all those O's: How many "calories" did it take to manufacture them and then ship them to my table? What's the carbon footprint of my breakfast?
At the store, I can compare cereal carbohydrates but I can't compare how much they cost the planet. I'm not empowered to shop right by the health of the planet. I might as well put on a blindfold.
Americans need to broaden their understanding of energy and its cost. Nearly everything in our homes, from toasters to hair dryers, consumes energy (and emits pollution) from start to finish. But we don't think about that. We think that's the job of the energy companies. We turn down the thermostat and buy reusable bags at the grocery store, but that's about it.
Americans are voracious shoppers. We use more than our fair share of resources in this world. To embrace conservation, shouldn't we consider a product's carbon cost? Take appliances. Many come with an Energy Star rating. We all nod and feel good about it. But this label just shows the relative energy cost of ownership, not the absolute cost of manufacture. I wonder if it is confused with the car device OnStar; consumers may think washers have satellite connections offering emergency assistance for grass stains.
Think about all those products that companies dare to call "green." Unlike "organic," which is a federally regulated label, companies can affix "green" to just about anything, even petroleum-based plastic Easter eggs from China! Head slap. The manufacturers can't be trusted – they're colorblind. By "green," they must mean the color of money. Unless they start making edible sofas, this is beyond the FDA's scope, so who is going to settle this issue?
Misconceptions abound. Most runners don't think they have a negative environmental impact. The runner just runs, right? Hats off to Runner's World magazine for taking a hard look at this question in "The Runner's Footprint." The article showed that the carbon cost associated with a shoe's life cycle can be eye-popping. My husband is a runner. Runners don't like air pollution. So I know a shoe's carbon cost would weigh heavily on his choice.
If price and quality were equal, which widget would you buy – the one that cost 10,000 carbon points or 100? From jeans to washing machines, we need a common metric for the pollution costs that products incur during their life cycles. If we can list the nutritional value of a pickled egg, surely we can drive a healthier market and planet through system-cost comparison.
While we wait for that, we don't have to wait to be smarter shoppers. When we spend money on new products, we spend a great many carbon points. But when we buy repurposed goods at thrift stores, we spend close to zero carbon points. We have choices, but we need to be informed to make responsible ones.
he archives, it ran in May of 2009 in The Christian Science Monitor. It's wise to pause and reflect. I believe this is what I was discussing with Little Pie while we took a stroll in the Adirondacks one day.Little Pie is especially concerned about environmental issues. She tells me that "Too many people have let go of the thread that ties them to the earth."
Denver - Thanks to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), I see that my serving of Honey Nut Cheerios has 110 calories. This, along with dozens of other data points on the box, helps me make educated choices to do right by my body. I'm ready to tackle the day as an informed consumer of food.
Wait! That box: What "ingredients" went into that? Ditto for the plastic liner and all those O's: How many "calories" did it take to manufacture them and then ship them to my table? What's the carbon footprint of my breakfast?
At the store, I can compare cereal carbohydrates but I can't compare how much they cost the planet. I'm not empowered to shop right by the health of the planet. I might as well put on a blindfold.
Americans need to broaden their understanding of energy and its cost. Nearly everything in our homes, from toasters to hair dryers, consumes energy (and emits pollution) from start to finish. But we don't think about that. We think that's the job of the energy companies. We turn down the thermostat and buy reusable bags at the grocery store, but that's about it.
Americans are voracious shoppers. We use more than our fair share of resources in this world. To embrace conservation, shouldn't we consider a product's carbon cost? Take appliances. Many come with an Energy Star rating. We all nod and feel good about it. But this label just shows the relative energy cost of ownership, not the absolute cost of manufacture. I wonder if it is confused with the car device OnStar; consumers may think washers have satellite connections offering emergency assistance for grass stains.
Think about all those products that companies dare to call "green." Unlike "organic," which is a federally regulated label, companies can affix "green" to just about anything, even petroleum-based plastic Easter eggs from China! Head slap. The manufacturers can't be trusted – they're colorblind. By "green," they must mean the color of money. Unless they start making edible sofas, this is beyond the FDA's scope, so who is going to settle this issue?
Misconceptions abound. Most runners don't think they have a negative environmental impact. The runner just runs, right? Hats off to Runner's World magazine for taking a hard look at this question in "The Runner's Footprint." The article showed that the carbon cost associated with a shoe's life cycle can be eye-popping. My husband is a runner. Runners don't like air pollution. So I know a shoe's carbon cost would weigh heavily on his choice.
If price and quality were equal, which widget would you buy – the one that cost 10,000 carbon points or 100? From jeans to washing machines, we need a common metric for the pollution costs that products incur during their life cycles. If we can list the nutritional value of a pickled egg, surely we can drive a healthier market and planet through system-cost comparison.
While we wait for that, we don't have to wait to be smarter shoppers. When we spend money on new products, we spend a great many carbon points. But when we buy repurposed goods at thrift stores, we spend close to zero carbon points. We have choices, but we need to be informed to make responsible ones.
Monday, October 12, 2009
More are inspired to purge!
This just came in from a new reader:
"I am more in a mode of getting rid of stuff, as more stuff seems to creep into this tiny, but well-built, 1955 house…I have done little shopping…and I have not missed it…I keep asking myself, ‘What do we NEED?’”
This from reader and celebrated activist Kim Bent:
I think I appreciate your name more and more! Though not really a shopper, I am a saver. I cleaned out this week. What I thought would be a three-day weekend, turned into six days of sorting and organizing. Some decisions were easy and some were not. But, I did it! I donate yearly to organizations and, again, I do not consider myself a shopper. But it was disturbing to "see" all the stuff we decided we did not use and could part with. Boy can stuff accumulate! I am going to make an effort to shop thrift shops more when looking for items I need. It saves water, electricity, transportation, and packaging costs. And it feels GOOD!
I believe we should listen to Kim’s revelations. She is one active, smart and involved woman. She founded Catch the Science Bug, a childrens television show that airs on Rhode Island PBS, has an extensive website, and sponsors science enrichment programs in schools. Thank you Kim for your comment. It is something special coming from such an inspiring person.
"I am more in a mode of getting rid of stuff, as more stuff seems to creep into this tiny, but well-built, 1955 house…I have done little shopping…and I have not missed it…I keep asking myself, ‘What do we NEED?’”
This from reader and celebrated activist Kim Bent:
I think I appreciate your name more and more! Though not really a shopper, I am a saver. I cleaned out this week. What I thought would be a three-day weekend, turned into six days of sorting and organizing. Some decisions were easy and some were not. But, I did it! I donate yearly to organizations and, again, I do not consider myself a shopper. But it was disturbing to "see" all the stuff we decided we did not use and could part with. Boy can stuff accumulate! I am going to make an effort to shop thrift shops more when looking for items I need. It saves water, electricity, transportation, and packaging costs. And it feels GOOD!
I believe we should listen to Kim’s revelations. She is one active, smart and involved woman. She founded Catch the Science Bug, a childrens television show that airs on Rhode Island PBS, has an extensive website, and sponsors science enrichment programs in schools. Thank you Kim for your comment. It is something special coming from such an inspiring person.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Make more than a mark!
If you are a parent, I think you’ll really enjoy “Make more than a mark!” on our sister blog, Mommy Golightly.Mommy Golightly doesn’t post often because Shopping Golightly consumes most her time. But there are plenty of posts waiting to come out of Mommy’s fingers and onto the keyboard. Please have patience with Mommy.
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