Why I Thrift

3:50:00 PM

I've never really minded not being especially rich. When I was young, I just knew I couldn't buy things I wanted but I never thought that I was poor because of it. I was only angry at my parents. When I could only buy "new" clothes from Goodwill and second hand sales I was irritated by the musty smell and limited selection (major diva). I was always excited for whatever clothes I got from the older children of family friends though, at least then I could count on some quality. We didn't have nice things. But we weren't poor, we had everything we needed.

As I got older and "second-hand" simply became a part of life, I started to find the silver lining. When trash bags filled with old clothes were delivered to me I began to feel an excitement in opening them. The idea that I never quite knew what I was going to get started to become a welcome challenge.

Throughout my life, I'd always had a very particular sense of style. Notice I said "particular" and not "good" (I still look back on pictures and cringe). But I loved taking these things that other people might have decided was out of style and useless, and making it my style. I felt like I was defying the odds and giving the clothing a second chance at life, haha. It made my sense of style and aesthetic something special to me, one of a kind, turning someone else's trash to a treasure of my own. It became a part of me and that meant that every compliment became that much better, of course, that also meant that every slight and derisive remark hit that much deeper too.

Now that thrifting is much more widely accepted and even considered on trend. It's much easier to talk about. I used to check the tags on my clothes to see where they came from when I didn't know how to tell people that I'd gotten my clothes from Goodwill. I didn't want people to think we were poor, because we weren't, we had everything we needed.

But still, I always like to think of the term diamond in the rough. Maybe it's my own fantasized psychological study of my own life. Giving higher worth to the things considered worthless. How idiotic. But I can't deny that it has shaped me and my ideals. Now, I still have everything I need and more. We can afford things we don't need. But I still choose to thrift. I think I'll always have a more difficult time than most people shopping at conventional stores. After all why would I need a $9 shirt when I can get a shirt for $1 at a thrift shop?

Thrifting has given me an unconventional perception of worth in our current commercial world. Though, even I have started to become convinced that I "need" those fancy things that I know aren't worth the numbers on their price tag. We all need to struggle a little more with the ideas of what we really need and what we simply want.

And so, I may just be an fashion-ignorant cretin, but I have a clearer conscience giving these poor old t shirts another place in the world ;P

(That being said, Thrifting Tips and Styling coming soon!)