It's kind of silly but I'm having one of those days where I need to get my mind off of everything. If you feel so inclined let's see if we can get thrifting as a contender for the top 25 Eco-Friendly Moms. I personally can't think of much that is eco-friendlier than teaching our children how to thrift, negotiate and sell. If you click on the button I should be listed somewhere on the list and you can vote for me. I won't ask again but it would be lovely to have Thrifting up there in the top 10 of Eco-Friendly Moms.
Keiran bought a game on Sunday morning for $2.00 at a yard sale and went on and on about how it should have been 50¢. The seller told him that she paid $10 but he still wasn't pleased on the price. While it could be construed as a little greedy, I was so proud of him. He's getting the concept of the value of the thrifted dollar. He arrived home with game in hand only to tell his father the story. Bless him. Luckily we'll get hours of fun out of the game which is why I decided to pay the $2 although I think Keiran was ready to walk away.
Cerys's class had their play this week and one of their traditions is to wear their pajamas the day after, bring pillows, a plushie and food to share. Cerys wanted new pajamas because she felt that her pajamas were too childlike. I understood her dilemma so we headed to (in my opinion) one of the worst places; the Mall. We went to Macy's, Sears, Crazy 8, Gymboree, Gap, (some horrible store called Justice which gave us all stimulation overload) and The Childrens Place. She couldn't find anything. Either the clothes were slathered in tv characters, sprayed with flame resistant chemicals or just plain hideous. Cerys was pretty annoyed as we walked out of the last store. Being in the mall reminded me on so many levels why we enjoy buying a majority of our clothing from yard sales and thrift stores. Just last Saturday Cerys and I walked to a yard sale the next block over and Cerys bought 4 shirts and a pair of shorts for 16¢ each. She kept going on and on about how much money we saved. In the end Cerys found a pair of PJ's in her drawer that she felt would be suitable. Money spent? $0.
As we head toward her becoming a teenager it will be interesting to see whether she'll want to shop in thrift stores or consignment stores or demand (in her very strong willful way) to buy new.
Keiran was crying the other day telling me that he wished that we were rich so that he could buy his clothing at Old Navy. I had to smile at that. Of course for me, the idea of buying a shirt from Anthropolgie at a thrift store for $5 when someone originally paid over $80 is my idea of being rich. That $75 that we saved can go toward their school, our savings account or to buy organic food.
I truly love the lessons that we are teaching our children about money, especially at a time when prices are going up. When you live frugally and you raise thrifty kids, you don't feel the recession the same as families who rely on buying retail. I see ad after ad in Craigslist of people selling year old furniture that they claim they paid "$800" or "$1500" for and now they are selling it for so much less. I can't quite wrap my head around buying a $1500 couch and then not wanting it a year later. I can relate to buying a $50 couch and not wanting it five years later because it was replaced with a better and more fabulous thrifted couch or two. I plan to sell the $50 couch to even pay for both couches if I do my math correctly.
It will be fascinating to see what all of our children do with the thrift skills that we are teaching them now. Wouldn't you all love to get together in 25 years and see what our children have become? I can't think of a more eco-friendly skill to teach them.































