Friday Favorite: Antique/Thrift/Vintage Shopping

In an effort to actually blog more---heh, we'll see---I am going to start sharing one of my favorite things every Friday. Mostly, cause it just sounds fun. It could be anything really--a recipe, a website, a picture. Whatever is my favorite and I have lots. I chose Friday because:

a. It's Tyler's extra day off (he now works four 10 hour days every week, yay!) and so therefore it is my favorite day.

And

b. I like alliteration.

Here we goooo!

(This has nothing to do with such shopping, but I took it yesterday while antiquing and we all like to have something to look at!)

My most favorite kind of shopping is for used stuff. Sometimes old stuff. Antiquing, thrifting, vintage shopping...it's all kind of the same. The thrift/vintage (we all know vintage is just a fancy word for used things) shopping I love because I can usually find good deals and we all love a good deal! Sometimes I find dressers for my baby, sometimes milk glass vases, sometimes boots, sometimes nothing at all. I love that even if we're tight on money, I can go with $3 and know that I'll probably be able to buy something. I also love that if I'm short on cash, I may very well not find anything to tempt me. The same cannot be said for going to Target. I always have to use every ounce of self-control not to spend our month's grocery budget on all the amazing items at Target. It is a terrible, wonderful, magical place that will probably get it's own favorite post someday.

I know some people find thrift stores icky. They are sometimes. They have a weird smell. ("These clothes smell like grandma's!") I try to not go to ones that don't seem clean and organized. It doesn't bother me to wear clothes other people have worn, or shoes they've worn, or really anything, with the exception of underwear and swimsuits. If it looks gross then I'm not going to want to buy it anyhow.

Antique shopping is a bit different, things are often not cheaper there. But I love the history of old things. Growing up I had a lot of old relatives. Like a LOT. I'm not even quite sure how we were related to all of them, but they were our relatives. (and subsequently, I attended a LOT of funerals as child. I think I've been to every kind there is.) Going through items at antique stores gives me flashbacks to different old relatives' homes. I like that. I like things that have stories and are different from what we have now. Today I went to a ton of antique stores with my dear Charlie, aka, Anne Marie. We didn't buy a single thing, but had a blast looking at everything, talking about items, dreaming about what we'd buy, imagining back in the day. My favorite thing to collect is old books, particularly old children's books. Books are somewhat affordable compared to say, chandeliers or dining tables.

Another thing I appreciate about shopping for used stuff is that it is a constant reminder that the stuff I'm looking at used to be someone else's and helps me think about whether I really need more of that stuff. I want to be a good steward of the possessions God has given me and part of that, I believe, is being careful about not acquiring lots of things I don't really need. It's a constant struggle for me to find balance in that area.

Anyhow, that's my favorite for today. If you live in the area, my favorite stores are Goodwill (it's the cheapest) and the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (for non-clothing items) for thrift stores and the Brass Armadillo for antiques.