RSSI Am A Value Villager
August 28, 2008
If I won $5 million, I couldn’t go back to spending $80 for jeans- and I don’t even want to talk about $400 jeans. I might drive to Value Village in my Nissan Altima – well, no, I don’t really notice cars. Would I arrive wearing a $2000 watch? Possibly, though I’m really loving this Eddie Bauer watch I’ve had for a year.
I bought it because it has a light beam that shines out the front and it has a magnifying glass. I thought it would be a good way to search for ingrown eyelashes on dog eyelids. Strange, I know, but it works. It’s also a good watch. Solid, no fuss or frills, a little menswear, great work watch. Here’s how the magnifier works:
Well, I’d be wearing $200 perfume.
Value Village is a used clothing store, but not just any thrift store. They first opened in California in 1954 and have since taken on a commitment to “provide the best shopping experience and selection of any thrift store in the world”. It’s certainly the best I’ve been in.
So, yes it is used clothing. Yes, much of it, you would never even consider, no different than any other store. Yes, it might smell like a used clothing store. Wear extra perfume and think about the big money you’ll save.
That’s 3 minus points. Here are 9 for the plus side:
1. They have fantastic sales and coupons, with a promo of some sort on almost all the time. The coupon calendar at the end of the year? At $1.99, I buy two.
The cords are Old Navy Bootcut , very light beige. My belt from I don’t remember where.
Isn’t this pattern on the shirt great? I know it’s wrinkled, but I don’t iron. Hey, I get peed and bled on at my work. Who in their right mind would iron?
2. Clothing is not just randomized, or worse, in bins. That makes me crazy. It’s all sorted according to type, size, and color in a system that repeats throughout the store. You can go through the place in 30 minutes once you get that it’s a very consistent landscape.
You can see where the T comes from. The pants are Bluenotes bootcut jeans. The belt is VV too, though I don’t know the make. The belt might be a bit much but I think it works in a Christian Lacroix sort of way.
3. AE, Gap, Banana Republic, Aeropostale, … The place is loaded with this stuff and it’s all less than $10. Sometimes the item has just been washed too many times and you wouldn’t buy it for 25cents. More often, it’s only gently used.
The zip fleece is a dark chocolate brown. The tank cost $5 at Ardene. The rest was less than $5 all together. OldNavy shorts.
4. I have learned about myself that I get bored easily and quickly, regardless of whether the item cost a fortune or not. If I paid $4.99 and wear it once before I decide I don’t like it, there is not a moment’s guilt in putting it in the clothes donation bag. And I don’t get aggravated when my kids do the same, but I sure do if I paid $40 and they decide it’s too tight after 3 wearings.
Gap shirt and great lined-waistband stretch work pants. Here’s a closeup of the shirt, sheer light cotton but not transparent. The belt is from whatever the Northern Reflections mens’ store used to be called years ago.
5. There is no better place for children. They can go off on their own with no fear of what they’ll bring back. There’s no arguing over what they want. At $4-9 for most items, they can have anything they want. In days gone by, my children left their clothes in puddles and their shoes in trees. Was I really going to buy matching little ensembles when the top would have goop on it before they were in the car? Are baby clothes not just a way to keep vomit off them?
Roxy Board shorts ; Old Navy racer back tank was new,cost $10.
6. It’s the best place for pants. 100 pairs, all your size, all pre-shrunk and broken in, Club Monaco, GAP, Garage, JCrew, Ralph Lauren, Old Navy, more Old Navy, all cheap. Pick out 10 pairs, cart them to the dressing room. You’ll find a great pair at least once a month.
This is one of those items I’m drawn to for some strange reason, but I know it’s as ugly as it is nice (some of you might say more so). I put it here because it (along with the header photo) provided the color palette for this website. My brother hates the color of the navigation bars. I’ve read that some degree of color blindness is common among men.
7. If your teens are into vintage or retro, or need a costume for a party, this is your destination. As preteens, mine have become painfully discerning about their clothing, so we have a deal : we look at the VV first. Most often, they find 3 items there that they didn’t know they wanted, and are so grateful that I bought them that they no longer need the original. I am so grateful that the whole bundle cost $22.
This photography gig is killing me. I cannot show you how gorgeous this shirt is. It’s washable silk, really beautiful. It’s the find you stuff in your shopping cart under all your other finds and don’t let it out of your sight till it’s in your car.
Here is a closeup of the fabric with truer colors. It must have cost a fortune new.
8. On the days I find 4 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, a cool belt, 3 books, and a set of serving trays, I buy them all. There’s no choosing this over that.
You’ve heard of Isaac Mizrahi at Target. This is Liz Clairborne at Value Village. Good work shirt. It’s a silk/cotton blend, very light with a slight sheen.
This is Banana Republic at the VV.
9. Hey! It’s good for the planet ! We all have too much, we buy too much, we consume too much. It’s a way to give a little back and get some for you at the same time.
-->If I won $5 million, I couldn’t go back to spending $80 for jeans- and I don’t even want to talk about $400 jeans.Value Village is a used clothing store, but not just any thrift store. They first opened in California in 1954 and have since taken on a commitment to “provide the best shopping experience and selection of any thrift store in the world”. It’s certainly the best I’ve been in.
Read moreThis Month in O, September 2008 : Great Finds, Great Advice!
August 25, 2008
September 2008’s issue of O, The Oprah Magazine is called Get Your Life Back, with features entitled Too Busy To Live and Oprah’s Cure For Feeling Overwhelmed. Now you know why I bought it. Time is the one thing I have the least of and that Oprah doesn’t have any more of than I do. And, she couldn’t buy more if she wanted to.
Those phrases capture the problem for most of us women who are trying to make some changes and figure it all out. WHEN??? Just when are we supposed to do this??
Everything in this issue was terrific. Here’s the short list :
1. Tons of beautiful things I actually would buy and could buy! Many finds under $100 . Handbags, jewelry, wine, furniture even. Fabulous stuff. I think they actually went out of their way to fit into real budgets for the millions of us who really do like Target.
2. The article about Willa Schalit, with her strong and healing presence , empowering women in Rwanda not with charity, but with fair trade. Lovely items, on sale at Macy’s or online.
3. Real life advice on real life questions (questions I actually have!), about money, relationships, speeding morning routines, and health. This is advice you could use, not read and forget. Many myths (like “Will it harm my family that so much of our food is microwaved?”) are deflated with straight up talk.
4. The Yes, You Can section, where O’s creative directore Adam Glassman styles 40-something women is really interesting. The women look real, or as close as modern magazines get. He demonstrates how we can look sexy, or arty, mix prints, and more, without looking ridiculous.
Am I the only one who hopes wide-legged pants is a fancy that will soon pass? Maybe I have an aversion because I remember “baggies” when I was in Grade 9. These look exactly the same. Everything looks good if you’re 5’10” and a size 2, but here’s my whole point : WHO IS???
5. 3 10-minute weight workouts that work arms and legs together. I ripped them out and stapled them together. I’ve been doing a set each day. There’s not even time to sweat! These are good moves that will make a difference. Several are done with eyes closed; presumably, that’s for the balance challenge, without sight to corroborate that upper and lower body are making the right choices at once. There’s also a 10min. Cardio and Yoga plan.
6. The article “Just Say What You Want, Dammit” . A topic every girl and woman I know (including me) could work on. The article was decent, if the examples were a little extreme. The advice was basically “Keep trying”. Because speaking up is such a weak point for so many of us, I just like the reminder to be kept on the front burner.
I can’t read the minds of others and cannot expect them to read mine. It’s not that they won’t. It’s that they can’t. And yet, most of the time, what you do want is just fine with everyone else, and you could have had it with ease if you’d just said something.
In keeping with the theme of the magazine, there are no long, reflective articles to get through. There is one but it anchors the whole featured section on saving time. The rest is snappy but very engaging.
Even Oprah gets overwhelmed (how could she not?). She writes about re-centering herself, getting back into each moment. My brain is almost never in the now. I live in the future. The closest I seem able to get to the present in by acknowledging all the things I have. So much is right in most of our lives that we need to spend more time celebrating that.
What else? I was not even a bit nervous to let my 12year old daughter read the entire magazine. I was pleased that she read it! This never happens.
There’s a Merle Norman ad with a lovely grey eyeshadow for a winter (if you ignore the green).
I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a magazine so completely. I think you will too.
-->September 2008’s issue of O, The Oprah Magazine is called Get Your Life Back, with features entitled Too Busy To Live and Oprah’s Cure For Feeling Overwhelmed. Now you know why I bought it. It was worth every cent.
Read moreBook Review : Play Like A Man Win Like A Woman
August 22, 2008
-->The traditional, male way of doing business is not better than ours. Nor is it worse. It may be out-dated. It may not be productive or imaginative from a woman’s perspective. In fact, it may often be ethically and morally wrong. It is still undeniably real and it is a language that women need some functional understanding of to leverage the male corporate establishment.
Read moreSITES TO KNOW : GO FUG YOURSELF
March 21, 2008
Lest I float away on a cloud of enlightenment, I will tell you that there are times when My Deeper Self is nowhere to be found. She’s gone into hiding so I’ll stop prying at her. She feels like she’s being pecked to death by chickens.
This winter, she’s been buried in snow. Does every Canadian feel this way?
Read moreTHIS MONTH IN OPRAH : HOPE, HAPPINESS, AND MORE.
March 6, 2008
I enjoy reading Oprah when I’m in a waiting room but I seldom buy it. I don’t often connect with the topics. Dr. Phil, Suze Orman, retail items I can’t afford, US politics, solutions to problems I don’t have, celebrities I don’t care much about,… But in this issue, I found tons to interest me.
I bought the magazine for one article. “Shift Happens tells of the TED prize. $100,000 and the help to realize a dream are given to 3 people who must propose a world-changing wish.
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February 24, 2008
I recently published an article entitled What Does Money Mean To You? Through the public and private responses and conversations that came from that post, some of which you can see in the Comments following the article, I have become increasingly nervous about my understanding of our own family finances, which is somewhere below moderate.
Does [...]
SARAH JESSICA PARKER IN ALLURE MAGAZINE
February 8, 2008
Has anyone read the interview of SJP in February 08 Allure magazine? I may be the only person in North America who has never seen the TV series Sex and The City, so I don’t know her work well.
I read the article because I’m always fascinated by anyone with a great sense of style. You [...]
STEVE PAVLINA INTERVIEWS JOHN ASSARAF
January 5, 2008
First some background on these people and why you should care about them. I told you about Steve in this article. His website is included in the Sites To Know category.
John Assaraf
John is a speaker, author, entrepreneur, and one of the speakers in the movie The Secret. He has built 4 multimillion dollar companies. His [...]
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