Reduce, Reuse, Rent

With my frequent posts about thrifting, I haven't talked recently about how much love rental. 

Rental lets me try all sorts of new styles without adding to my closet. This has entirely curbed my boredom and impulse shopping, because I know I'll get to try something new in a couple weeks. Likewise, I hope it curbs others from fast fashion. 

How it works is: they sent you a package, you wear the clothes as long as you want, you return them (unwashed!), they wash them and send them out to the next recipient. So instead of me buying a blouse that I'll wear just a few times, and eventually donating it a few years later, and several other women doing the same, we all "share" one blouse. When the item starts showing wear and tear? They donate it to a thrift shop! What if I love the item? I can buy it at a discount.

I'm loving my outfit today. Both the floral ruffled blouse and the floral enamel earrings are rented and were in my box this week.

I paired my rental top half with some pinstripe pants I thrifted from Goodwill last year, and hand-me-down sandals from my aunt and fashion twin. 

Now, while renting reduces the waste from buying new clothes, it isn't waste free. Each package comes in a box, and with a plastic mailer to return the laundry. Fortunately, the boxes are very easy to handle. Try your local Buy Nothing or other local giveaway group. Through mine, I noticed my neighbor expressed interest every time I posted small boxes. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me, I inquired, and it turns out he runs a small Ebay business. Now I have a regular relationship with someone who takes all my rental boxes and bubble mailers. 

 

Planning for Halloween... with Poshmark!

Each year, I start planning for Halloween well ahead of time. If I'm going to thrift and DIY the bulk of the costume, I need some lead time to scour online and in-person thrift stores. This year it's a little harder to get excited about Halloween. I almost positively won't be in the office, and am still unsure if there will be any evening festivities. Finally, I convinced myself it doesn't matter. There are enough video calls for me to still enjoy dressing up, and I can always just spend the day photo-bombing T.

I settled on an idea, and 30 minutes later... success! I placed my first ever order on Poshmark and crossed my fingers. Poshmark is a different model than threadUP. Where threadUP is consignment and they manage the sale and shipping out the items, Poshmark is more of a marketplace or platform where you can sell items directly (the seller manages the sale and the shipment themselves). There's pros and cons to each model. In the marketplace model, more money will go to the seller.

I lucked out, and this first experience was fantastic. The seller even re-used a shipping box!

A sneak peek. This is the only hint you're getting at this time. You'll need to wait for Halloween for the full reveal. The item was in awesome condition - as noted by the seller, she had only worn it once before, possibly for a costume party herself?

A win-win for both of us, I only paid $9 for somethings that retails at $25 new, and the seller recouped some funds from something that was just going to take up space in her closet. And the planet wins, because we get multiple uses out of a novelty item. 

And after Halloween, if I decide I'm done? Poshmark provides me an easy link to relist (Reposh) the item.

What are ways you keep one-time use items moving to new people to enjoy?

Making More from Marinade

I love food, and cooking is one of my favorite creative outlets, especially as we're limited for going to restaurants these days. My fridge is full of many jars of specialty ingredients like fig jam and colossal olives. 

Now, a lot of the bold flavors I like come with a lot of extra goodness. Think about things like pickle juice or the marinade from quartered artichokes. All of that can be incorporated into other recipes. 

Tonight, I wanted to use up a jar that used to be sun-dried tomatoes, but now was just the leftover juice. Yeah, this guy right here? Had about 2 inches of rich red oil left in it, essentially sun-dried tomato infused olive oil. That's not the "waste" of the jar of tomatoes - you would pay $$$ for a nice infused olive oil. :)

I also had some cream and goat cheese to use up, and settled on a pasta dish. Now, if you don't know how to start with oil and end up with a sauce, I'll teach you a super simple recipe. I didn't know about sauces myself until a few years ago, and was always trying to thicken the sauce and ending up with flour lumps. 

Most sauces are these basic proportions: 

• 2 tbsp fat (often butter)
  
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup liquid (milk for creamy sauces, broth for gravies)

For this sauce, the sun-dried tomato oil was the fat. Heat the oil over medium heat, whisk in the flour, and let cook for 1 minute until bubbling. Slowly whisk in the milk until smooth. Add any aromatics you want (this girl isn't shy with some garlic salt). Then I also added a large portion of goat cheese to add some richness to the sauce. Viola! Less than 10 minutes for a sauce worthy of a date night. Toss with some pasta, sauteed veggies, and grilled chicken, and you've got a balanced meal.

(Sooo creeeamy!)

While this isn't a huge money saver, it is a free flavor-packed upgrade to your regular cooking. Bon appetit!

Feeling Fuschia

For those of you closest to me, you know that I typically avoid both floral (unless it's really bold and graphical) and pink. But one of the best parts of thrifting and the savings is that it makes me brave to step out of my comfort zone and try new styles and trends. At 72% off and no new materials used, even the brightest pink can enter my closet.

I found this cheery Madison West handbag at (you guessed it) thredUP. Classic black, with a fuschia, purple, and teal floral pattern, I can see wearing this in multiple seasons: with a casual summer dress as pictured, with white jeans and gold sandals, or dressed up in the winter with a black dress or slacks.

 

A black strap is soft on your shoulder, and a removable chain converts this purse from a crossbody to a clutch.

 

 

The main body of the purse has a small zippered pocket (a must!).

 

 

And the top foldover flap is also a pocket!

 

As usual, thredUP did not disappoint. This like new handbag typically retails for $74, but came home with me for just $24 (a 72% savings).

 

Down, but Not Out

Hi lovelies! I've been MIA for a couple months now, due to a misguided attempt to fly down my stairs. A small ankle fracture (and all the sprains) has slowed me down, but six weeks later, I'm out of my hard cast and have just a couple weeks left of being in a boot.

Being injured had a few impacts on my ability to reduce waste:

• Grocery delivery - I started using Instacart vs needing to get down the stairs to get out my house and then hobble around the store. With delivery comes produce bags and shopping bags I would normally skip. There is also a huge cost to these services, per item, and as a delivery or service charge, plus tip for the driver. The benefit is this time made me realize what a huge impact doing my own shopping has on my waste stream and wallet. 
• Less ability to participate in Buy Nothing - again, no more up and down the stairs to gather items or set them out.
• Cooking became harder - navigating the kitchen becomes harder on crutches or with a knee scooter (not a great turning radius) and made carrying multiple items or making "trips" to multiple cupboards difficult, resulting in me relying on more prepared foods (usually more packaging). And T helping me more resulted in less composting. 
• Online thrifting - this was a positive. Something I could continue to do while I was elevating, and kept me both entertained and sticking my my regular shopping goals.
• Medical supplies - I was required to keep my splint and cast dry, which required wrapping my leg in a garbage bag and plastic wrap. I was lucky to not have any open wounds or surgery incisions, so I was able to reuse the plastic and just went through 2 bags the whole time. (Please prioritize your health and use fresh supplies if needed and per the advice of your doctor.)

This experience highlighted how not all solutions will work for all people. With this blog, I try to show tips and tricks that work for me, and hope to inspire you to make some easy changes that work for you. I belong to multiple low waste groups online, and at times there can be judgement around "all people should do this" or "all people can do this" and then corresponding responses about ableism... Could I have made it grocery shopping myself? Sure, my injury is minor. Was it realistic given everything I was balancing at the time? Heck no. So for this month, I signed a couple extra petitions and called it good.

For the new few weeks, I'll be back with some mini blogs and then ramp back up. :)

For today, I wanted to share my most successful succulent. Last year, I tried propagating succulents for the first time. It involves no packaging, and saves a couple dollars per successful plant! This one is just loving being on our deck this summer.

Looks at those plump petals!

She's reaching for the sun.

Happy summer, everyone, and I'll be back in a couple days with some thrifted fashion.