A Different Type of Donation

Are you starting to think about spring cleaning? Have you been doing "spring cleaning" this whole time during quarantine and there are just bags piling up because you don't want to visit a thrift store with crowds and reduced hours? 

Or, are you avoiding thrift stores because I've already told you they're only able to sell a small portion of their overall donations? Or you have some items that aren't great condition?

There's a new service, for clothing and textile donation specifically, that will solve all of this: Retold Recycling. It works through prepaid mailers (convenience). Those prepaid mailers are made from compostable cornstarch (you won't add more plastic to the waste stream). They then sort through your items to find the best path to divert them into: thrift shop, charity shop, recycler, upcycler.

Because they do the sorting, you don't have to figure out: Is this thrift shop already over-saturated in jeans? How do I find a textile recycler for my hole-y socks? You can feel good knowing that Retold is making these informed decisions for you, preventing your items from ending up in the landfill. 

This service is "ish" cost neutral. You will pay up front for the pre-paid mailers. And if you do one of their recurring subscriptions, they give you rewards to spend with their feel-good brand partners (aka companies with like-minded good-for-the-planet goods). The bags average $15 up front and you receive $15 approximate value to spend with the partners. 

I'm curious what you think: Is this a recycling model you would be interested in trying?

Intentional Shopping

This month alone, I saved almost $500 thrift shopping, primarily on designer shoes.

I don't have any magic tricks. I don't know of any hidden boutique shops, or have complex maps of which shops have discounts on which days. What I have done is build shopping into my regular routine, which takes the pressure off any one outing. We're pretty fortunate in the northwest, that second-hand stores are almost as plentiful as coffee shops.

First step: identify shops that are along your routes to other activities. For me this looks like one near my work (fun lunch break anyone?), two near my home, and three near my regular girl's night. By having these already identified, it's easy to just swing in for 15 minutes on the way to grocery shopping or if traffic was better than expected to girl's night.

Next: have a few items that are on your "list". Three categories I always shop for:

• Need: Jeans. Seriously, love thrift shops for jeans, where I'll see many brands and fits side by side. 
• Fun: Shoes. I love variety for my shoes, so second-hand is great for something I want to rotate quickly.
• Non-urgent wishlist item: Tiki bar decor for work. This is something that if I see it, cool, but there's no pressing deadline, and I'd rather save the $ than buy new. 

Between building the stores into my routine and having a shopping list, it becomes habit. For me, this is about 30 minutes per week, and I've almost entirely eliminated "regular" shopping.

Here's the score for this month:

These silver ballet-inspired Taryn Rose wedges. Compare at $150 new, paid $11.

These fierce Club Monaco studded flats. $250 new, paid $15.

This Next blouse. Compare at £24 ($31), paid $10.

These Style & Co skinny jeans. $49 new, paid $3.

These Dana Buchman trouser cut jeans. $48 new, paid $3.25.

Overall, I would have paid $528 for these 5 items new. Instead, I paid $42.25 for like-new condition, a $485.75 savings.

What steps can you take to make shopping second-hand... second nature?

Used Doesn't Have to Be Inconvenient

I love thrift stores and second-hand stores like Half Price Books. But when you are looking for something specific, it can be a challenge to find what you want. Fortunately, thrifting can be done from the convenience of your couch and with delivery right to your door.

For clothing, there are numerous sites like Thred Up and Swap.com. Recently, I needed a popular book (thanks Allison for inviting me to book club!), and after checking my local Half Price Books, turned to trusty Amazon.

If you're used to just clicking "Add to Cart", take one additional step to buy second-hand: for books, click "Used From" underneath the format you like, or for other types of products click "New and Used From". This will bring you to the page with all of the sellers for that product.

Scared to order something from someone other than "Amazon"?

Just look for these clues for a good experience:

1. Condition: there are various used conditions. I usually filter for Very Good or Like New. 
2. Total price + shipping: you don't want to end up paying more for used because you didn't see the shipping. 
3. Delivery Time: you probably won't get 2 day shipping, but also probably don't want 6 week shipping from China. You should see options for a week or less. 
4. A high star-rating (I only buy from sellers with 4+ stars): and if you have any trouble, you can still contact Amazon customer service for support. 

I ordered my book from, guess who... Goodwill! That's right, even your thrift store may be online-savvy.

I ordered Used - Good condition, and was pleased that the only damage was some bending on the back cover. 

All in all, I saved $5.22 on the book and had it delivered to me, and gave one book a second life.

You're Funny... Looking!

We waste a ton (actually 1.3B tons or 40%) of food each year in the US. That's... insane, especially given the numbers of hungry people that could feed.

While some of this food is meal leftovers, a good portion never even makes it to our plates. It is sorted out prior to grocery sales, because it is less attractive or doesn't meet a certain standard.

There's nothing wrong with this produce besides it's a little funny looking. Some petitions are working on making governmental or corporate changes similar to the law France passed last year that fines grocery stores for throwing away food instead of donating it. They are appealing to alternative options such as using that produce in the store's deli offerings (a lumpy tomato isn't noticed when diced in a salsa), or just plain selling the produce.

Imperfect is a California-based company that is seeking to interrupt this cycle by going straight from the farm to the end consumer. They deliver customized boxes of organic fruits and/or veggies to your door on a subscription basis.

Shortly after I learned about Imperfect, they announced that they were going to start serving the Seattle area, and this week I got my first box! I was thrilled with the experience. While I didn't need to be home for delivery, they texted me when the driver was in my area and again when the box was delivered.

I didn't customize this first box because I was just curious to see what I would receive. Already, from the label on the box, I'm getting excited.

This is about 7 lbs of organic produce for about $15, and hey, I needed potatoes, onions, and leeks for my Thanksgiving menu anyway. :)  And I've literally never purchased a pomegranate, so that will be fun to try out something new. Now to open the box:

That's a lovely selection! Outside of some of potatoes being a little large and lumpy, and the onions and oranges being a little small, it's all perfect quality.

A bonus: they included a little recipe book for what to try with seasonal produce.

I'm definitely excited for my next box. Organic fruits and veggies with door-to-door service at non-organic store prices? Sold.

Spotlight: Give Back Box

Hi friends and followers!

I just learned about a great company through their partnership with Amazon, though they have many other partners.

Give Back Box is a company that facilitates donating to Goodwill, by providing free mailing labels so you can send in goods with any spare boxes you have lying around. They were founded in 2012 by Monika Wiela and Biz Debnath, who wanted to

"Give Every Cardboard Box A Second Life, Give Someone a Second Chance"

The idea is:

• your online shopping boxes get an additional use, and then recycled. 
• you save a trip on dropping off your goods at the local thrift shop during their open hours. 
• you can drop off the box with UPS or USPS or arrange for pickup. 
• the goods are received at Goodwill like any other donation. 
• you can still receive a tax receipt. 

 If you aren't nearby a Goodwill or work odd hours, this is a total win!

You can learn more about the new Amazon partnership here, or see a list of additional partners here. While these partners are helping promote the program, you can ultimately use any box, and aren't limited to the partner brands.

If you're anything like me, you've been doing a ton of holiday shopping online. So keep those boxes for Spring Cleaning, and let Give Back Box do the rest!