Second-hand in Salt Lake City

It wouldn't be exploring another town if I didn't check out at least a few thrift, consignment, or antique shops. So when I visited my dear friend, A, in Salt Lake City, I ended up at iconoCLAD. 

iconoCLAD sells both new and used clothing, with the consigned clothing filling over half the shop. I visited their original store at 414 E 200 S, but they now have two locations for your convenience.

iconCLAD has won local awards for being Best Boutique and Best Consignment, and I can see why. They have a fun, splashy festival vibe, and lots of fun pieces at great prices. Like many secondhand stores, they try to keep their stock rotated by offering deep discounts on certain colored labels.

I found this super sweet embroidered dress, tea length, and with sheer sleeves. It fit me perfectly, except for a little snug in the sleeves, so I will post again once I've completed alterations.

Look at that gorgeous detail!

This Lace & Mesh dress has an estimated original retail price $38. Happy enough with the $22 price tag, I was ecstatic to find that it was 75% off, and resulting in me paying only $5.50! Wha??

From there, the happy surprises just kept on coming: 

1. Dress is 75% off. Surprise!
2. You get a sticker with every purchase. Choose from kitten, puppy, or unicorn. Surprise!!
3. You get a discount off your next purchase valued at 10% off your current purchase. $0.55 coupon. Surprise!!!
4. With any purchase, you get to choose something from the free barrel next to the register, presumably items that have timed out from their purchasing window. How great to give them one last chance for a happy home? Surprise!!!!
   

And... this is why they've won awards. Who can help but leave with a smile on their face, after all those bonuses?

Last but not least: shop kitties. Two sweet cats were making this shop their home, napping in the window and under shelves.

So, if you're ever passing by Salt Lake City, make sure to give iconCLAD a visit. The kitties are waiting for you to say hello.

Jump-start your Thoughtful Consumerism this Earth Month!

It's April again, and that means we are almost half-way through Earth Month and Earth Day is just around the corner (observed Saturday, April 21st this year).

If this unusually cold winter and spring have you down, try a new habit to make you feel better and know you're making a positive contribution. Here are just a few ways you can celebrate: 

Check out this Bingo card for 25 easy ways to get involved, whether it's converting to a reusable item, switching your shopping habits, completing a DIY project, or making household improvements, there's an idea for your flavor of sustainability. 

Watch a documentary to get inspired. 

See these 27 tips from 2020's quarantine Earth Day. We gained so many learnings when folks weren't commuting every day, and so many are still applicable 3 years later. 

Conduct a trash audit, so you know your baseline and what to prioritize in this year's new habits.

Let a subscription service like Mighty Fix help you swap one item in your home each month. 

If you need a motivational or accountability buddy, reach on out!

How Do You Stack Up?

Are any of you competitive? I don't typically think I am, but I have to admit that I like receiving my electric bill, which comes along with a statement about where I am relative to the "efficiency zone" and how I compare to homes like mine in my area. It's like an adult version of a "Good job!" sticker on your homework. :)

So I was thrilled to find out today that thredUP has launched a new Fashion Footprint calculator. You can walk though your clothing purchasing habits, such as how often you shop in person or online, how often you make returns, how you dispose of your clothes, and more. And you get a great summary to let you know how you're doing:

In the green? Pat yourself on the back! They also estimate how much your habits cost annually, so you can know just how important your contributions are.

If you would like to be doing better than you are (or just be an over-achiever), they then show the most impactful actions you can take. By far the most valuable thing you can do is source your clothing second-hand - just keep items in circulation longer.

As you go through the survey, they share tips and facts related to each of the questions. And they wrap up with "12 Ways to Transform Your Sustainable Fashion Journey". Perhaps my favorite is to install the Good On You app, a resource for when you purchase new clothing, which scores brands for responsible (good to people, animals, and planet) fashion. This saves you from having to sift through green-washing or deeply research the items you purchase. 

I'm loving this new resource, and the opportunity to compete, even if just with myself.

Frugal Friends

By now you've seen we can be quite successful finding great pieces thrifting, either online or in person. But I haven't shared all my tips yet to coming home with amazing pieces you'll love and at the right price. 

By far, the best tip for in-person shopping is to go with a friend who knows your style. Thrift store racks can be chaos, and it can be easy to miss a gem by moving too fast. You and your shopping buddy can keep an eye out for each other's tastes. My dear friend T knows that I love anything with bold print (especially animals!) and I know that she prefers anything in 100% cotton and handbags that are iridescent. She's been the person to find over half of my in-person purchases.

This week, we went to Capitol Hill Goodwill, and she spotted this patterned sleeveless blouse for me. Is it circles? Is it diamonds? Yes. 

The double layers keep it from being sheer. I will like this sleeveless for warmer days, or layered with a flowy sweater for cooler days.

 

And, of course, the price needs to be right. This Rose + Olive blouse was in excellent condition for $15. It was hard to find an exact "new" price, but similar blouses by the brand on Poshmark have reference prices ranging from $35-50, so I'm pretty pleased.

On the same outing, at Lifelong Thrift, I was super excited to find this adorable little llama planter by Kikkerland.

 

Originally sold for $18, this little guy was priced at $5 and its color tag was on discount, so he came home with me for just $4. He's now with my growing collection of plants and will eventually hold a succulent.

So, if you're having a bit of a dry spell seeking those special finds, gather your treasure hunting buddies and try again!

From Carrot Scraps to Pesto

Have you ever purchased whole carrots, or received them in your produce delivery, tops and all, looking like a Bugs Bunny cartoon? 

I routinely do, and when scanning through Cooking Scrappy by Joel Gamoran, decided to try his recipe for Radiatore with Carrot Top Pesto.

The recipe calls for both carrot tops (stems and leaves) and basil (stems too!), as well as almonds (in lieu of pricey pine nuts), and garlic. 

You pulse all of these in a food processor until well chopped.

You then slowly drizzle in olive oil, pulsing a few more times, and season with salt to taste. That is the basis of the pesto. 

Then, when you go to make it a pasta sauce, you thin the pesto with pasta water. This is well known trick for pasta chefs; the starch in the water will help create a smooth sauce. 

You will also add a healthy handful of parmesan. Fresh grated not only tastes great and blends into the sauce better, but buying a block of cheese leaves you with just a small plastic wrapper vs a large shaker container. And if you get a rotary cheese grater, you can feel like you're at an Italian restaurant. :) 

This Zyliss grater quickly delivers fresh grated parmesan on demand. 

The verdict: I'm glad I tried this recipe,  and I'll make it again. Small bunches of basil can get quite pricey, where the carrot tops are free and would have otherwise gone to waste. I wouldn't do much more than 50% carrot tops vs basil or the flavor is a bit grassy.

Overall we saved the following waste:

• Carrots tops
• Basil stems
• Pasta water
• Parmesan cheese container 

DIY Digest - 21 Thoughtful DIY's Throughout the Years

After several years of making tiny changes, its easy to forget how far we've come, and how those little changes add up. This year, I'll be doing a few posts to remind us of the posts of the past, and all the cool ways we've learned to save money, save the planet, all while having fun and looking fabulous. 

Today, let's look back at the awesome DIY projects we've done, from crafts, to mending, and more. 

1. Corks are great for crafting - we made trivets.  

2. Seasonal shopping bags make great wall art. 

3. We acquired secondhand fabric for sewing gift bags from Re-Creative. 

4. We propagated many new succulents from a single plant. (The offspring are still around 3 1/2 years later!)

5. A stained old concert tee gets a second life as a reusable shopping bag. 

6. Cut up TP tubes become festive snowflake and poinsettia ornaments. 

7. A quick-sew project converts an old bed sheet into a laundry hamper liner. 

8. Leftover cardboard (coffee sleeves, TP tubes, and a box) made the best gift for my cat. 

9. And old t-shirts made great rope toys for my dog.  

10. Scrap cardboard made a birthday cake piñata for Mom's birthday.

11. The family came together for a group DIY, turning scrap lumber and paint into cornhole boards for family weekends.  

12. A quick coat of paint gave us a refreshed doormat for the next year.

13. We turned a mason jar and some scrap fabric into a cute sewing kit.  

14. A balloon from one holiday becomes wrapping paper for the next.  

15-18. There have been several years of upcycled Halloween costumes: 

    2017: Ursula

    2019: Rock Lobster

    2020: Tacocat

     2022: Klimt painting Adele Bloch-Bauer 

19. Mending (visible or hidden) allows you to extend the life of your clothing. 

20. We repaired a cracked bowl with the kintsugi method.

21.And just recently, we made an epic, crazy, oversized snowglobe. 

Reused Rugs

Hello lovelies! I've been away the last couple weeks, working on some fun redecorating projects at home. After being in our house for 10 years, it was time for some minor repairs, and while we were at it, some refreshed paint and accents.

A main objective for me was to finally decorate my home office. 3 years into the new COVID world, and the realization has hit that work from home is, in fact, my new normal, and I should make my space more comfortable than just a desk in a corner.

The task at hand? To add vibrant, mood-boosting colors to energize my workdays. 

I was thrilled when I found this rug on Facebook Marketplace for just $40. The lowest "new" price I found was $85 at Overstock.com, including a President's Day sale discount. The original owner was selling this rug in like-new condition because they were moving out of state. Once you sift through all the sponsored ads, Facebook can be a great option for purchasing (and selling!) used housewares.

The bold oranges, hot pinks, yellows, and blues compliment the variety of throw pillows I have, and the gallery wall I was putting together with prints from artists I've encountered over the years.

The best part? The rug was immediately Meeko-approved.

Saving 53%+ on a gently used rug? Pretty sweet. Creating an energizing work space that's comfortable for me and my "co-workers"? Priceless.