Stuff

I was thinking of starting a new regular column over here about thrift shopping and style and stuff. Because there is pleasure to be found in stuff, especially when it’s cheap and treasure hunted. Thrift shops make for a thrilling experience, and since beautiful but boring day-to-day life with a baby doesn’t allow for many of those, I appreciate it from the bottom depths of my shallow little heart.

I generally hunt for leather bags and linen or silk or wool, or embroidered, crochet cotton. Lately I have been noticing the jewelry section also, which I used to ignore because of no interest in “costume” jewelry, which for me meant plastic crap. But I have relaxed my ways a bit lately, to allow some excitement at the sight of a long non-precious metal or glass-bead necklace. What’s the harm, after all, right? Metal and glass are still natural materials, after all. Right? Right. (That was not a rhetorical question, and I do need to answer it myself because nobody else reads this blog.)

So, yeah, stuff can be exhilarating (and almost ethical), especially when it’s already used, cheap, well made, and pretty. All must apply, otherwise consumer guilt comes haunting at night, and destruction of the planet from overproduction of crap and creation of garbage becomes terrifying nightmares that don’t really stop in the light of the day either.

Minimalism is of course appealing and clearly the more ethical choice, but it is such a difficult commitment. At least for me. I am not a saint, in spite of the image I might try to create on the Internets. For this moment in my life, thrift shopping gets a lot of love over here, and it will show its pretty face on the blog from time to time, with your permission. (Yes, all right, “you” is just a hypothetical concept on this blog of mine, as “you” very well know. And “we” don’t need to mention it again, OK?)