My brother’s girlfriend makes me sick. She only washes her face in the shower, sleeps in her mascara and wears it out the next day, never looks bad and never has a zit. She also never pays more than $1.99 for any piece of clothing. She has mastered the art of thrifting years after I gave up on “The Sal” as she calls it. She’s younger than me and has more energy to dig, but I have a hard time understanding how she still finds anything much less the amazing outfits she shows up to Christmas in.
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| Teresa in a blouse from 1974 and mascara from last night |
My days of digging tapered off as I stopped wearing vintage ad tees & jelly bracelets. I found that each trip to Goodwill produced less finds unless I wanted a Barbara Streisand LP or a Florida Blood Services “I donated” XXL t-shirt. Where did all the gems go? The vintage petticoats and wool pencil skirts? They went to another retailer of course. Today, some eager twenty-something’s job description includes the following: drive to every thrift store in town, snag a dead retiree’s 1960’s Chanel Peacoat, pay $3.99, snap a pic, sell it on eBay for $150.00 and repeat. Sometimes they find stuff, sometimes they don’t. What they do find, they keep me from wearing! Since they have picked up the pace, I have deemed thrift stores a moderate waste of time. I don’t have the energy to put forth. So what are my options if I want to be classically clad and not drop anything bigger than a Lincoln?
Teresa (the GF) insists that half-off Wednesdays at the Salvation Army in Tampa have taken over her wardrobe, saved her wallet, and also quenched her thirst for shopping. I need all of the above and I am ready for her to prove me wrong. Since I have showed an interest again, she has already dropped off 2 blazers and 4 silky awesome work shirts she picked up for me (under 20 bucks). I am dedicating this blog post not to entertain or to vent, but to hold myself accountable to revisiting something I once loved to do. Let’s see what we can find.
