Category: Thrifting Adventures

[Downsizing Zeal] Collect No More

If we’re patient when waiting in line, sometimes, we can reflect on the actions we do. The person ahead of me in line to drop off donations had a sports-utility-vehicle filled with various boxes and furniture items. I had one humble box. Through pure coincidence, someone purchasing an item in line ahead of mine seemed to have a furniture item matching that donated item; except it was merely a generic item; it wasn’t the same.

WANNA COLLECT SOME THOUGHTS ON WHY WE MIGHT DO WHAT WE DO? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Downsizing Zeal] Ready To Go

I have four TMNT shirts that I haven’t worn since before I moved from my previous residence. None of these are mementos or hold any significant value to me other than presenting a design of a concept that I enjoy. Since my spine surgery and during the recovery process, I’ve been deciding what I can downsize, and three of these shirts are in a box that’s ready to go on my next thrift store adventure.

WANNA CONSIDER HOW, FOR SOME, CLUTTER IS ALMOST AN EXTENSION OF THEMSELVES RATHER THAN SOMETHING THAT CAN BE DOWNSIZED EASILY? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Downsizing Zeal] Worlds of Thrifting

How do I reconcile my inherent recreational urge to want to get out there to explore life and capture the souvenirs of my travels with the discipline to not overdo it? What’s my excitement factor with any given object? I bought three things during this thrift store visit. The third was this ASIAN KING-FU GENERATION CD, WORLD WORLD WORLD. I was so excited to see it I forgot to take a “before finding it” shot.

WANNA CONSIDER ONE WAY I’M TRYING TO AVOID NOT CLUTTERING MY LIFE WITH TOO MUCH STUFF WHILE ALSO DOING MORE IN LIFE? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Tripping On…] Feeling Like Recoverings

I used to often visit the thrift store that would hire people from the nearby AA/NA meetings early on into my recovery. As my spine is recovering, as my body is growing its strength back, and as I feel more able to do more things again, my mind’s memories are returning through that thrift store. While I can’t remember the color of carpet – probably beige – but do remember broader sensations. It feels like I’m re-recovering.

WANNA MEANDER AROUND SOME TOPIC THAT I DON’T WANT TO ADDRESS DIRECTLY BY ADDRESSING ANOTHER TOPIC I HAVEN’T ADDRESSED DIRECTLY MORE DIRECTLY? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Downsizing Zeal] Heal Your Materialism

I like testing my limitations. I used to enjoy going thrifting, but I found the materialistic aspect too addicting, where I’d leave with bagfuls of mediocre objects that I wouldn’t end up doing much of anything with, besides hoarding. Now that thrift stores are reopening, despite COVID-19 cases also reappearing nationwide, can I still go thrifting – as long as I’m careful about what I buy? I nearly purchased three items today. Here’s how it went.

WANNA CONSIDER THAT YOU DON’T NEED TO BUY EVERYTHING YOU SEE? BUT THAT PHOTOGRAPHY WORKS JUST AS WELL? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Travelogue Trivialities] Four Thrifts’s Drop-offs

Thrift stores have been closed for about a month now. That’s a sentence I thought I’d never write, but knee-deep into COVID-19 with no relief in sight, we’re all just hoping that things get better. I’m publishing this a month after I’m writing this, so maybe things will have gotten better. It’s hard to say. I went to drive around yesterday and look at what’s changed, specifically, whether thrift stores received any illegally dumped donations.

WANNA GLIMPSE INTO WHAT SOME SIGHTS LOOKED LIKE IN MID-APRIL 2020? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Downsizing Zeal] Now Just Recycle?

I had been scanning barcodes on books and other media I wanted to get rid of and the two boxes I’ve abstracted in the photo below represent the media I wanted to donate below and the media I wanted to sell above. With these COVID-19 current events, thrift stores are temporarily [as of this writing] closed. Will they reopen after this essay publishes? Should I just recycle or throw out everything instead of donate it?

WANNA CONSIDER HOW DONATING WAS WHEN I WROTE THIS AND MIGHT BE NOW WHEN IT’S PUBLISHED? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Downsizing Zeal] Forbid Hoarding Instincts

Go to thrift stores when they open and you might find these rolling trash bins. When these larger stores have sales, like ‘green tags are 50% off this week only,’ the week after, when it’s blue-tag-week, those unsold green tag items get thrown in these bins to be destroyed. Don’t let your hoarding empathies kick in. Buy something if you need it or love it, but not just because it’s cheap or it might be destroyed.

WANNA CONSIDER HOW YOU CAN OVERCOME YOUR INSTINCTS TO COMPULSIVELY BUY ANYTHING CATCHING YOUR HOARDING FANCY? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Media Meandry] Books To Read

I have acquired many books I want to read, yet my mind constantly encourages me to visit more thrift stores, bookstores, and acquire – rather than read – more. Is it, then, easier to own than read? What if we adjust our thinking away from “acquiring” to “finishing” as the biggest obstacle in completing tasks? We can oversaturate our task-acquisition to anything we want making us spoiled by choice. What if we oversaturate our task-finishing time instead?

WANNA CONSIDER THE SEDUCTION OF DATA ENTRY? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!

[Thrifting Adventures] Thrift Store Sadness

The saddest thing about browsing through thrift stores is seeing these mementos of lives once lived. Family photos and personalized notes written with love are heart-breaking, but all part of the general progression of life. Every rainfall destroys priceless artifacts. When I think about my time working in a thrift store, I remember the priority for the sorters was speed. The furniture department worried about quality, but for the miscellaneous items, just price and go.

WANNA CONSIDER THAT IT’S OUR CHOICE WHETHER WE WANT TO FEEL SAD SEEING TRAGIC FORMERLY-OWNED MEMORIES? CLICK HERE TO KEEP ON READING!