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]]> http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/2011/01/we-bought-a-dyson/feed/ 2 http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/2010/03/the-art-of-the-clothing-swap/ http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/2010/03/the-art-of-the-clothing-swap/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:00:55 +0000 Jamie Lee http://www.startingoutsavvy.com/?p=1117 I’m not sure if this is a nationwide phenomenon or if it’s just Austin’s eco-conscious mindset, but it seems like every time I turn around clothing swaps are popping up on social calendars.  I’d never heard of a clothing swap until recently when a friend told me that it was a recessionistas answer to the economic downturn.  Basically everyone brings things they don’t want, everyone exchanges clothes and you donate the leftovers. Hmm, so I meet up with all my friends and we trade clothes? That just sounded preposterous. I mean, we all have different body types and if we want to get rid of it, wouldn’t our like minded friends want to get rid of it as well?

I remained skeptical until I heard of a clothing swap with free cupcakes and wine. I’m not a girl who turns down a free cupcake, so my friend and I grabbed some old clothes and drove to the event. When we got there we saw racks of clothes divided into categories of t-shirts, tank tops, tops, skirts, purses, jewelry, jeans, shoes, etc. It was heavenly. The girl who was hosting the party gave a quick thanks and we all raided the clothes. She had a dressing room set up but everyone inevitably ended up changing and traded clothes in the bathroom, hallway, and bedroom–basically anywhere that wasn’t in front of the giant wall sized window in the living room.

There was no fighting over who got what, instead all the girls were so supportive. Someone would turn around and say, “Oh I don’t know if this fits,” and everyone would counter saying, “No you look awesome!” Girls would see each other trying on something they’d brought and without even a hint of jealousy exclaim, “OMG that looks so much better on you than it ever did on me!!” It was such an amazing event and I met so many great women and tried on some beautiful things. Free Seven Jeans-uh, yes please. I returned home with number of diferent goodies and a smile on my face.

For those of you who need photos, here is one of my favorite tops that I brought home.

I got a few more, a couple dresses, and a scarf. It was like Christmas all over again.

This weekend Austin hosted its 2nd Annual Women’s Clothing Swap. There were free haircuts, an alteration center, and lots and lots of free clothes. It sounded too good to be true. I went with the same friend that accompanied me to the last event and I have to be honest: we were really disappointed. I really want to say we loved it, but the clothes were more outcasts from Goodwill than great finds from Buffalo Exchange. In addition, the girls in attendance were nowhere near as communal. People were territorial and giving everyone mean looks. It was terrible. I grabbed a few things like an ugly suit that may have a salvageable skirt and another skirt that is literally four sizes too big. I figure its cheaper to learn to sew using free clothes as fabric than it is buying some from the store.

So, what’s the take away from this post? I think clothing swaps are a good idea, but in the future I will probably opt for the small-medium sized ones where I know the girls and people are actually interacting with one another. There’s a lot of fun to be had at these things, I just think it was lost in the masses for the event this weekend.

And just for fun, here are some recommendations on what to wear if you opt to go to one yourself.

• Think of it like being in 7th grade gym class all over again. Save your sexy underwear for another time. You’re going to be changing a lot. I wore tights and a sports bra, but then again I’m pretty shy and modest.
• Wear shoes that you can slip on and off easily. You don’t want to be tying and untying your shoes but you don’t want to abandon them either. People tend to think items that are left alone are free for the taking.
• Choose things that you can layer clothes over and still get an idea of what an outfit looks like. This helps minimizes changing time.
• Don’t wear a dress. Skirts are good, but dresses leave you searching for a top to pair with the bottoms that you’re trying on, which means that you lose valuable time.
• Bring a huge bag to stash your new finds.

If you’re not as modest as I am then a lot of the advice above may not apply. And because I’m an absolute dork, Peter took ridiculous pictures of me wearing a good  ”Clothing Swap Outfit.” I wouldn’t usually recommend a cardigan because its just one more thing to keep track of, but I get cold all the time so I usually don’t leave the house without one.

Okay, yeah I’m officially the biggest dork ever (and no, I don’t follow the no pairing black and navy fashion rule). Anyway, have any of you been to a clothing swap? What was your experience like? Did any other Austinites make it the one this weekend and have a completely different experience?

With these issues in mind, it is rather difficult to make a meal for under ten dollars. I tried eating less, but found I was spending more on cereal to eat before I went to bed, which defeated the purpose of trying to save money. We’re still thinking of ways to solve the problem, but one solution that we have come across involves using what we have in combination with some fresh items that we buy. This is a nice idea, because it allows us to be inventive about our meals without breaking the bank, as I am tempted to do every time I go to the grocery store. It’s a fun challenge and a nice diversion when we’re bored at work to think of what we can make with the stuff in our fridge or freezer. Combining what we have with fresh ingredients makes us avoid feeling like we are eating leftovers, which I HATE. I know it’s thrifty to eat leftovers, but come on. I feel like I’m eating garbage and nothing I do can get me past that.

Example! We had a large dinner party with a pasta dish as the main entrée. This dish had meatballs, but we did not use all the meat. Instead, we had about a half pound each of ground turkey and ground beef in the freezer. It had been in there for a while, but thanks to Ziploc, the meat was still in really good shape.

We added some shredded cheese from a few nights back when we made tacos to make some really good burgers.

What’s nice about this recipe is how surprisingly good the burgers were – they were very different from pure turkey or beef burgers. Turkey burgers are generally bone dry, especially on the grill, and beef burgers taste good (of course) but red meat is not the best thing for you. So this little combination gave us less red meat with all the moisture of red meat. These paired with homemade oven bakes fries made for a delicious dinner!

Looking for more tips on cooking for less? Try here!

One of the easiest ways to make low cost meals is to invest in fresh herbs that you can grow in your home. Indoors or outdoors, most herbs are hearty and grow quickly. Having your own herbs saves lots of money at the grocery store. Herbs also drastically improve a dish. They don’t just look cool.

Recipes (especially stews and sauces) will often call for dried herbs and the best way to handle this side of cooking is to purchase a set of spices. It is pretty easy to find an eighteen spice set, which often comes with its own rack. It is especially helpful to get one of these if you are beginning to cook, because you will learn pretty quickly which spices you use the most, and can avoid stocking up on spices you will never use. We got one of our first spice racks from Costco. Then as we wanted to try new spices, we bought them in bulk, sometimes with a friend so that we wouldn’t have to worry about using the spices before they went bad and we could share the cost.

Unless you are roasting garlic, buying, storing, and cutting whole cloves of garlic wastes time and money. We bought a large jar of minced garlic and cannot tell the difference between the jar and the chopped garlic I have repeatedly labored over in the kitchen. Having worked in numerous restaurants, I can attest that they have all relied on this method as well, because chefs do not have the time to cut their own garlic for all the dishes they make.

If you are tight on cash, it is tough to get over the fear of cooking something that might taste bad, but you will save money in the long run. Start simply and make one dish repeatedly, and practice until you start to improve. The dish should be relatively cheap, like pasta with fresh tomato sauce, which does not require very many ingredients and can be made in small amounts.

Images courtesy of The English, Garden, The Flying Pig and Eathy Finds.

But I thought of Kasey and went with the neon budget cloths. I think she would be proud. Instead of one Method cloth for $5 I bought three for the same price. Now I’m noticing dust everywhere, but even things like the lamp shades on our shelf that I thought would never live to see a clean day are looking so much better! Look at all of the disgusting dirt and grime in this before picture:

Here is the much cleaner after. It’s not perfect but between the new filter and these great dusting cloths, I’m beginning to think that the air we are breathing is much cleaner.

Any recent impulse buys out there in the blogosphere? Given the chance would you buy it again or did you find yourself wishing that you could return it?

Image courtesy of About.com.