Sustainability and Frguality

I love it when I find ways to combine my interest is sustainability with my desire to be more frugal. I saw a great article in the Chicago Tribune about a recent law school grad who finds her clothes on the street.

I will admit that this might be a bit extreme for me, but I am a big proponent of doing similar things such as finding housewares on the street. My husband would kill me if I took home street finds now since he's has a cleanliness complex (he doesn't even want me to buy things from thrift shops). I have tried explaining how new clothes have been tried on, but he is unwilling to buy that line of thinking.

When I was living in NYC, I did find a pair of Calvin Klein jeans in a paper bag next to the garbage in my apartment building. I took them home, washed them (even though they already seemed clean) and tried them on. They fit, but unfortunately the previous owner was skinnier than me. I think I still have them around somewhere since I was planning on selling them on eBay.

I think New York in the mecca for street finds. There are a lot of busy, wealthy individuals who are unwilling to find a place to donate their perfectly usable, but undesirable to them items.

Walking around my old neighborhood, I found a really cute wooden table with stars painted on it, a dish rack (which I used since my store bought one broke), books and many other things.

There are many things that I want to do, but have not yet incorporated into my life. Decreasing my consumer consumption is one of my goals. This is pretty difficult for me since I love to shop, but I'm hoping that it will get easier with time.