My Favorite Thrift Finds of 2019

For several months now, I’ve been wanting to make a favorite thrift finds of 2019 post. When I thought back to what my favorites were, I could only come up with two things. I thrifted far more than two things last year, of course. I could think of many things, but they weren’t my favorite, not the most practical or useful, not items I used often and with relish. So I decided to stop wracking my brain for more items. Two is enough.

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Mini thermos
I thrifted this late in the year, I can remember bc it was when a friend was staying with us. I had never seen such a small thermos! It seemed like such a useful object. And it has been! It keeps things warm for hours and is perfect for one serving. We mostly use it for oatmeal, but it’s great for warm beverages too!

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Red sketch book
I thrifted this at the Goodwill near my mom’s house (the ones where some pugs were stollen a few years back). This is a really high quality sketch book with nice thick pages. I’ve been using it this year for my monthly goals and for just playing with paints and markers.

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And there you have it. The two thrifted items that really stand out to me from 2019. Both simple, utilitarian, and beautiful.

What were your favorite thrift finds of 2019?

My Favorite Thrifted Items from 2018

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about people best thrifted items from 2018. I started to think about what I would include in my own. 2018 was the year that I really rekindled my love of thrifting, even opening an online vintage clothing shop. Looking back these were the thrifted items that really stuck out to me.

Black Wool Coat
I love this coat!! It’s almost a bat wing coat in black wool with suede details on the shoulders. It’s cozy and warm and makes me feel very scandanavian chic.I got this coat for $10 at a local thrfit shop.

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Oversized Chair
We knew for a long time that we wanted a big puffy chair to cozy up together in. Something bigger than a chair, but smaller than a loveseat. We found the perfect chair at our local ReStore shop. We paid $49 for this chair and every single person in the house loves and uses it.

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Rainbow Mugs
In 2018, I decided that I wanted more rainbow mugs and kept an eye out for them throughout the year. I use them every day and they make me happy! I like that they have become a collection and they lend themselves to the curated living feel that I want to achieve.

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Spiderman Notebook
I’ve talked about this one a lot already bc I use it as my bullet journal, but I love it!! I love using a thrifted bok, I love the size, I love that someone else lived this book and there are drawings scattered throughout.

As you can see all my favorites this year are very useful or utilitarian but also my personal style definitely shows through. What have been some of your favorite or most used thrifted items from 2018?

Mad Cat Capsule: Wardrobe Goals

I’ve had a capsule wardrobe for about a year and a half now and I love it, My style of capsule wardrobe and how I put it together had evolved a lot in that time. That makes sense bc my lifestyle has changed a lot, too! I still have a lot to learn and a lot to do towards having the perfect, for me, capsule wardrobe.

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Here are some of my goals:

Move to an all slow fashion wardrobe
This one is an easy goal to achieve, all it takes is time!! I have completely stoped buying fast fashion, so all I have to do is wait until everything that I had bought before doing so is 10 years plus. After that, everything will be bought from ethical companies, thrifted, or 10 years plus.

Move to an all plastic free wardrobe (mostly)
Right now I still have a lot of clothes that are made with plastic. I’m not sure my closet will ever be completely plastic free. Some of the items are from when I shopped fast fashion, but more of them are vintage. I love to thrift vintage cotton, linen, silk, leather, and other natural fibers but every once in a while there is a fantastic poly or blended piece that I can’t resist. I’d like to get close enough to plastic free that all those items can be washed in a micro plastic capturing laundry bag.

Reduce the over all amount of clothes I have by… a lot.
I have so. many. clothes. Every time I make up my seasonal capsule, I try to pare down and get rid of items that I don’t wear or that don’t fit. But there are more and more clothes, and now that I am thrifting again, there are “new” clothes, too! Before I started thrifting regularly again, I was making a dent. I hope to one day either have a small enough over all wardrobe that I don’t feel that it’s exsessive. Perhaps when I can fit all my clothes into the one closet that now houses my seasonal capsule? I’m not sure how many items that will be, but I think I’ll know it when it happens. That leads me to…

Not buy “new” clothes unless I need them!
I would love to be satisfied with my wardrobe and not feel the need to buy more. I am not a minimalist and don’t plan to become one, but I do want to lessen the over all amount of stuff that I have. Perhaps Instead of not buying I simply rotate out items for “new” ones. A one in, one out wardrobe would be hard for me but may be possible. I love the idea of passing items on to new owners who will love them as much as I did.

These are the big four goals I have. I have some other goals related to my capsule wardrobe but not directly for my wardrobe. What are you goals for the future of your wardrobe?

Recently Thrifted

Since returning to thrifting, I've tried to not buy too much, not buy things I wouldn't need and use. But the problem with thrifting is that you find so much good stuff! It's really hard to limit myself when I see things that I want to "save". Here are a few recent finds:

I'm not sure what I will use this wooden tray for, but I couldn't leave it behind. 

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Thrifting is great for feeding my love for vintage, collections, and vintage collections! I have a deep love for sheets and bedding from the 60s and 70s. I'n not sure what it is about the cool feel and classic patterns (usually floral) of these that make them irresistible. 

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Lastly, I found an amazing hand knit, square, neck sweater in a confetti of colors. I have been really excited to find hand made items over the last few months. There's something amazing about finding a hand made item and giving it new life. I can't wait to wear this in cooler weather and already have an idea that this might be the color inspiration for my Fall 2018 capsule wardrobe. 

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Knowing that items like vintage sheets, once loved hand made pieces, or interesting homewares, will one day be gone, replaced by cookie cutter, cheaply made, unmindfully or inhumanely mass produced, pre-garbage (kipple, if you will), makes thrifting seem like it an important part of the low impact movement and my low waste lifestyle.   

I've even been toying with the idea of a pop up shop, or online store or something fun to share my thrift finds with the world. Do any reader have online shops? Would anyone be interested in purchasing curated second hand items? Comment below!

The Thrifting Bug

When I was younger thrifting was one of my favorite activities. I never stopped thrifting but I did slow down quite a bit. But recently, I've caught the bug again. 

Now that I only buy second hand clothes, I find myself stopping by the local thrift shops quite often. I also keep an eye out for rummage sales, yard sales, etc... I still try not to buy too much, but sometimes I find treasures I can't resist. 

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I try to have a mental list of what items I'm looking for; I love to get shoes, clothing with great fabrics, lovely homewares, vintage toys, and more. But I try to only buy what I need and will use. What do you look for when thrifting?