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Friday, September 15, 2017

A Commercial Moment: We Heart Poshmark

I let this blog fall into a moribund state because I felt that whatever I had to say about frugality, I had said. But also--and this was a secret--because my daughter and I discovered Poshmark. Poshmark fulfilled one of my fashion/cheapitude fantasies: that all the people who lived near Eileen Fisher outlets, or found the stuff I wanted at thrift stores could get it to me at a not unreasonable price. We tried some of the others (Twice Clothing, Tradesy) but they either went out of biz or became outlets for large commercial concerns.

Poshmark worked for us. As usual with me, things got out of hand. Emma and I sold our stuff, and then....stuff for relatives and friends. And then we also bought things...mostly Eileen Fisher. My cravings for EF have finally subsided. I have enough. So does my daughter, who has a very snazzy wardrobe for someone who is at the beginning of an art career.

Also: I have stopped going to thrift stores and so--surprise--am finally making some headway with the clutter I have amassed.

HERE IS THE COMMERCIAL PITCH. If you use my referral code--marcelproust--after my husband's literary obsession, you get $5 off and WE GET $5 in credit. Other than my Paula's Choice (love!) hawking, this is my only toe-dip into commercialism.

With my usual ineptitude, I am doing  it at a point when I have ALMOST NO READERS.

But just in case you want to try: poshmark.com

Et moi, marcelproust!

Friday, September 8, 2017

Pillow Case

Ceci n'est pas a blog, folks.
I've been writing about various trivial things and will post here as I complete. They are for me.
Older posts remain.

Note to self and universe: I have had to give up thrift stores for the greater good of decluttering. It is tough. Approaching 6 months.


Another difficult part of my decluttering process is LINENS. I love percale sheets, the kind that used to be ordinary and are now impossible to find--200 or so thread count COMBED cotton percale. So I pick them up when I see them. Since they are white, they can be bleached. If one cares. I do not.

I have such linens bursting out of baskets in the few storage areas of my old house. I made a pile, Marie Kondo style.

Well, I didn't get rid of many. I have a lot. Everything sparked joy, sadly. Even the old Cannon twin sheets marked with a hospital laundry code. I figure I won't have to buy linens again for the rest of my life. I did separate by size and function.

My best surprise was at the bottom of a pile. It was a king size case (I don't have a king bed or pillow). Of course, I have no recollection of buying it. It was yellowed. It felt so good. I peered inside to see if there was a label. There was: D Porthault. A $200 pillow case. I imagine its mate was thrown out because of some minor damage and the orphan went to the thrift store where it was sold for 99 cents. 

I washed it and put it on my pillow, a down pillow that was likewise thrifted after I learned that you can wash down items in the machine in hot water. You can. There are loads of down pillows available because pillows have the "EWWWW" factor written about by many thrifting experts. The pillow case looked ridiculous as it is way too big for the pillow. My pillow will not be featured in Architectural Digest

Still, it felt delicious.


Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath, 
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
Chief nourisher in life's feast.