local shop: birch paperie

It was a weekend full of cards—a preschool graduation card for Alden, a birthday card for me, and father’s day cards for the dads in our life. My new favorite card shop around is Birch Paperie in Tangletown—that hard to describe section of Seattle that isn’t quite Wallingford, and not really Greenlake, and is best known for it’s bakeries and coffee shops. Birch Paperie is located next door to Mighty-O Donuts, and if you blink, you'll probably miss it. But don’t let the size of the shop fool you, it’s packed with carefully selected letterpress cards, beautiful patterned papers, and a few other handmade and luxurious items.

The first time I went in the shop, I expected the prices to be pretty high, but I was surprised to see that most of the the cards were in the $4 to $5 price range with a few as much as $7, but several in the $3 range. If you've bought cards at Hallmark or practically any other retailer, you'll know that most greeting cards these days—even the most basic—are at least $2 or $3. I'd much rather fork over an extra buck to support a local business, selling the work of mostly local artists.

Patrick was able to stop by Birch on Friday to get the cards he needed (isn't the birthday card he and Tula picked out for me cute?!) and I had planned to slip in after our usual Saturday morning donut pilgrimage to pick up a father's day card—yes, I know I’m a procrastinator. Plans quickly changed when I woke up on Saturday, my birthday, with food poisoning. Instead, I spent the morning curled up in a ball, thinking my body was going to turn itself inside out.

Because the shop has very limited hours (it's generally only open Thursdays and Fridays 11–4, and Saturdays 9–2) I was out of luck this holiday. The kids and I decided to go the homemade route, and put together a card and some stories that they each wrote for their dad.

Good thing I have a few more family birthdays coming up, though, so that I can still go card shopping. Maybe the Father's day cards will even be on sale. Stop by and check out the shop if you're ever on the hunt for the perfect card. It's also a great excuse for a detour to Mighty-O for arguably the best donut in town.

friday finds: salt & pepper shakers!

Tomorrow is my birthday, which means I get spoiled by my wonderful husband and kids, but it also means that my driver's license needs renewing. Before I could do any thrift store shopping this morning, I needed to make a stop into the DMV (woohoo). I was prepared to spend all morning waiting to hear my number be called, but I was pleasantly surprised that the whole process—picture and all—took under ten minutes. Here's a little tip for when it's time for you to renew: go to the Department of Licensing on Aurora and 185th! They are so much better than any of the other locations I've tried.

Because the licensing office was so efficient, I was able to make two stops this morning to do some thrifting. First I stopped into Goodwill. There wasn't much there that I was interested in, but I did find some salt and pepper shakers for $1. They aren't quite as impressive as some of the other ones I've seen on Etsy and other sites, but I'm happy with how clean and simple they look.

Next, I stopped into what may have been the worst advertised church rummage sale I've ever seen. I noticed a sandwich board on my way to drop Alden off at preschool that said "CHURCH 9-3 Friday & Saturday, 8th NE." I assumed they had unintentionally left off the important words "Rummage Sale," otherwise, that would be one long church service. I drove to the church, and I didn't see any other signs, but I parked anyway, and walked around the building looking for the sale. While I was circling the building I saw this sign—on the ground, with some deflated balloons:


Finally, I found a back door with a little flyer and some arrows. The sale was about as good their signs, but I still managed to find a few nice things that were really cheap—a gorgeous wood bowl for $1, a super cute winter hat/scarf combo for Tula, and some other clothing items that I won't bore you with. Between both places I spent a whopping $3.50 this morning.


Send a photo of your most beloved thrift store purchase to modernthrifter@gmail.com, and I'll pick a few to feature each Friday.

teacher gifts - ABC3D

Tomorrow is Alden's last day of preschool, and he's loved his school and his teachers so much that we wanted to get them something special. You might have already seen Marion Bataille's pop-up book, ABC3D, because it's been out for a few years. It's been one of our favorite books since Alden was given one for his fourth birthday by his cousins. We thought it would be a great thank-you gift for his two teachers and we hope that the kids that come to preschool next year can enjoy it, too. Watch this quick video of how amazing all of the pop-up letters are:

my not-so-thrifty food budget

Something you might not know about me is that I love food almost as much as I love thrifting. I enjoy baking, cooking, reading about cooking, and shopping for food. For years it was a struggle because I tried to be as thrifty with food as I am with furniture. The problem is, most of the time the cheapest food is void of both flavor and nutrition.

Last fall I read Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of Food Life, after which Patrick and I watched Food Inc. together. I highly recommend checking out both, but be prepared for your philosophy on food to do a 180. I won't go into all of the details of what changed our minds, but we both came to the realization that our food budget needed to be near the top of our financial priorities.

We switched to all organic, and as much local food as possible. We started shopping weekly at the farmers' market—something I suggest starting in the summer when the bounty is plentiful. It wasn't long before the freshness and flavor of the food convinced us that buying local and organic was well worth the extra expense and effort. There are other benefits to joining the sustainable food movement, too. Here's an excerpt from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

"If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast."

In order to buy better food, we had to increase our grocery budget by about 30%. Like most families, it wasn't an option for us just to increase our spending by that amount, we needed to figure out a way to compensate for the higher food bill. We were committed, though, to figuring out how to make it work. Here are just a few ways that made it possible:

1. Stop wasting food. This was huge for me because I tend to buy something and use a small portion of it, letting the rest go bad in the bottom of my refrigerator's vegetable drawer. It's pretty much the same thing as throwing money directly in the garbage. I still struggle with this, but I'm slowly improving.

2. Determine financial priorities. We don't have cable TV or fancy electronics, and our newest car is ten years old. We don't spend very much on entertainment, but for us going to the thrift store and to the farmers' market are both sources of entertainment. We go to the market as a family every week, and the kids get to go around to all the booths and taste all of the samples. Our favorite market, the University District Farmers' Market, also has a playground attached, so on the dry days the kids get to play while I go back around to make all of my purchases.

3. Eat at home. Our family seldom eats at restaurants, although we have recently added a weekly Sunday lunch out together because Patrick works a fourteen hour day and it's really the only chance we get to spend time together that day. We usually go to chipotle, and the tab for the four of us is $20. The great thing about eating at home is that we save so much money by skipping the restaurants that we get to eat really delicious food, and drink nice wine everyday.

4. Reduce the number of snacks you buy. I've tried to significantly cut back on the pre-made packaged snack foods that I put in my shopping cart. These are obscenely overpriced and wastefully packaged. Instead, we buy things like granola, raisins, popcorn kernels, and nuts from the bulk section at the grocery store. The summer is great because there is more local fruit available for snacking, too.

5. Create a weekly meal plan. By planning meals for the week that share a few ingredients, I can significantly reduce my grocery bill and the amount of food I waste.

Though I'm no expert, there is so much more I could say on this subject, but since this is a thrifting blog, and not a food blog, I'll just leave you with a few links worth checking out:

Local Food Resources:
Edible Communities
Slow Food USA
USDA's Farmers' Market List

Budgeting:
Dave Ramsey

Recipes and Food Blogs:
Epicurious
The Sated Palate
Not Without Salt
Good Things Catered
Jamie Oliver

photo credits: Laura*B, & Tapir Girl via Flickr

grilling with MacGruber

It's mid-June, which in most parts of the country means that sunny days, shorts, and grilling are already routine. In Seattle, it means it might finally be time to put away the raincoat. Just don't tuck it too far back in the closet, because the weather is still spotty at best. This past weekend was the nicest by far that we've had this year, and we were longing to hear the sizzling sound of burgers on the grill. I recently bought some hamburger patties from the Skagit River Ranch—organic, grass fed, and the best tasting beef I think I've ever had. Unfortunately, we are grill-less at the moment, so I had to cook them on the George Foreman—not quite the same.

Several summers ago—after we purchased our first house and were flat broke—we thought we scored a great Char-Broil gas grill for free on Craigslist. We set it out on our back patio and grabbed some bratwurst to inaugurate our first summer in the new house. Patrick fired it up, I threw on the meat, and we stood back admiring the spiffy new grill, which was pretty nice for being free. The illusion was shattered, though, the moment we noticed that flames were coming out of the bottom of the grill and traveling down the propane line toward the tank. We were momentarily frozen. Should we reach down to try to shut off the tank or just run before the whole thing exploded?! Thankfully, Patrick was able to close the valve before the tank could blow us into the neighbor's yard. Thanks, generous Craigslister, for the free deathtrap.

After doing some tinkering, we discovered that only one side of the grill had malfunctioned, and we could still use the right side without having to fear for our lives. Like I mentioned, we were totally broke, so a free, half-broken grill was really all we could afford. We used that grill for four years, until some friends kindly loaned their charcoal grill to us for a few seasons. We have since thrown the Char-Broil bbq into the dump—something that I hate doing, but we were not about to let someone else blow up their backyard. We have also returned our friends' grill to them and I think after six years, we are finally ready to buy a new one.


Although I like the look of this grill, which is only about $1500 over our budget, I think we'll probably end up with a classic Weber charcoal grill.



Let me just remind people of something that is a little pet peeve of mine. If you plan on selling something on Craigslist, listing it for free, or donating it to the thrift store, please use full disclosure. I think this is especially important when it comes to things that hook up to a twenty pound tank of flammable gas.

friday finds - saturday edition

I wasn't able to post this find yesterday because we were headed out of town to visit family on beautiful Whidbey Island, and to visit the farm in Skagit Valley where we get our milk. If you've never been up to this area of Western Washington, it's well worth the trip.

Back to my find... I picked up this Thonet stool last friday at Goodwill for $9. It's really solid, and has only minor scuffing on the wood legs. It's also white and wood, so I suppose no one should be surprised that I brought it home. It is marked with the Thonet name on the bottom of the seat, and also has the name of an optometry clinic written on the bottom.


I'm not sure if I've found a permanent spot for it in our home yet. So far we've tried it in the entry and in our bedroom as a little side table. It's the perfect size for the awkward little space between the bed and the closet—narrow enough that the closet door can still swing nearly all the way open, but big enough to set my ipod, a book, and a cup. But, I've also contemplated using it outside on our deck.


Show off your most treasured thrifted find! Email a description and a jpeg file to modernthrifter@gmail.com.

insight from a 5-year-old

Sometimes my kids catch me off gaurd by saying something surprisingly insightful. Yesterday my 5-year-old, Alden, out of the blue while playing Legos said, "Mom, you and dad are always looking for new furniture. You never stop looking, you just always get something new and then find a place for it, 'cause that's what people do."

Crap. Is that what I do?

I can say in my defense that we really don't own more furniture than most people (with the exception of our chairs), and in many cases, we probably have less. We have just acquired it over a very long period of time instead of in a few massive pottery barn shopping trips. The boy has a point, though. Will I ever stop looking? Am I always in need of something new? There is something thrilling about thrift store shopping. The hunt for the treasure buried in the piles of junk is often times just as exhilarating as the actual find. I think it can be a lot like gambling—it's hard to quit after you've won a few times, because you know there's always the possibility that you'll win again.

The question is, where is the line between thrifting as a hobby, and thrifting as an addiction? Thrift stores, ebay, and craigslist can all become forms of retail therapy, and can be used to self-medicate. It is frighteningly easy to let passions and hobbies overtake our real priorities and become the objects of our worship, giving them too much of our time, heart, and money.

Thankfully, I think I'm still in the "hobby" category, but I know I'll need to regularly check my heart on this issue.