Thursday 7 November 2013

sustainability secondhand style

I've sheepishly approached this keyboard, like a naughty puppy with my tail between my legs, because it's been nearly two months since I've written. Bad blogger!  What can I say? It's been a tumultuous couple of months in my personal life and I'm in the process of re-balancing.

A big part of that balance included moving back to my beloved Sydney, and gosh, she certainly has welcomed me home with open arms! My Aussie family has taken such wonderful care of me and my hubby, the weather has been shining, and sustainability is in the air. In case you missed it, (and who could blame you with your friendly greenie blogger absent from the scene) we just wrapped up Buy Nothing New Month.

I enjoyed two fabulous events that took place during Buy Nothing New Month - the Round She Goes secondhand clothes market and the Garage Sale Trail - and I found a number of secondhand treasures at each. I also had my first visit to the Marrickville Reverse Garbage (I've previously visited the Taylor Square location when recovering my old kitchen chairs, but hadn't made it to the original site).

Round She Goes
This was a perfect morning for me and my best gals to have a bit of fun and reconnect after my hiatus up north. We arrived at Marrickville Town Hall toward the start of the event to make sure we got the best of the fashion, and I'd say it was a huge success for the four of us.  There were at least 5 rows of market stalls ranging from serious vintage collections, to playful op shop wear, to style mavens who wanted to make more room in their wardrobes for next season. I owe a huge thanks to this last group of stylish women for keeping me on trend on a seriously tight budget. I've been living out of the same suitcase for 5 months now, and I was in desperate need of some updates.

Get ready to get some secondhand bargains!
Bargains to be found everywhere.

There were treasures abound in this filled-to-the-brim town hall.

I bought a couple bits from this stylish woman.

Beautiful vintage pieces and styled stalls.
 
This was my loot from the day - practically new pieces for only $70.

After all the fun we had, you can bet I'll be keeping these fabulous markets on my radar. Round She Goes hosts markets in Melboure and Adelaide as well.

Reverse Garbage
Since I was already in Marrickville for the markets, following brunch I trekked up to Reverse Garbage to see what was on offer that day.

Ahh, the big room, where you're only limited by your imagination. . .

A few lovely finished products.

Garage Sale Trail
This was the Trail's 3rd year, and I'd hazard a guess that it was it's biggest year yet. With an interactive, mobile-friendly website that enabled buyers to see photos of goods up for grabs and plan their trail, garage sale shopping has never been easier.  Many sellers added to the fun by having music, cakes and cookies, too. This was a fabulous community-building event, that happens to do awesome things for the planet, too, by diverting goods from the landfill and preventing new stuff to be made when pre-loved will do the trick.

I spent $62 on all the below goodies - bargain of the day was a $5 cast iron cooking dish that I know retails for over $300. Lucky!

I'm beyond pleased with my Garage Sale Trail treasures!

Did you have better success with Buy Nothing New Month? What's the best secondhand find you've had lately?

xxLisa

Okay. Full disclosure: I did not succeed in buying nothing new during the month. I have an apartment that needs fitting out and some of the items I purchased new. I wish there was a 'day off' pass you could purchase from Buy Nothing New with donations going to some awesome climate fund somewhere to appease my eco-guilt. I know, I know, we can't buy away the world's climate problems . . .

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