From Goodwill to Whole Foods

by Melissa D. Calder

The Winter Holidays are wrapping up – a time of love, family, religion, and … shopping! Did I mention that I love shopping? Some questions flow with this admission of guilt. Does that mean I am a bad person? Can shopping prolong my life? Well … I actually think it can. The adrenaline rush I get from shopping can make my day. The endorphins rush through my hand into my wrist and up my arm via my neck to my brain and take me away to an excited happy land of Nirvana that tells me that I can possess a brand new item. Sometimes it is an item I have been searching for (maybe even for years), and I am thrilled to have finally found it. Sometimes it is an item that is on sale; (oh my, that word really makes the serotonin levels elevate). Occasionally it is an item that has beautiful packaging and I don’t need it at all but it is just too beautiful to pass up and it makes me feel so good.

There are two places of business in particular that the shopping fix is always guaranteed to be good. I enjoy shopping at both, however they can be completely different experiences for different reasons. One I would have to describe as a world of beautiful, symmetrical displays of sometimes overpriced but perfectly aligned arrangements of food. I call this the mighty land of Whole Foods.

The other has a particular smell that just reeks of cheap but unique authentic clothing. I like to go there for the bargains, the retro clothing, and unique one of a kind finds that are only in your size and usually the only one on the rack. This of course is Goodwill (a wonderful chain of thrift stores).

The two places are similar because I never feel the guilt that one might feel from buying a pair of expensive shoes or spending too much money on a trendy sweater, bag or jewelry. The reason I never feel guilty is because at Goodwill I am automatically saving money by buying recycled goods. Whole Foods is a grocery store, everyone needs to eat, and I truly believe that I make more healthy choices while shopping at this grocery store.
Plus, as I said before they both make me feel good. You can judge me either way on this one because I have heard both.

“You shop at Whole Foods that is way too expensive!”
“You Shop at the Goodwill, why would you want to own someone else’s old clothes?”

Go ahead and judge, but I know it is difficult for anyone to resist an organic apple that has just been freshly sprayed by the cute young man with a beard and a green apron.
So, a more important thought than judgment might be to analyze why we as human beings get this rush from shopping at specific places. I know there are others out there that enjoy these places just as much as I do, if not more. Some of you cynics may think of Goodwill as unsanitary because you are buying clothes that were once worn by someone else or you think that all the clothes at Goodwill are out of style. But perhaps, you just haven’t learned the patience to go searching for the pot of gold in a sea of polyester pants and gold plated belts.

Note: Don’t forget as well to take the time to give your purchases a good wash before wearing them.

The search for these items makes the shopping experience that much more of a rush. Picture yourself walking down aisle after aisle pushing and pulling the metal hangers away from an item that just might have potential. Some days the search through the “thrift store” is like a mild workout. You pushed yourself a bit, but don’t feel overextended. However, other days can be like running on the treadmill and at the end of your run is a black pencil skirt from Donna Karen. Oh yes, life is good. Did I forget to mention that the skirt was only 10 bucks? I can picture the outfit for New Years Eve now, the outfit will be cute and unique and no one needs to know that you purchased it at the “thrift store”; or you can gloat in the fact that you got a cute outfit for less! Shopping at Goodwill helps your wallet and you are supporting Goodwill’s philosophy of supplying job training to people will disabilities.

Just walking into Whole Foods makes me smile. I carry my recycled bag with pride. Look at me fellow shoppers: “I save the earth”! Gosh, that feels good. Not to mention that the canvas whole food bags are amazingly sturdy and can hold many pounds of groceries without breaking! Oh, there are the beautiful organic vegetables, they are so pretty and there are fruits here that I have never heard of before. I wonder if I will see any Top Chef contestants. I feel smart at Whole Foods because I can buy beans and granola. Yes, beans and granola make me feel smart. I stare at the wall of items you can buy in bulk and I pick and choose as much as I want of these items. I decide how much and how many. I don’t have to buy a particular 16 ounce bag that looks like the rest of the bags on the shelf. I can buy my own unique bag of blueberry granola. If I want it to be 16.2 ounces, well, then that is just fine. I continue to the dessert area grabbing a free sample of cheese on the way, another reason I love this place. The desserts are also aesthetically pleasing. They come in small portions. This makes me eat less and feel healthy. I want dessert, but I don’t want to have a whole pie or cake in my home. A perfect Tiramisu for two is just what I was looking for, oh delightful! The salad bar and soup bar are amazing. The choices of freshly prepared food are impressive and unique. Would you like bar-b-Q tofu or a more traditional choice of tomato soup? The choice is yours.

Shopping is not as dirty of a word as some might think. There are many stores out there that not only have the potential to appease the shopping adrenaline rush, but that also contribute a portion of the cost of your purchases to a greater cause. Goodwill Industries create over 10,000 jobs for people with special needs. They have also recently started an online store which creates additional employment. Whole Foods is an organic and natural grocery store that exemplifies “going green” and giving back to the community. A corporation that gives back rather than takes; what a brilliant idea!

So, go ahead and call me a granola loving, tree hugging, smart shopping hipster, because that is exactly what I want to be.

Melissa D. Calder, B.A, M.A.T, is an advocate for innovative education. She recently completed designing an art education book to be published and is busy searching out creativity in the small corners of the World. She is Busy Painting, Creating, Producing, Dreaming, Scheming, Relaxing, Socializing, Being, Critiquing, Judging, Contemplating, Wondering, Wishing, Playing, and Dancing. With her coffee, some music and a creative outlet she is happy.

Getting Rid of all the Excess Junk

By Janel Pfluger

It’s that time of year. Time for the big purge, or the purge before the binge, as I like to think of it. Soon I will be gorging myself on turkey and all the trimmings, and giving my credit cards a workout in attempt to find just the right Christmas gift for my loved ones. But before I indulge it’s time to pare my life down a little. Over the course of a year, I seem to accumulate a lot of “stuff.” My stuff starts to overwhelm me a bit as I try to find places to put it all. When I start to feel anxiety over where I should put all this stuff, I know it’s time to get rid of some of it.

That Time Of The Year

It begins with clothes. Every year, when it is time to put away the summer digs (sigh) and take out the winter gear, I make a point of carefully pruning my wardrobe. If I haven’t worn it for a year, or forgot I even owned it, chances are I don’t love it. In the donation pile it goes. Now for me, this can get hairy. What about that sweater that my aunt gave me for last Christmas? I didn’t have the heart to tell her I didn’t like it, and she never includes a gift receipt, but can I really get rid of clothes that still have the tags on them? The answer is yes, yes I can. All it is doing in my closet is taking up space, when it could be keeping someone warm.

Learning To Let Go

But then what about the pair of jeans that I absolutely love, but have a huge hole in the butt. A huge, non-sewable, not looking like the ripped-on-purpose-jeans, kind of hole. Do I have to get rid of them? Yup, I do. They aren’t doing my back end any favors. Into the trash pile.

Okay, now here’s the hard part that every self respecting lady (and some of you guys too) must learn to do. See that dress (or shirt/pants) that is two sizes smaller than your current size? The one that made you look like a movie star when you were thin enough to wear it? Gently pluck it from your closet of clothes you can actually fit into and drop it into the donation pile. Time to let some other hottie look like a movie star. Eh-eh, no second thoughts. Put it back down. Think of it this way, if you ever do lose weight and get back to that size, you can reward yourself by going shopping for a new favorite dress. Repeat this process with all the other clothes in your wardrobe that do not fit you anymore. Well, okay, you can keep one thing, your skinny jeans. But just for motivation. And only if you really have to, I mean don’t you look pretty fabulous just the way you are?

Room For The New

Now when this is all done, my closet will only consist of the clothes that I actually wear, like, and look good on me. There will be room in it for gifts I may get for Christmas, and for the occasional new item. When I am done bagging up the clothes that I will take to Good Will, I feel satisfied and relieved (once that dress is out of my sight). My closet is neat and organized and I can feel good about donating some decent clothing to charity.

Seeking Out The Junk

Then it’s on to the other stuff: the junk drawer, the bookshelf, the filing cabinet, my drawer full of cosmetics and hair and skin care products. The general rule is if I don’t use it or I don’t need it (in the true sense of the word need), then I get rid of it. Of course there are exceptions. There are pictures that I don’t look at often, but I treasure and do not want to part with. There are back issues of magazines that I haven’t gotten to yet, but will. There are some exceptions I will allow myself, but not many. It’s amazing how freeing it feels to do this every year. Because the truth is, I really don’t need all these things to be happy. In fact, very few of them really make me happy.

The Calm of Clean

After I have gotten rid of all the things that were just taking up space, I feel calmer. When I look around my home, all of the things that are left are things that I truly want, not things that I just have. Of course, it won’t stay this way. Over the course of the next year, I will accumulate more stuff that I don’t need and find myself doing the same thing again next year. But such is life; it’s cyclical. And there are much worse problems to be had.

Janel Pfluger is a writer, career coach, college instructor, and bartender, among other things. She is looking forward to receiving a Master of Arts in English degree in January of 2010, and finally being able to read whatever she wants. Janel enjoys reading, writing, the beach, photography, travel, family, good friends, good beer, good times. She has a passion for words, but cannot stand the words: moist, slacks (as in trousers), and panties. She also thinks everyone should go skydiving at least once in their lives.