• Boston

    consignment

    consignment_pile

    Joe’s bike was stolen last week. Emailing the renter’s insurance rep about it, trying to estimate the value from afar…It got me thinking about possessions. Loved, lost, cast aside, and in between. Will I always remember the sweatshirt I lost on Mackinaw Island, amidst the fudge and the horse-drawn carts? And how my mom told me I lost it because someone else was meant to find it. I hated that she said that, and yet it is still how I comfort myself over lost items to this day.

    Let’s not turn this into soliloquy but I can tell you that somewhere in my head is a carefully noted legal pad with everything I’ve ever lost unexpectedly. I’m not proud of it, but it gets pulled out every now and then, and added to, and I read it over and think, DAMN IT I LIKED THAT JEAN JACKET.

    The zillions of things I’ve purged to goodwill? Not so much.

    consignment_pile

    I’m not sure why consigning things appeals to me. It takes time–you usually have to spiff up your castoff clothes, and call ahead to schedule an appointment. You have to time your purges with the changing seasons so you’re not showing up with flip flops in October. And I do believe in the mission of a goodwill or a Salvation Army, goodness knows I love to shop them when I have an afternoon to myself. Joe and I frequently remark that the drop-off experience at Goodwill needs to be remade by a big name consulting agency. They make you feel furtive and ashamed for showing up and giving them all your stuff. Like, “uh, sure, just dump that here. Thanks, I guess.” Consignment shops, on the other hand, make your stuff feel valued. They say, oh this is lovely, Sure, we’ll take it and sell it for you, someone will love it. Poor Little Rich Girl, my preferred Boston consignment shop, types up a list of all your items with their remarks, like “100% cashmere sweater. So cute and the best color for this season.” And you walk away thinking, yes that was a good buy, it just didn’t work for me at the time!

    Do you ever consign your things? Oh, and I really enjoyed Allie’s carefully built wardrobe post–that’s a big SOMEDAY dream for me.