Momcation 2012: The Ace Hotel Palm Springs

Recently I got to take a trip to Palm Springs.My friend was getting married, then he wasn't. And he didn't.  It's a long story. But my girlfriend and I already had our flight arrangements and, well, it just couldn't be prevented. Oh, darn. Must take trip to lovely city and stay at amazing hotel (puts back of hand to forehead and swoons). While we were there, we talked about our friend and his unfortunate marriage outcome, and yes, we mourned for him. How better to mourn than in the massive jacuzzi, right? I kid. It sucked to keep thinking about how my friend must have been feeling.

Here's the cuteness that is the Ace hotel

And here's where we played a Scrabble game we picked up at the Angel View Thrift Store till the wee hours of the evening (for us moms that's 10 p.m.)

We ate virtually every meal here at the Kings Highway, because, um, the food ROCKED! It was a-ma-zing. And the vegetarian options were plentiful.

We didn't ride these complementary bikes, but our excuse was that it was 100 degrees the whole time we were there. We did make it to the complementary yoga session, though.

Did I mention the food? Mmmm chilaquiles and coffee. Yes, please.

If you're headed to Palm Springs, you must check out the Ace. When I have a minute, I'll also be posting more about the cutest little Palm Springs road trip, Idyllwild.

Now, where to go on our next momcation?

Save the world: at the thrift store

Last night I got sucked in to the documentary about No Impact Man, the guy from New York who tried to live for one year making the smallest environmental impact he and his family possibly could. At the time, a lot of people basically poked fun at how he and his family could go with out essentials like toilet paper. One of the components of his "experiment" was to not buy anything new. As I watched, I thought about how shopping at the thrift store (or garage sale, estate sale, etc.) instead of the "regular" store can help us all make a smaller environmental impact.

Here are my ideas for how an average person make a smaller environmental impact without having to go without toilet paper:

Buy cloth napkins and stop buying paper ones

These ones I found on Esty are cute. We only use paper for parties, so we have about 20 - 30 cloth napkins for our family of 4 (so we don't have to do laundry all the time).

Get some great kids toys that are washable and have lots of life left

These building blocks are a great example. They are cleanable, cute, and at least with my little ones are sure to get years of play.

Dishes

When I worked at the thrift store in high school (name is opposite of Badwill), dishes that didn't get purchased after a certain amount of time ended up in the trash. Broken, filling up landfills. It's really hearbreaking to see all those dishes get trashed when I know people go out every day and buy brand new stuff at Crate and Barrel or wherever. Why? The thrifty stuff has character, is cheaper, and works just as well.

Books, books, and more books

Okay, so you probably won't (although you may) find the latest bestseller at the thrift store, you can find tons of great books -- cookbooks, fiction, kid's books, gardening, etc. -- at the thrift store for cheap. The library is great, too, but if you find books at the thrift store you can always see if your library wants them (or your friends/coworkers) when you're done. Or, donate them to an organization who needs them.

Clothes, duh

I buy almost all of my clothes secondhand. I can't tell you how many expensive brand-name items I've picked up this way. Banana Republic, Dansko, J Crew, you name it. I also find great kid's clothes with fancy brand names like Hannah Anderson, too. If you can't get out and about, I was just introduced to ThredUp.com, which is an online kid's consignment store. Kids often outgrow stuff before they wear it out, so this is a genius way to trade your kid's old stuff for some "new" stuff that fits. There is an adult version (or lots of them) called SwapStyle.com, but it is truly a swap (rather than a buy/sell deal) so for me I would rather just hit the thrift store than deal with it.

What else could you get from a thrift store, and thus avoid buying new? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Raising Thrifty Kids

Yeah, I'm thrifty. I sometimes consider reusing things like zippie bags, and stuff. I'll admit it. I keep way too much stuff and I really, really have come to dislike having to spend money on stuff I can find used. It's kind of like a sickness. But a sickness I'm not really interested in curing. It's like mommy's little quirk that everyone has to live with.

Not only that, but I'm constantly thrifting, too. And as a mother of two, my kids are inevitably dragged along to a LOT of estate sales, thrift stores, and all that. In fact, as a two-year-old, my son would sit on the little car at our local McDonald's and say "Hey, mama, I'm going to the thrift store!" Slightly embarrasing? Nah!

Here are my tips on raising a family that values thrift and also loves to thrift!

My son's latest estate sale "find" -- a glittery nutcracker. Hmm...

Raising Thrifty Kids Top 10 List:

1. Be a good example by not wasting stuff and not being a shopaholic.
2. Let them pick stuff out sometimes (you buy, or better yet, have them use their allowance).
3. Set the rules; my kids know that they may not find anything at every thrift store we go to.
4. Figure out fun ways to repurpose the stuff you find into cool kid projects -- how about a robot out of old metalware from the kitchen aisle?
5. Know when to take their cues and change gears, because kids can only take so much "don't touch that."
6. Set limits and budgets for things, like "Hey, you can pick out XYZ for your birthday party, but it has to be under $15" or whatever.
7. Set up an allowance system. We give our older kiddo $2 (he's almost 5). He can spend half and he has to save the other half.
8. Make them learn to pay for their stuff themselves; this is just a good practice for being polite, dealing with strangers, and learning how to count out proper change.
9. Show them that you can often find the same stuff in a thrift store/garage sale/whatever that you can find in a regular store, but for much less.
10. Let them make mistakes. They will make dumb choices with their money and buy poor-quality plastic junk. BUT, that in itself is a lesson. When you make them use their own money, maybe they'll feel a little of the hurt and make a better decision next time.

What are your tips for raising thrifty kids who like to thrift?

My big, fat vintage weekend

This weekend we crammed a lot of vintage-ing in, including a trip to a thrift store (major Garfield-themed scores including a really awesome Garfield phone), an estate sale (smaller, but very cut score of a tartan plaid pencil case from England), and the Vintage Flea & Finds Pop-up Market. The market was small, but we had tons of room to spread out and a great view of the lake.

It was great for shoppers, because the tiki bar (yes, there was a tiki bar out by the lake) had a special on Bloody Mary's and Sugarbomb was selling the most amazing cupcakes. So right there you've got a mass-load of deliciousness to go with your flea finding. Our two kids came along to help and they were super well behaved so the heavens were in alignment for us on many levels. I now have to put my feet up and rest up! Thanks for coming out if you were at the flea market. It was lots of fun!