More than a Cheapskate

Thinking about thrift again- & I got a pile of books out of the library. (There is another vintage one that I ordered from the main branch, which I wait for with anticipation...) The most interesting one is THE CHEAPSKATE NEXT DOOR by Jeff Yeager.  I agree with many of his tenets that is it is better to be frugal than go with the next styles -  but it is all a little rustic for me - along the lines of keeping your own hens, slaughtering your own meat and such. I live in Hollywood, for heaven's sake. Yes, I am now using Zipcar car sharing to go to auditions, as I wait for a second car - but as an actress and performer, no matter how down home I get, I need to keep up to date on some levels.  I have to keep up certain appearances that some of his cheapskates can avoid. Sure,. my life is pretty basic, and I do spend a lot of time in front of my computer in jeans and tee shirts or sweat shirts - but I have a chance to go to an industry cocktail mixer at the famed Skybar - & I have to have something to wear THERE, too. 

Luckily, I am prepared - with my orange corduroy ruffled neck jacket (originally from Chico's but I snagged it at a thrift shop) which makes a splash every time I wear it - Great jackets and jeans or pants can be worn almost everywhere, so I collect them.....Looking forward to it. It's hard to live so close to all the glitz and not indulge in it every once in a while! So we have the accessories, the shoes, the jewelry and so on....all acquired at way below market prices.

Last weekend I found a great light jacket - another one in ORANGE - at Goodwill - $5!! It was marked at a VERY large size (22) but I don't know how anyone that size would wear it, as it fits me at a 14!! (Thriftshop clothes are very often sized wrong, so watch out for that.) Another mis-sized item was a pair of NEW Mozo open-toed sandals, built for the ages out of solid leather - a size SMALLER than I usually wear - but they FIT anyway - and even at $9 they were a steal - They still had the tag on them and retail for $70-100 new. (I looked it up.) But they needed some breaking in - The toe area was stiff and a bit tight - so I have been applying alcohol to wet it and stretch it out and wearing them around the house. I used to use shoe stretch, but then I found out that cheap cologne (90% alcohol) or plain rubbing alcohol will do. These sandals will be  perfect go-tos for the Spring and Summer.  I know, I am not supposed to age myself with sensible shoes - but one does have to mind one's feet, and I CAN'T wear more than kitten heels these days.

I agree with the Cheapskate that change is not always progress, but life around you is morphing anyway - I suppose I am a bit of a Luddite - and I found signing in to the audition today on a touchscreen device a bit of a pain - But I have to know how to do it & how to put a credit card into the parking meter. Ugh. And it's all in a day's work. Woody Allen was right, sometimes in life what matters is just showing up and in the process dealing with the Zipcar and its card - and the parking meter which won't take change - and the touchscreen sign in -   and then some loose cords and a computer crisis at home. (Luckily I got back online, as I couldn't remember how to sign in on the secondary laptop!) Is that progress? But I have to have a cell phone and do submissions online and sign in the way they want me to, whether I like it or not!  So, I just stay a step behind everybody where the technology is cheaper for being ever so slightly dated! It's a compromise the real cheapskates would have a hard time with - so I am just thrifty, I guess!

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