UsedEverywhere.com

Garage sale: lost in translation?

A long time ago I had a friend who was the daughter of educated French parents who’d transplanted themselves to Canada. They loved their adopted country.

When they first came to to Canada they marveled at the verdant and lovely quality of Canadian Spring. After the long harsh winter it was truly a blessing, a time of happiness and renewal and rebirth. Everything was so joyously fragrant and green, a sight for sore eyes, especially after so many months of so many shades of white and grey. There was one odd thing they couldn’t understand about Spring in this new country. As they drove through their neighbourhood they couldn’t understand why so many homes had signs on their lawns advertising the fact they had dirty garages. It was shocking. And odd. They couldn’t figure it out. Who would do such a thing? And why?

They didn’t figure it out until an Anglophone friend explained that “Garage Sale” doesn’t mean “Filthy Garage,” it just means that the people are selling their old stuff. You see, in French, sale translates to something that’s dirty, nasty, foul, and unclean.

Translation issues aside, garage sales, or yard sales, or whatever you call them, don’t mean the same thing for everyone everywhere. This is something I’ve always wanted to explore. I’ve always wondered if people in other countries have garage sales too or if it is largely the invention of our own society. Is the garage sale a product of the crazy style- and gadget-driven consumer-oriented part of the world we live in today? What do you think?

When I was 18 I was travelling in the Czech Republic. One evening I was having a few beers with a friend. (Because that’s what you do in Prague, where beer is big.) I don’t know how we got on the topic, but we got to talking about garage sales. At first she didn’t understand what I was talking about.

“What do you mean you sell your stuff,” she asked.

I could see that she wasn’t kidding. She’d really never heard of a garage sale. In fact, she appeared to be astounded at the very idea. I continued, grasping for the right words to explain.

“If you were hosting a garage sale you’d sort through our things and decide what you didn’t want.” I said, slowly. “Then you put little price tags on each individual item, and put it all on a table in front of your house.”

“The house where I live?”

“Of course.”

“And who buys this stuff?” By this point she was totally flabbergasted. “Do you sell it to your friends and neighbours? Your neighbours go through your old STUFF?”

I mulled this over. I could see what she was getting at. “Well. Yes.”

By this time my friend was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe. In fact, she was practically hyperventilating. “Your … neighbours … buy YOUR … old… things… BWA HA HA!”

She nearly fell off her stool, unable to speak. People were beginning to stare. Seriously. And I swear it wasn’t the beer talking. I think she was imagining a table full of raggedy old underwear and broken dishes. I was mildly offended at the time but I now understand where she was coming from. My friend was born in a former communist country at a time when people didn’t own a lot of things. As a result, their relationship with stuff was different than ours.

That’s when I learned that garage sales are a rather unique, and a rather new, cultural phenomenon. Perhaps they are limited to people on this side of the ocean? I’m still not sure. If anyone is reading this from far away I’d sure like to know.

Purple Party

You may have noticed that we like purple here at UsedEverywhere.com. It’s kind of our colour.

But what is purple? Really, the colour purple is the combination of red, a colour sometimes associated with agitation, heat, passion, and anger, and blue, which is sometimes identified with serene, calm and, well, depression. Put all those together and you get the well-balanced prettiness known as purple.

We all know that purple is a colour associated with royalty (because back in the day, purple dye was slow and expensive to make, don’t ya know?) but what else does purple have to offer? Well, I compiled 7 interesting, personal purply facts to share with you!

1. My Pet Monster is the first thing that comes into my head when I think about purple, even though he was mostly blue

2. My grandma had a 90+ year old neighbour with purple hair

3. Klingons have purple blood

4. In some East Asian countries purple is the colour of death

5. Scared of purple? You might have Porphyrophobia

6. I can’t think of anything that rhymes with “purple”

7. When I was 8 I used purple balloons to dress up as grapes for Halloween

The Stresses of the Wandering Student

Creative Commons Image | Courtesy of fredthechicken

April and May are such awkward months for university students. Everyone has their thing – some are local, some are out-of-province, some are international, some are in summer school, some stay, some leave. But when school is over, for a lot of people that means moving back home for the summer.

Here in Victoria, no one seems to have these location/housing issues because (and I know I’m generalizing here) Victorians are total homebodies. I didn’t even know you could go to elementary school, high school, university or college, graduate school, and even get your PhD, M.D., whathaveyou, in the same city. I thought there was some sort of country-wide, unspoken education law that prevented people from going their entire university/college careers in the same place.

After living in Victoria for almost two years now I finally have control over “surprise face” which is sometimes interpreted as “judgmental face” when people tell me they have never left the island. Back in Ontar-iar-io I was always encouraged to leave and adventure – school is the perfect opportunity to live somewhere new, “you might never have this chance again!” people would tell me. So I left. I moved to Quebec. Then I moved back to Ontario. Then I moved to British Columbia.

And I’m starting to think you Victorians are on to something. You might have the right idea. April and May are usually very stressful months because school is over (horray!), it’s time to find a job (opposite of horray!), and for many  it means moving back home for four months before moving back to school in September. This is a lot of moving. This is a lot of selling stuff, re-buying stuff, storing stuff; worrying about leases, worrying about subletters, and worrying about being homeless next semester; packing and unpacking, packing and unpacking; cardboard box and packing tape hell.

According to the Holmes and Rahe stress scale, a list of stressful life events that can contribute to illness, a change in residence and a change in schools are 20 life change units each, a change in living conditions is 25, beginning or end of school is 26 points; not including any additional stressors, after 6 years of post-secondary education I have a total high score of 786 life change units at the tender age of the early-mid twenties. 300+ life change units means you are at high risk of stress-related illness. So it follows that if I am to believe this scale, it is a miracle I am still alive.

My fellow Victoria student peers have a solution to raking up hundreds of stress units. Just don’t move so much! They also have this wonderful website that, if you happen to be moving, makes the whole process of getting and getting rid of stuff a lot easier. You might have heard of it. I only wish I had when I was moving all over the place. I have learned a lesson here in Victoria, and for the next 12 months I’m not moving anywhere.

Top 10 Kids' Items of Summer!

The weather (in Victoria!) is finally starting to turn nice, May long weekend 2011 is now in the past, this can only mean one thing: Summer is upon us, my friends. The university crowd is long gone (unless your degree finishes in the summer, as mine does) but the rest of the whipper-snappers will be free as birds momentarily. Fear not, I’ve hunted down the Top 10 Kids’ Items of Summer to keep everyone happy!

1. Life Jackets Keep the kiddies safe on the water with these stylish little numbers.

2. Wagon Got some toddlers to tote around? A super swanky wagon helps keep babes and picnic stuff portable.

3. Turtle Sand Box Turtles are fantastic, sandboxes are awesome, put them together and you have hours of summer fun.

4. Red Car I feel like this is pretty self explanatory. Who wouldn’t want a cool red car?

5. Rock Band Well, it’s bound rain eventually, right?

6. Basketball Hoop Your little big athlete can blow off some steam with this hoop. Maybe they’ll hit the big leagues, but they’ll be ready for a nap in no time.

7. Puppet Theatre Entertaining for the kids, entertaining for you (or the babysitter!).

8. Dora the Explorer Vanity Summer heat and humidity can equate to some seriously bad hair days. Dora’s here to help.

9. Caterpillar Dump Truck The perfect complement to item number three.

10. Slide and Pool Combo Another one that needs no explanation. Awesome.

A barrel of laughs, er, rain

Our rain barrel is one of the best purchases we ever made around our house. It’s about ten years old and it’s still going strong.

We bought it at Arbour, a cute eco-friendly store in the Glebe. In its former life our barrel was a commercial-grade olive container. With a capacity of about 200 litres, I truly can’t imagine how many olives floated around in that thing once upon a time. Arbour still carries them, but I’ve noticed there are a bunch of them on Used Ottawa too.

It is very simple.

1. Rain falls on the roof of our home
2. It makes its way to one of the downspouts and into the rainbarrel
3. That’s it.

The water is there, ready to be used during the next dry spell. A screw on lid with a mesh covering prevents children, mosquitoes and other critters from getting in there, a spigot at the bottom allows me to easily prop a watering can underneath, and a hose near the top prevents overflow.

There’s enough water for me to keep my containers in good shape if there’s a dry spell.

Not only am I making a small dent in my water bill (ok, a very small one), but it makes me deeply happy to know that I’m doing my part to conserve water and giving my garden a long cool drink of the good stuff.

Also, drawing water from it requires a bit of patience. The flow is a little slower than you’d get with a hose, so I am forced to stand there and wait for an extra minute or two. I spend this time gazing around the garden, sometimes I pick a few weeds, but you know… I would argue that waiting is not necessarily a bad thing.

If you’re interested, heed my advice and pick one up quick. They’ll be in short supply around Ottawa, especially with water bans in the south end of the city.

Do you have a rainbarrel or two? Has it made a difference in your life? Do you love it, or do you love it?

Happy Victoria Day!

Hey Canada!

Happy Queen Victoria’s Birthday!

Hope you all had a swell long weekend!!

Creative Commons Image courtesy of lotayada

Fool's Gold

creative commons image courtesy of Nisha A

Looking for a big ticket item on your local Used site? Don’t be fooled into buying stolen goods. I don’t mean to be a total downer on you, but this is a fact of life with online classifieds like UsedEverywhere.com. So what can you do to protect yourself?

First of all, check under the ‘Community Notices’ section for any similar items listed as ‘Lost’ or under the ‘Info Wanted’ page.  Have a look at nearby Used sites as well; for example, if you’re shopping for a Plasma TV in Victoria, check the UsedNanaimo, UsedPQB, UsedCowichan, etc sites as well. Trust your gut on this one – if anything seems too similar or even a little fishy, keep shopping. Don’t be afraid to report the ad, either!

Keep in mind that even if you didn’t steal the item in question, buying it and being in possession of it can get you into trouble. You shouldn’t be leaving any paper trail (no mailing cheques or using PayPal!), which makes it even more difficult to prove that it wasn’t you in the event the police show up at your door.

It wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on your local police department’s news releases section; many of them even have RSS feeds that you can subscribe to. In addition to the general rules of keeping yourself safe when shopping Used online, VicPD recommend trying to make sure you can identify the seller if need be, and if possible obtain some form of a receipt.

You ought to keep lists of the serial numbers of your electronics anyway, and in a safe place at that. In the event that something of yours gets stolen, post that information to your local Used site under ‘Community Notices’ so that other buyers on the site can help identify the item if it pops up. If you come across any ‘Lost’ ads with serial numbers, double check them with the product you’re looking at buying before handing money over.

Stay safe out there, team! And remember – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Used Around Town: Kay's Korner Experienced Goods

Eden and I walked into Kay’s Korner on Cook Street to be greeted by owner Karin Knowlton, who was busy painting an old piece of furniture. We took a quick tour and were impressed by how many beautiful and unique items there were in such a small space: everything from furniture and décor to a few curios scattered throughout for good measure.

Karin’s family has owned Kay’s Korner for 22 years. She carried on tradition when her mom retired 10 years ago, and told us that even before her family came to operate the store, 3 previous owners also ran it as a second-hand store. With such an extensive history, it is truly a Cook Street Village staple. Karin told us, “There is a real community atmosphere here in Cook Street Village; I wave to about 100 people a day. I just think with the recycling of items and such it makes for kind of a good feeling, someone’s getting good quality used furniture that’s being recycled, not tossed in a dump.”

Kay’s Korner’s inventory comes from a variety of places: garage sales, estate sales, from professional pickers, as well as from the odd phone call from someone downsizing or a person with a friend or relative who has passed away and has left all sorts of items in need of a new home. Karin and her team refurbish much of the furniture themselves if it needs a little sprucing – and every item is labeled with a handmade tag.

It is obvious from the items for sale at Kay’s Korner, the attention to detail and the care with which many of these objects have been brought back to life, Karin and her team are passionate about used goods. When I asked her how she chooses a piece of furniture, a decorative piece, or even a wacky mug, she told me, “I just generally go with what attracts me, I go with what I love and what I like and that seems to work for me. I’m not always looking for the most high-end item or something, it’s just what feels good, what looks good to me.”

Karin’s personalized approach to selection is obviously working very well – that and her keen eye for trends. China is out, teak and Danish modern are in, if you didn’t already know.

Like the other used, thrift, and consignment stores we have visited in this city, it is difficult to draw comparisons between them. Everyone seems to have their own little niche, by location and by what they specialize in selling. But what is Karin’s fool-proof tip for buying used? “Buy what you love”.  An eavesdropping customer added, “And don’t buy anything schmenky”.

Spring Jewelry Guide

I have a little bit of a rep as a ‘fashionista’ within the walls of the UsedEverywhere.com… and if I’m being honest, a little bit in general. I have neutral feelings about this; I find ‘fashionista’ to be a bit of a cheesy buzzword, plus all it really seems to mean is that you wear weird clothes that a lot of other people probably wouldn’t.  Having said that, I’m as unapologetic about my weird clothes as I am about the frequency of my fashion-related babbling.

So here, based on Refinery29′s Spring Jewelry Trends,  is my Spring/Summer Jewelry Guide.

1. Big Mixed Cabochan-Style Stones This look has a very bohemian and earthy vibe to it. Not a lot of sparkle, but big time impact. This red and burgundy necklace set is a more understated version of the trend in terms of colour combos. Not into the chunkiness? This pink moonstone pendant accomplishes the same goal without the size.

2. Tassel & Fringe You might remember my tassel earring DIY blog post from several weeks ago, meaning that if I can handle that DIY project anyone can. If not, layered pieces create a similar effect in a more modern way.

3. Clean & Architectural Between all the splashy stones and fringes, the classics are once again trendy. A simple set of bangles or clean, geometric earrings like these ones from Tiffany & Co. add interest without loudness. If in doubt, a sterling silver bangle is always a good choice.

4. Plastics & Perspex Take inspiration from your childhood (or he 60′s) with big, bright, plastic jewelry. A watch, like this one from Nixon, is a great way to incorporate it into your Spring jewelry rotation. If plastic jewelry is just too weird for you, a hair clip or two beside a bun or ponytail is a more subtle option.

5. Rose-Gold A huge trend for Spring and Summer! The pink-tinged gold is very feminine and romantic. Integrate it easily with a chain or a band, bonus points if you pick up a watch!

The symbiotic act of garbage picking

I have no problem with garbage picking, both as a picker, and pickee. As a person who has obtained some cool stuff from other people’s garbage, I can only hope that the (former) owners of this stuff appreciate the fact that I am giving their old things a good home and preventing them from rotting in a landfill. And as someone who regularly puts unwanted items out by the curb to find that they somehow managed to magically disappear, well, let’s just say that I’m just thrilled that someone is saving me a trip to the donation bin.

The City of Ottawa has some funny rules about it. Apparently if you put something out on the curb for garbage pickup it technically belongs to the City. So if you take something out of someone’s garbage, you are stealing (that is, in the eyes of the law), although I seriously doubt that bylaw police are waiting to capture someone in the act of someone pilfering someone else’s garbage.

Same goes for recycling. There is a fellow who walks around our neighborhood and rifles though people’s blue bins, taking beer and wine bottles and anything with a deposit attached to it. I have no problem with this. In fact, I think he’s doing us a favour.

That being said, I still think there still should be a few basic guidelines.

1. Pickers: don’t tear open closed bags and leave a mess.
2. Pickees: if you have an item you think might be useful to someone, leave it in plain view. If it’s not gone by the next morning, bring it back inside and pledge to donate it to charity or list it on UsedOttawa. Who knows? That tiny bit of extra effort might earn you some extra coin.

A few years ago the City of Ottawa decided to get on the bandwagon and create a legally-sanctioned garbage picking event. It’s called Give Away Weekend. It’s a great idea, but more people need to participate in order to make it really worthwhile. This year’s GAW will take place on Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, 2011.

It really is a win-win situation when you think about it. It’s gives people an effortless way to clean their closets, and gives other people an opportunity to score some cool stuff for free at the same time.

What about you? What do you think about taking items from another family’s trash? Is this something you’ve done? If so, I’d love to hear about your best finds!