Jennifer Aikman is the community manager at UsedEverywhere. Making content special since the beginning of this century via Tweets, blog posts & whatever it is the kids are using nowadays.
Vintage pottery crying out for fall foliage via UsedWinnipeg.com
I love this. I want to fill it with pine cones or decorative corn or teeny gourds or all of these things at once. I do.
Square dancing applique via UsedVictoria.com
Wouldn’t this be lovely framed? I can see this in a nursery or in any room, really. Just plain pretty.
Photo: Brodie Aikman | Dairi Wip Drive In in St. Boniface, Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada. It’s home to the beloved Winnipeg Jets, the Golden boy and a thriving French community. It’s also home to the best burgers in the world. It’s true and I’m not just saying that because I lived there. I say this because I lived there AND I ate the best burgers in the world…a lot of them…back when my metabolism allowed for such things.
Like many prairie folks, I steadily made my way to the West Coast where I now enjoy some of the best cuisine in the world. West Coast fusion, world-class sushi, etc and so on. No doubt, there’s good food here… But, the burgers? Meh. Sure, there are some good burger joints here. But more often than not, the good burgers are fancy burgers. Like, $15 fancy. And sometimes they even come with salad by default. Pffft. Please.
In Winnipeg the name of the game is the “fat boy”– a hamburger with one or more (usually more) patties, topped with chili, tomatoes, lettuce and mayonnaise. They’re messy and wonderful and I want one right now. And as I can smell the ocean air from my window, clearly I can’t have one. So, what’s the next best thing to getting what you want? Writing a top-ten list about what you want!
And so, in the spirit of meat-craving induced civic patriotism, I present to you my list of the top-ten fat boys in everyone’s favourite, centrally-located prairie city!
You know, it’s not too early to start thinking about Halloween…
Vintage Fisher Price Little People on UsedVictoria.com
The only thing I love more than vintage Fisher Price toys are photos of vintage fisher price toys.
Diecast 1948 Chev Fleetmaster via UsedWinnipeg.com
As I was cruising the “Latest Ads” on UsedWinnipeg.com, I came across this photo. Now, I’m not exactly in the market for a model car, but the photo was so engaging I felt compelled to click. And once I clicked through I started thinking about who I might be able to buy this car for. After all, there’s only 114 days left until Christmas! Hook, line, sinker.
Great deal on used teacher's books on UsedVictoria.com. $3 each! - SOLD!
iPads, laptops & e-readers aside, nothing beats a book when it comes to instilling a love of literature in children. From picking one out to dog-earring your favourite pages, a real honest-to-goodness paper book is a tactile experience that technology just can’t imitate.
“But what about the trees?” you ask. To which I answer, “buy used.” Quelle surprise! And don’t think I’ve forgotten about the library. I haven’t. The library is awesome. Everyone knows that. But, if you have kids, you also know that they can get totally obsessed with certain books. And if you’ve ever tried to return the object of a kid’s obsession to the library, you know it will end in tears. Yours, probably. So, use the library and often. But when your kidling takes a shine to a particular book, try to find a pre-loved version like the titles listed below. You’ll save money and trees and you’ll encourage your kids to discover a whole new world just beyond their touchscreens.
My totally-biased-in-no-particular-order top-10 reading list for kids:
What books make your top-ten list? What books from your childhood had the greatest impact on you? Share!
From left to right: Krug dining table - a mark of fine furniture, dining hutch & chairs, awesome birds painted red by yours truly
Change is good. Moving sucks. It just does. It’s expensive, exhausting and did I mention expensive? I moved my family from Vancouver to Victoria a couple of months ago. After living on top of each other in a teeny 2-bedroom apartment on the mainland we were excited to move into our spacious, 3-bedroom townhouse in pretty much the best co-op ever. We left a lot of stuff behind to save money and space in the moving truck. Fresh start, yeah! So, we loaded up the baby, the teen and all our remaining worldly goods and crossed the water to start a new life. It was a smart move, but a costly one. After paying the movers, ferry fare, co-op shares and first month’s rent we were broke. Broke but unbowed.
You see, I had big plans for our new home. I’d been dreaming of a vintage-inspired space furnished with quality pieces and I wasn’t about to let a couple of empty pockets ruin everything. And so, after some intense shuffling, juggling and pilfering I managed to secure $500 to furnish and decorate our new home. That’s a teen’s room, a nursery, a master bedroom, dining room and living room all for the cost of a new La-Z-Boy recliner. I was going to have to make a dollar dance. Hard. Like, Footloose hard. I knew I’d get more bang for my buck shopping second-hand and with kids at home, I’d have to conduct the bulk of my search online. This is when UsedVictoria.com tapped my shoulder and asked to cut in. This is also where the dance analogies end. I promise.
I hadn’t heard of UsedVictoria.com before my brother-in-law started sending me links to stuff from the site. Great, cheap stuff! Within an evening I was hooked. I set up RSS feeds and email alerts and I downloaded the Usedeverywhere.com app for my iPhone. I was determined not to miss a deal. Sleep, I could do without. But not that perfect velvet, raspberry, polka-dot sofa! Perhaps this is a good time to reveal I have a slightly obsessive personality… Anyhoo, my mild dip into mania paid off. In two weeks I scored the following:
GRAND TOTAL: $493 (note: some prices were negotiated – shrewd!)
Come on. How good is that? And I came in under budget allowing me to splurge on some red paint for my beloved bird candle holders. The dining room set is my favourite find. It’s beautiful, solid and the table came with two leaves. I can easily imagine my family gathered around it for many years to come. It was also very cool meeting all the sellers. From the empty-nesters who were finally letting go of their newly married daughter’s captain’s bed to the young couple wanting their grandfather’s dining room suite to go to a family instead of a reseller – these used items came with stories. You won’t find that at Ikea.
What’s next? I like a challenge, so I’m going to attempt to finish our semi-finished basement using only free items. I’m in no rush. I will set up my feeds and alerts and bide my time. In the meantime, I’m throwing down the gauntlet! What can you do with $500? $250? Less? I’d love to see you make that money shake it.
