ZEN And The Art Of Thrifting

Jaimie is one of my thrifting mentors.  A true thrifting diva, she is always on the lookout for a FIND... mainly clothes for her family, or anything else she can use for her home and yard.  For her it is all about the thrill of the hunt. She clearly enjoys stretching her paycheck by thrifting.

One busy Saturday she stopped me as I came in to work, "I found something great for you this morning."  She was glowing with happiness.  Later when things slowed down, she told me she had found a rake for my Zen garden. Not your typical FIND, but something I really needed.  Better yet, the rake was designed for raking shag carpets.  Better yet, since no one has shag carpet any more the guy gave it to Jamie.  The only zen rake source I saw online wanted close to $100.  The do it yourself option was not possible. I could tell I did not have the skills or equipment to make one myself.

Why a Zen Garden?  When I moved into the house in March, the only loose end with the previous owners was a large wooden play set in the back yard.  We both agreed they could wait until better weather to move it.  Then it rained almost every day for weeks.  When the thing was finally moved, there was a large pile of sand left.  I planned to break it down and plant grass. 

After one long dripping, backbreaking, session of shoveling sand, I  knew I needed a plan B.  It was too hot to try planting grass and I did not want to look at a sand pile all summer. I don't even remember how I came up with the Zen Garden idea but I figured if it did not work out, I could always plant grass in the fall. Jaime loaned me her power saw and checked every day to make sure I still had all my fingers. It was easy to screw together a frame and stain it black. By adding more sand, and a few different rocks, the garden was complete.  Still, I did not have a rake until Jamie's find.

At yoga, they are always saying if you open yourself up and put yourself out there, the universe will provide. Well the universe did provide a nice hand broom to dust the sand off the garden frame.  I found it in my front yard but the universe never would have provided the rake if Jamie had not gone thrifting.

I have found great inner peace playing  meditating in my sandbox Zen garden. Raking the sand it hit me that the joy of thrifting is more than the FIND, it is also sharing the joy, it is also the energy of the thrifting community.  It is more than the stuff, it is the people you meet on the quest.