My mom and I have gotten in a pattern of going shopping each week, always including Target (I always need something from Target) but our favorites are stores like HomeGoods and Marshalls and consignment shops, because they’re like treasure-hunting. We don’t always buy much, but we like looking and considering and discussing. In recent weeks we’ve frequently gone through entire stores and purchased nothing at all: the stock comes and goes, and also both of us have been getting rid of stuff recently, and that puts a damper on bringing in more stuff.
BUT. Yesterday I had a very successful shopping trip, in which stuff was added to my household. I’m going to tell you where I bought each thing AND how much I paid. It is tricky talking about prices, because one person’s “WOW awesome deal!!” is another person’s “Must be nice to have so much spare cash”—and making self-deprecating comments on one’s own purchase prices only makes it WORSE, generating reactions from “She thinks that’s cheap?? Is she HIGH??” to “Oh, man, if she thinks that’s expensive, what would she think about what I spend??” Therefore I will not COMMENT on the price, I will just TELL it to you. Or maybe I will comment a little if I can’t resist.
FIRST: I have been looking for LARGE PLASTIC CUPS. Target used to have them with their summer dishes line every year, so I got cocky: I won’t OVERBUY, I’ll just wait until the next year and maybe get a new color! Oh, shopping hubris. So for the last few years we have been down to one single large plastic cup, and none of the plastic cups I found elsewhere were right: too tippy, don’t stack, poor handfeel, whatever. Yesterday I found something I think will work:
These are Cynthia Rowley 32-ounce iced-tea cups, and WE SHALL SEE. They were in a set of 8 for $7.99 at HomeGoods. I wish I could have bought them individually and mixed the patterns, because I liked but didn’t love any of the patterns, and I don’t really need EIGHT of these. There were whales, tropical flowers, flamingos, fish, wavy stripes. I finally got the mixed sea creatures; I took the picture so you could see all the way around the cup. My mother was very patient while I considered all the options. [Update: I don’t recommend these. They say they are dishwasher-safe, but after a few trips through the dishwasher (top rack only), the design started looking mottled and water-spotted. By now (a couple of months later), the pattern is also STICKY.]
NEXT. The last time we were at HomeGoods, I saw some pretty plastic glasses that looked like glass. I don’t generally like drinking out of glass glasses, but I like the LOOK of them, and when I was home having dinner I wished I was drinking out of a pretty new glass-looking plastic glass. So yesterday when we were at HomeGoods again I bought two of them:
I didn’t measure them, but they’re the usual size of glass you might have with dinner. What would that be, 16 ounce? Something like that. They were $2.99 each. I am resisting commenting on that. That is just what they cost.
THEN. This was not actually chronologically next, but we are on the topic of glasses so let’s keep to the theme. The last time I was visiting my brother, he said probably don’t drink liquor out of plastic cups because who knows probably it’s fine but you know maybe also the alcohol dissolves the plastic and you drink it but probably that’s fine tho. Anyway, I was looking for some smallish glass glasses. I found these:
They were at a consignment shop, $3 for the pair. I think they’re probably about 6-ounce, but I haven’t checked. I will try my vodka/gin-and-whatever in them this weekend. Or perhaps tonight.
THEN. My mom and I were taking turns using the bathroom while the other person babysat the cart/purses, and I was browsing the art and saw this fellow:
I like squirrels, and also one of Edward’s nicknames is Squirrel, and also this Squirrel looks a bit like Edward, so I was interested. The next picture in the stack was a fox in a business suit, but it had a human body and human hands, and NO. Animals in formal wear? YES. Human bodies with animal heads? NO. And then I saw THIS gentleman:
And once the dapper birdy was going home with me, it seemed right to bring the squirrel as well. HomeGoods, $9.99 each.
Finally, a little something for Paul:
My sister-in-law bought one of these giant bars of soap for Paul for Christmas, and he kept talking about how much he liked it, and I kept saying Christmas/birthday was the PERFECT time for $10 bars of soap, but “random day in spring” was NOT. But HomeGoods had these for $6.99 each, and they were the last two, and…well, I must have been feeling warmly toward Paul. And he’s right, they DO last a long time: he only just finished up the bar he got for Christmas. And they do smell nice. And the packaging is amusing, and I like to reward amusing packaging. Still, this is the purchase that got me thinking how awkward it can be to talk about prices.
I love your shopping trip posts – it is such fun to see what kinds of things other people buy!
Also I was tickled to see that you do not like drinking out of glass glasses. I have long felt the opposite… I cannot stand to drink out of a plastic glass. But when I say things like that to my husband, he gives me an odd look like there is no difference between the two materials. There IS a difference!
Finally, “smells like productivity ” is hilarious.
I also LOVE your shopping posts! The soap doesn’t seem too expensive to me, a bottle of body wash is almost that much, and doesn’t last nearly as long. I usually buy a few of the large plastic cups on clearance at Target at the end of summer. That way you can just get a few, and they usually have different patterns to choose from.
“Smells like US Naval Triumph” is hilarious. I’d buy the soap just for that.
I have a terribly hard time drinking out of anything but glass. weird.
My husband had a bar of that soap and also went on and on about how wonderful it was. When it brings that much joy, I say “Money well spent.”
We’ve been phasing out all of our plastic ware over the last year or so. Everyone has started drinking from glass pint glasses (we have an impressive collection from our beer drinking hobby). I also bought an amazing rainbow stripe bowl and plate set from the Dollar Store, so all of the plastic dishes and plates are going away too.
The price for the soap doesn’t seem outrageous to me. I know what I spend on moisturizer and face wash, and it’s more than $10.
I’ve been having a few (months) of bad days lately and anything you post makes me smile. “Look! A new Swistle post! Whee!”
I just assume that you have a budget for discretionary spending and this fits in it, otherwise you would feel like you couldn’t afford it, wouldn’t buy it, and there would be no post. I think once you’ve read somebody for a while, you can tell who is bragging about how much they can spend, or who doesn’t have enough money coming in or has too much going out. None of these are you, though. I’m glad you found some treasures!
At least you’re not as weird as this: I’m very particular about the thickness of my glass glasses. If they’re to thin, I feel like I might bite through them which utterly weirded me out. Have I ever taken a bite of a glass while I was drinking from it, you might think to ask. No, but I theoretically could so I must make my purchase based on that chance. :)
Me Too with the biting the thin glasses! It’s so weird yet I can’t stop. And with too thick glasses, or maybe too squared off rims, I think I’m going to knock a tooth out. Also ridiculous.
Um, not actually biting the glasses, but thinking I will.
At Christmas, my 5 year old bit a chunk out of the rim of a crystal water goblet. I’d decided to use them despite the risk of breakage b/c I think it’s better to take that risk than keep dusty never-used barware, but I was regretting the choice when I thought we were facing a trip to the ER. Fortunately, she spit out the glass shards right away.
My husband loves that soap, too! I like the way it smells and I found the packaging charming also!
My mom and I love to shop like this too. We particularly love the HomeGoods clearance aisles. I will dig there for HOURS. But I also love Hobby Lobby and Michaels, occasionally – sometimes I’m surprised by what I find there.
That said, I am extremely (EXTREMELY) jealous of your squirrel picture, because I LOVE squirrels and squirrels wearing CLOTHES?! Where did you find them? Were they at Home Goods? I NEED TO KNOW.
Oh! I forgot to put that in! I’ll add it to the post! It was HomeGoods!
How much was the squirrel???
Whoops, all that talk about prices and I forgot the prices for those! The pictures were $9.99 each.
I love those blue glasses–especially the one on the left. I want a whole set, but maybe in teal. I don’t mind drinking out of glass, but with very small children they seem in constant jeopardy. I’d rather have some pretty that just looks like glass.
They had several colors, I’m trying to remember what they were. Clear. Purple, I think. Some green. Light blue. It was fun to choose!
The consignment store glasses are so pretty! I love Cynthia Rowley too. I bought a make up bag designed by her recently. My husband insists on using super cheap soap and I think we end up paying more because it melts so fast.
Points for amusing packaging!
Also I second what someone said previously, when I’m scrolling through my reader (I use Feedly) I’m always excited to see that you’ve posted, regardless of the topic. I think it’s likely because no one else still blogs like people used to do in the good ol’ days, where we would just write about what’s going on in our lives. I enjoy reading about what’s going on in other people’s lives.
I agree. it makes my day to find a Swistle post!
Seconded.
LOL at the description of your brother’s advice re: plastic cups. :)
AHHH! Those animal pictures are SO CUTE! Also the octopus on the first set of cups is pretty awesome. I got weird about BPA and booted most of my plasticware, which is sad because the pizza place in our town puts their drinks in plastic cups in ALL SORTS of fun colors. Think: purple with sparkles. It’s a surprise every time! I had an excessive collection of them.
My wife likes pricey versions of certain things (like soap and tea). When we first got together I was flabbergasted by her top-of-the-line toilet paper, but now I kind of embrace the everyday luxury of it. We save money in all the places where it doesn’t make a difference to us (store brand canned goods, etc), so now I think it’s okay to treat yourself on little things when the pleasure of the thing outweighs the extra cost.
Oh yes to this. We are very frugal and shop carefully, but for certain items we do treat ourselves. It seems to work out very well and I notice the budget doesn’t change much when we do.
I like water out of plastic cups, and milk out of glass. And I would WAY rather a too thin cup than too thick. Stackability is critical: I’m not lining these up in my cupboard. Who has that kind of cupboard space?! Oh, my mom does.
I love that soap. First time I saw it I did a dramatic reading of the packaging for my friend while in the store. We were giggling and I lost my concentration and made a slight, er, slip with Duke’s name and we lost it. I was crying through the end and we were drawing a crowd.
I do not like drinking out of glass at all. I’ll do it in a restaurant but never at home. I should probably replace the beloved plastic tumblers that I have been using for, um, fifteen years now. No doubt they are giving me cancer or something.
I love shopping at places like that where you can just browse with no real idea what treasure you might find!
Ugh, there is a restaurant near where I work that has a sign with a picture of a man in a suit with a bull’s head and I am slightly creeped out by it every time I go by it, which is at least once a day.
I really enjoy your shopping posts. I was re-reading the Swistle archives recently and realized that I missed updates on your kids and shopping posts, and you’ve done both now so thanks.
I too prefer one type of drinking vessel over another – I like plastic. I just think it feels better to drink from. This goes well with the fact that I get nervous about the possibility of glasses being dropped and shattered, especially by my kids, especially when we’re eating outside on the deck by our pool.
Please don’t stop blogging! I don’t have kids, but you post so much other stuff that I can relate to that I look forward to reading Swistle!
I *love* reading about other peoples’ shopping trips. (well, uh, assuming they’re roughly in line with things i find interesting. if it’s like, “i just spent $2k on high end hair products and then splurged on a few rolexes!” i find it less compelling.)
I have what I think are the same cups as the sea-creature-print ones you got, or at least something very similar. (Mine also came in a pack of eight, and they are green and blue wavy stripes.) They are HUGE–way bigger than what I usually drink out of–but they’re good cups.
Hi! I just bought the same cups at Home Goods and noticed they had a strong, almost mothball-like smell when I separated the stack to wash them. I put them in the dishwasher (top-rack) and they made the whole dishwasher reek of that smell. Also, they came out sticky where the design was, some having smudgy spots. Did you have any issues with your cups?
Mine didn’t have a smell and they’re not sticky, but the design is not holding up well: it looks like it’s covered in water spots, but the water spots don’t come off.
NOW they are sticky. This is so weird! The design is increasingly damaged-looking, and now it is also sticky!
I love the feel of nice thick glass, like the set my grandmother gave us as a housewarming gift. Alas, my husband broke three of the eight within five months in dishwashing incidents. He complained that they were too smooth. Then add soap… Oopsy. I found brighly colored – and rougher textured – plastic cups at Garden Ridge for $0.78 each! Pretty, sturdy, cheap enough that I did mind him taking them into the garage and forgetting them. Even better now that we have kids,
Still miss the glass though…
I LOVE your plastic but-look-like-glass glasses. So pretty and no risk of kids breaking them. Glassware and dinnerware are items where I am always shocked by the price. Somehow I always think everything should cost a $1.00 – $1.50 and I have a “you want HOW MUCH for one cereal bowl?!?!” moment. This is why it took me about 3 years of hemming and hawing before I bought new dishes- I was indignant that the prices were outrageous. It wasn’t about whether I had the money to spend, it was the principal of the matter -ha! Now I just remind myself that is just what these things cost at most stores. All that to say that I am sitting here marveling that if you paid $3 a glass at Homegoods, that means it was at least $4 and more likely $5 per glass retail. But alas, that is just what glasses cost. Good haul, Swistle!
It’s definitely a Thing, the glass vs plastic debate! It wouldn’t even occur to me to use plastic anywhere at home other than maybe in the garden or for very small children and it makes me unreasonably annoyed when some more casual restaurants in the US automatically default to them (we really don’t have that here in the UK). I get that they are probably more robust and therefore that cuts down on breakages expenses, but they always seem less hygienic to me as well as making me feel like I’m being treated as a child.
Like others above have said, your blog is one of the best remaining blogs on the whole wide Web. So non flashy! Non sponsored! Non irritating! Where we can happily mull over the little pleasures of buying a new glass or two without a contest to win a set, or a magazine-worthy photo shoot of said glasses in a million-dollar kitchen styled just so. Please keep up this most excellent work.