By Goodwill Guest Blogger Kayla | IG: @sustainable.kay
The warmer weather is slowly approaching here in Wisconsin and that means it’s time to get our yard supplies together! There is no better way to spring into the new season than to acquire some new indoor and outdoor plants or get your garden ready. Whether you’re a first-time plant parent or an experienced landscaper, you can certainly find some of the tools and things you need for planting through thrift stores.
When people come over to our house, the first thing they notice when they walk in is my long shelf of plants in the living room. This shelf makes it appear as though I have some sort of magic green thumb, but little do they know most of my plants are pretty low maintenance and easy to take care of. So, for those of you wondering how I keep them alive, that’s my secret. All the plants I have on this shelf are also in eye-catching white pots. It’s a clean and modern look that I think goes well with the different variations of green among the plants. A while back when I started my plant collection, I had found a few white pots at Goodwill, so I decided to keep the theme going. It has really elevated my living space and made this corner one of my favorite spots in the house!
One of the wonderful things about thrifting is being able to easily change or customize the items you get. If you see a pot or a vase at the thrift store that you like but don’t love, think of ways you could possibly change that item to make it your own. Don’t be afraid to get crafty! I found this adorable terracotta pot at Goodwill last week and fell in love with the paint job on the outside. It gave me the idea to do this to the other terracotta pots that I have for the plants in our upstairs office. Don’t worry, the white plant shelf will stay untainted. I decided to re-pot a smaller plant I had into this one.
Now that we own our own house, one thing that I would love to start doing this year is gardening. I have some experience with houseplants and a few smaller tools for maintaining those, but I have yet to gather things I would need for taking care of a larger space filled with plants, or even my own yard. Finding gardening or outdoor lawn care supplies can be so easy to find secondhand. Some examples of other items I’ve found secondhand are shovels, rakes, watering cans, hoses, and even gardening gloves. Sometimes you can even find these things unused with the tags still on them! The keys to making this easier are to look around consistently and to look early. Some days all you can find at the thrift store is one perfect little garden shovel, and other times you hit the jackpot and find multiple things on your list. The beauty of thrifting is that you never know what you are going to find, and sometimes it’s things you didn’t even know you were looking for! If you don’t find what you need in one trip, you might find it the next time you go.
There are so many possibilities to what you can find secondhand for your home, indoors and out. When it comes to gardening supplies, these things usually get dirty anyway, so why not save a shovel, gloves, or a watering can from the landfill instead of buying them new? Heading out ahead of the season and hunting for things you need consistently are two sure ways to check things off your list. Another reason why Goodwill is so great is that there are multiple locations, so you could spend a day hitting up a few of them and seeing what each one has to offer. If you see a pot or a vase you like, go all-in with a DIY project to spice it up! You can really make things your own and craft them to fit your space with just a little paint. I hope all of these tips inspire you to think outside the box a bit, and maybe even unleash the green thumb you didn’t know you had.
