I have a knack for picking up good deals while thrifting. 

It satisfies by my ecological and my frugal sensibilities, and I also like to hunt for pretty "new" things! 

In the past two months, I scored four second-hand purses. With these thrift store scores, I paid $27 for purses that would have retailed at over $350. 

This little number is from Le Sac. I've learned that this bag once retailed for $129! When I picked it up at New Unto Others, the price tag was $3.99. 

But due to the fact that it was half-off orange tag day, I paid only $2 for this bag. But wait... it get's better! While I was checking out my new purchase, I found a $5 bill in the zipper pocket. 

So not only did I pay $0 for my new bag, but I somehow gained $3 in the transaction.

And the satisfaction from saving the planet from a needless mall purchase is priceless.  

I picked up this tan, little wristlet for Sunday Brunch. It pairs nicely with boots and will go great with sandals in the summer. 

I paid $6 for this Express bag. Although it may have only cost about $20 retail, it's in great shape, and I will definitely get a lot of use out of it. 

I love a great vintage, beaded bag. 

I also have a thing for peacocks. I think I paid about $7 for this beaded jewel. Brand unknown. 

This gold little purse is my favorite purchase of them all! 

This Whiting and Davis metal mesh bag retails for over $200. And I, hold on to your hats and glasses folks, I got this bag for $12 at my local thrift store. 

I wear this bag on all my nights out, finding it especially handy for nights out on the town, because it pairs nicely with short little dresses for local concerts and shows. 

I have more thrift store scores and sexy, sustainable purchases coming up, so stay tuned! 

I think I’m like a lot of people who want to make good purchasing choices. I want to make good choices, but it’s… hard.

It sometimes seems like the consumer world is designed to make us make bad choices. Lack of labeling, easy access to crap products, profits over people….

To top off my conundrum, I’m a vegetarian. While I’m not a vegan, I personally don’t feel that I can feel good about not eating a burger all the while sporting leather boots. It may have taken me a while to make that connection, but here I am. Yet as a tree-hugger and earth lover I have to be mindful of the synthetics that go into making my “animal-friendly” products.

Because the conundrum has been so confounding, my decision for a long time has been to not make any decision.

But, I’ve learned, not making a decision does not lead to making a good decision when the purchasing time comes. In my experience, it has lead to making a bad decision in a crunch time. The purpose of this blog series is to invest time into finding the shoe-lution to my footwear dilemma.

Animal lovers and tree huggers do go to black tie events. They also attend business meetings and they go on fancy dates.

If we expect conscious consumerism to grow amongst the masses and help save humanity from itself, we must have a wide choice of footwear to allow us to step into all of life's occasions. 

​Sustainability: The ideal shoe would replant itself when harvested and biodegrade (or would be edible).

Cruelty free: I’ve seen too many documentaries. We’ll just leave it there.

Eco-friendly: Saving animals becomes a moot point if we destroy the planet in the process.

Fashionable and occasion appropriate: Sometimes my look calls for a sexy shoe; sometimes a casual one.  Most times, I want my hippie sensibilities to be hidden inside my heart and not on my sleeve (or on my foot).
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People-friendly: Goes without saying…

While some criteria are often sacrificed for others, I’m looking for a real solution – I’m searching for my shoe-topia.