Parsimonia {Second Hand with Style}

Parsimonia {Second Hand with Style} is the first in our new series “Sites You’ll Love” – I’ve met so many truly amazing folks while running Thrift Store Confidential, and spreading the love is, to me, very important. We’re all people working for something outside of the box, and it’s downright joyful to realize what a large community we represent.

Parsimonia {Second Hand with Style}

From beautiful finds to mouthwatering recipes from the “Thrifted Kitchen”, Parsimonia is a clean, gorgeous site that celebrates the beauty in the simple things.

They also maintain an Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/Parsimonia, full of hand-selected vintage clothing and housewares that reflect the down-home yet quirkily elegant aesthetic of the site.

Based in St. Louis, the blog is run by a simply lovely woman, Beth, who thought it was high time to pursue her dreams; this is primarily what strikes me about Parsimonia; it’s got heart and it celebrates (and elevates) life’s simple pleasures through second-hand finds. Beth took time out of her hectic schedule to answer a few questions so we can all get to know her better:

When did you begin your site, and what made you decide to take the leap and do it?

I started the Parsimonia blog near the beginning of August last year (2010), a couple months after losing my job. My husband and I had just gotten married that June, and the day I came back from my honeymoon, I was laid off. Suddenly, I had all this time on my hands, and I was kind of going crazy. I am a creature of lists, schedules and organization, and not having those built into my daily life anymore left me a little stir crazy. So the hubs and I sat down one night and talked about where I wanted my career to go. I’m a journalism major and had been working in publishing, which I do love, but when he asked me, “If there’s one thing you could do for the rest of your life and be happy?” my immediate response was “thrifting.” So we set aside a little chunk of money, which I used to build up an inventory, then I launched my Etsy shop and my blog with the goal of showing people that shopping secondhand can be stylish, affordable and an amazing outlet for creativity.

What’s your “swing for the fences” dream in relation to your site?

Eventually I want to open an online store separate from Etsy that will also house the blog and, in a couple years, open a retail store here in St. Louis that will sell vintage items and local handmade crafts. I’d love for the Parsimonia brand to become a great local resource for thrifting in St. Louis.

What are some of the more significant changes to the second-hand/repurposing field you’ve seen in the past two years?

On the positive side, I think with the economy being so poor it’s forced some people who wouldn’t normally shop secondhand to do so, and as a result more people are realizing it’s a great way to get things they need (like clothes) and things they want (like accessories and home decor). I think people are also seeing that, with a little elbow grease, they can pick things up at thrift stores and customize them to their liking for much, much less than buying something similar at chain retail stores. It forces people to be a bit more creative in a sense, which I always think is a good thing.

On the negative side, I think thrift stores have picked up on this trend, are redoing their stores to look more like boutiques, and raising their prices along with it. This makes me a little upset because by doing that, they’re cutting out a large demographic of people who have always shopped secondhand, and perhaps that’s all they can afford to do. Now the $2 shirt that fit into their budget is out of the question because the price has been raised to $4 and they can’t make up the difference. So in a sense, these stores aren’t being loyal to customers that have been loyal to them since before thrifting became popular, which is a shame.

What are some of your favorite finds/projects? (Links, please!)

My favorite finds are usually the ones I get the most use out of. I remember one weekend in particular, not long after we moved to St. Louis this past January, where I picked up this amazing armless green chair and ottoman, and this mustard leather ottoman, and together they cost $20 (link: http://secondhandwithstyle.blogspot.com/2011/02/style-spots-thrift-o-mania.html). I use that chair and ottoman all the time in our bedroom, and the mustard ottoman is a staple in our living room.

How does your readership affect your content?

This is a tricky question because, on one hand, I strive to have content that reflects the things about which I’m passionate (thrifting, cooking, design, etc.). I think a lot of blogs just regurgitate information that you see in three of four other blogs, and after a while it gets less-than-inspiring. On the other hand, you want to make sure your content is useful and interesting to your readers. So I definitely keep an eye on which posts get the most hits and which search engine phrases bring in the most traffic, because this is what people are most interested in. As a result, my blog content has shifted a bit in the year since I’ve started it. I’ve started series that ended up flopping, and others that have gotten a lot of positive feedback. So you do have to be willing to find the balance between staying true to yourself and staying relevant to your readers.

Why are subscribers, “likes,” comments and other social media follows important?

It depends on the purpose of your blog. If you want to start one just to have a way to express yourself and you don’t care how many readers you have, then social media doesn’t matter. But if you’re writing one that, like me, ties into a business you’re trying to start, then social media is a necessary evil. We all know of plenty of blogs that have risen to stardom overnight because their content went viral, or people who have made online connections that have turned into career opportunities, and that’s just the world we live in now. Like it or not, online media is the present and the future, and when people like your posts on Facebook, comment on your blog and follow you on Twitter, it draws more traffic and exposes you (and your content) to people much faster, and to a much wider demographic.

What’s something fun/interesting about you that people may not know?

I am haunted by the word “nectar.” I misspelled it during a spelling bee in grade school and since then it’s been burned into my memory.