All Thrifty States

Yet another thrifty sister who refuses to stay down for the count, Jenna Isaacson has used her creativity to turn the recession into her playground, embarking on a project that I find terrifically inspiring. All Thrifty States is a cross-country trek to document America through what we give away, and Jenna and her little rented RV (HaRVey), are burning up the highways to meet folks, take photos, make a documentary, and, hopefully, to publish a book of her journey.

Though she made the papers a couple of months back with news of her journey, and raised over $7,000 through her Kickstarter fund, the trip wouldn’t have been possible without Goodwill‘s support. They came in as last-minute angels to get her on her way. The Donate Movement talks the talk AND walks the walk!

Thrift Store Confidential got the chance to interview Jenna, straight from an RV park somewhere in the Northwest. Her answers are thoughtful and insightful, and you can easily see the real human heart behind this venture. I urge you all to follow her blog and cheer her on through Facebook! Without further ado, the unsinkable Jenna Isaacson of All Thrifty States:

Jenna Isaacson

I find your motivation and go-gettem-ness awfully inspiring; tell me about the moment that you decided to begin this project. Was it an “ah-ha!” thing, or did it evolve gradually?

I guess it was pretty gradual, over a year or so. I was laid off two years ago from my newspaper photographer job and moved to a new city with my husband to start fresh. I missed taking pictures and meeting people every day and it was challenging getting off the ground as a freelancer who was new in town. So last summer when my freelance work in DC really slowed down, I spent the summer months broke, bored and wishing I had a photo project to work on. I decided to come up with my own project by just asking myself what project I’d do if no one paid attention or cared– something I’d just like to do on my own for fun. I figured since I love photography, meeting people, traveling and thrift stores, I should find a way to combine that. I came up with the name at 3am one night and immediately went to my computer and bought the domain for it. I started posting photos and telling my friends, who got a kick out of seeing stuff on there, and then a friend of mine mentioned Kickstarter.com. I envisioned it as part journalism, part art and part cultural study. I made it a New Year’s resolution to finally step off the ledge and put it up for pledges, mostly just to see if other people thought it was a good idea. I thought I set my goal pretty high and it was pretty lofty, but I also knew even that $7000 goal probably wouldn’t be enough anyway. I contacted a variety of thrift stores to see if they’d be interested in working on it with me as a sponsor and luckily Goodwill® was eager to respond!

Goodwill’s backing of this project must be an enormous joy for you. What are you doing together?

Goodwill is sponsoring the RV rental fee needed to travel, live in and work on the project from the road, as well as welcoming me into their stores with my cameras nationwide to talk to employees and customers about the importance of second-hand living and how shopping and donating at Goodwill® helps people find jobs the community. I really couldn’t pull this off without them, they’ve made an amazing difference in helping the project financially, but also in getting the word out through social media and traditional media.

Are you a life-long thrifter, or did you come to it recently? Tell me a little about your thrift history?

I learned about thrifting from my 97-year-old grandpa Jack who lives in Milwaukee near my brother now. When I’d go visit him on weekends in Quincy, Illinois with my dad, going to a local thrift store was our bonding time together. Grandpa offered to buy me anything I wanted because he got a senior discount. I’ll never forget walking into that store and seeing hundreds of donated roller-skates. It blew my little 9-year-old mind that anyone would get rid of such awesome stuff! I was hooked. It was great in college when your waistline is doing a number on your wardrobe. It was great when I got my first job and I wanted to decorate it all cool but I had very little to spend. And it’s been great since I was laid off and money has been tight.

I find your mission compelling, especially with regard to tracking America’s consumption patterns. What are a few common denominators you’ve seen so far?
Common denominators are definitely souvenir items, clothing items, electronics–things like that. But I think the biggest compelling denominator is that the selection in thrift stores in America shows that we not only consume a lot, but we’re quick to throw things to the curb when it gets a stain, nick, ding or something loses a button. There’s stuff in all of these stores that would horrify my grandpa’s generation that we’re getting rid of. Things that are still new or in perfect condition or things that can be easily cleaned, fixed or made usable again with only a small amount of effort. I want to show America that being thrifty also means using, being happy with what you have and protecting the environment by diverting items from landfills.

Howzabout a sneak peek at some of the “treasures” you’ve found? Any favorites?

I haven’t posted many of the photos, have I? We outfitted the RV with thrift store items– cups, plates, silverware, etc– and most of what we’re wearing are things we got at thrift stores previously. I love finding things that in some way represent where they’re from, especially on this trip. Although I’m trying not to buy too much (small RV…..) I’ve really enjoyed photographing items like a velvet painting of a deer in Portland, a stack of lightly used wedding dresses in Las Vegas, (perfect for the 24-hour-notice Vegas bride), an amazing selection of sweaters in Boise (those folks know how to keep warm in style!) and so many others. I think my favorite so far on this trip was a vintage sewing cabinet/footrest in pristine condition at the Goodwill® on Hawthorne boutique in Portland. It had an aqua floral pattern that made me *so* happy– I wanted to get it so bad, but unfortunately my husband was there to remind me that we have no room for it, not only in our RV– but in our tiny DC basement apartment! My favorite find EVER was probably the taxidermied frogs in Maryland (they’re on my website) and I still kick myself for not buying it.

With so little time between locales with all the driving, filming, photographing and blogging, I have little time to go through the images as I archive them late at night, but I try to post some of them on my blog along the way.

From your vantage point right now, wherever you are, what do you feel is the largest thing you’ve learned?

I’ve learned that thrift stores are definitely becoming more mainstream, more accepted and even a source of pride, which is great to see. I think it took an economic downturn to get people to take a hard look at their consumption habits, and those that came into thrift stores when the economic climate forced them to have sort of stuck around to continue to get the kinds of bargains and great items they realized they could get there.

What would you say to someone who has never shopped in a thrift store? Any advice?

Start simple, go with a friend who knows or has been to a thrift store before or someone who is a similar size (I call them a “size buddy”). Go in knowing what brands you like, what sizes you wear in them, tell the person you’re with to keep an eye out for those or stuff they think you’d look good in. It makes it more fun and it’ll grow from there. Also, I’d say to save time if you’re an impatient shopper, just walk the aisles and look for fabrics or patterns that catch your eye. If you buy something that screams out to you you’ll be more likely to wear it when it’s hanging in your own closet rather than just buying things that are the brand you like that might not fit well or be a color or item you’d really wear everyday. You can also try shopping early in the week because many donations come over the weekend or keeping an eye out for color tag sales.

Finally, what do you hope to achieve at the end of this? What are your dreams?

At the end, I hope to present a body of work, mostly likely a photo book and hopefully a short documentary, that can provide a fun platform for people to learn about and visually experience the benefits of thrift shopping, the people who shop there and the environmental impact it makes. I know it won’t make everyone quit going to malls, but if it makes someone consider heading to a thrift store for a new iron or shirt or set of dishes instead of an online retailer or a chain store, than I see it as a huge achievement for the project.

Below are a few photos from Jenna’s trip so far – her photographic skills and ability to see the humanity behind the “stuff” is palpable. We can’t wait for further updates, but in the meantime, GO JENNA, GO!!!!