A few years ago I traveled to Houston, Texas, to visit some friends. While on the trip, we went to Burlington Coat Factory, a store I do not ever shop at. That said, this particular day everyone was in a particularly silly mood, something that sometimes happens. I found that there were bowler hats and coats that made me look like a stylish senior citizen. Now, most of the time I am not interested in looking older than I am, for obvious reasons, but I still think that when I get “old” that I will definitely be able to be a stylish old person without a question, if I make it to that age.

Apparently, though, I am not the only person fascinated by old timey clothing. Over the course of my work I have the chance to listen to music often, and sometimes I find songs that are enjoyable. For example, one time I found a song that I thought to be particularly humorous and particularly ironic, and then I found out later on that it happened to be a #1 hit, which was pleasing, even if the song is a bit vulgar for my tastes in parts. The song happens to be called “Thrift Shop,” and it has a serious point about the futility of spending a lot of money on clothing in order to look good. There are some items in the song that I would never purchase for myself, but all the same I must admit that in my life I have definitely been a thrifty person at times when it comes to clothes, though I try not to make a bit show out of it.

I am nowhere near as thirfty when it comes to buying clothing as my mother is. There is a certain type of person who really dislikes to spend more money for something than is absolutely necessary, and my mother is definitely that type of person. If one remembers the money personalities I have blogged about before [1], my dominant money personality is the flyer, in which case I am not someone who is fanatically concered by money in any way. My mother, on the other hand, has both the saver and security types of personality, making her an ideal thrifty shopper. While I must admit that I do not often go thrift shopping, today I actually did on my way back from work. The Mormons run a thrift shop that is not too far away from where I used to live that I was never able to get to because of my disinclination to walk that far and my inability to get there in time.

Today, though, I managed to make it in plenty of time, and I wandered in there looking for some more formal wear. I happened to listen to the conversation between the cashiers, and it turns out that they are definitely poor Mormons, as they had talked about their lengthy trips on public transportation (of course, most trips on public transportation tend to be pretty lengthy when you have to chance buses or lines, speaking from experience) in order to make it to “temple,” which is what Mormons call church, I suppose. Anyway, shopping there made me think of the song, which is perhaps ironic and wrong in all kinds of ways, but the way that my mind tends to work, I suppose.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/book-review-the-5-money-personalities/