Thanks, Patty!

Cosmetics make my eyes water and don't do my skin any good. I think it's the coconut products in it, same is in many soaps, shampoos, and lotions. On rare occasion I've used a waxy wand thing like a mascara tube to force my eyebrows to appear on my face, though I think wearing a pair of half-rim glasses with a dark upper rim tends to achieve the same effect. I mail order glasses through Zenni.com these days.

My wardrobe for volunteering is usually good jeans, attractive walking shoes and a knit shirt with no message (unless we're asked to wear one identifying us as volunteers). The closet also holds black slacks and a couple of mid-calf skirts, a couple of suit jackets, and for special occasions a long cashmere kilt I bought about 50 years ago. There was a lovely sweater to pair with it but moths devoured that; the kilt is packed in an air-tight bin.

It is astonishing the quality of clothing that turns up in thrift stores, especially things from the last 30 years or so—there are some things that are truly out of style, but garments like mid-rise or high-waist jeans (the latter I prefer) and simple strait sweaters or knit tops are fairly timeless. The current lightweight "fast fashion" also turns up there to be left on the rack.

I buy new shoes starting in the clearance rack at DSW. I grew up going to Nordstrom's in Seattle with my mother, starting at their clearance rack. That's when Nordstrom's was JUST shoes and just one store in downtown Seattle. Decades ago they merged with Best's Apparel and for a few years were called Nordstrom Best's until they went back to the single name, keeping the nice clothes.

When my father died I filled a large U-Haul box (the next size down from the wardrobe box) with shoes, mostly running or walking sneakers (called "trainers" in the UK). I think I estimated the value at $50 a pair (most of them barely if ever worn) and with donations like that to the local Saint Vincent DePaul was able to wipe out the estate's income tax bill (and they were THRILLED with the shoes that mostly went to homeless men.)