Second Hand

I’m not used to having birthday parties for myself, so I was caught off guard the year we lived in Norway when one cousin informed me it was proper to invite everyone over for cake and coffee to help me celebrate the big day. At the last minute I called everyone and they cancelled other plans, so within two hours our house was filled with over twenty relatives, happy to have an excuse to eat cake and drink coffee.  What I didn’t realize until that night was, I had more guests than coffee cups, so we had to drink coffee in shifts.  Soon thereafter I visited the thrift store to buy a few more mugs so I was never caught in that embarrassing situation again. 

Thrift stores are few and far between but still one of my favorite places to shop in Norway because things there are actually affordable, as opposed to the grocery store, where things are very expensive.  (We spent over three thousand dollars a month just on food.) Norwegians throw out incredibly nice stuff since they always like the latest in design and fashion. The demand for second-hand items is nil, so the prices are pretty low - lucky me.  I purchased practical kitchen items like coffee cups and serving dishes, but I really love to buy decorative things made out of carved wood, hand stitched linens or Norwegian pewter (see photo).  The pewter was popular fifty years ago and Norwegians today think it looks ugly, which puts it in my price range - incredibly cheap and sometimes free.

Garage sales are almost non-existent in our part of Norway, but flea markets are held for a few weekends in the Fall, usually to raise money for a soccer club or some charity work.  They are a real treat since the prices are negotiable and the last hour it’s possible to buy a large plastic bag for about ten dollars in which I can cram all that my heart desires.  Kaleb observed what I brought home from one flea market was, “All the things that make a house, a home.”  He’s used to my “country clutter” style of decorating – which is so not Norwegian.

One time I bought a used portable heater for four dollars at a flea market, and then on the way home, I stopped to buy groceries. I realized I paid nearly twice that for a head of lettuce that will be gone in one meal, yet my heater will last for years.  Go figure.

Buying used household items made the cost of living more tolerable in Norway, but I often wished they had a used food store, too.  Well, maybe not.