Post-holiday purge

Finding it difficult to find room for all of my new presents, I realized I needed to do a wardrobe and possession purge. I do this about three times a year, seemingly with the seasons but more truthfully on compulsion. I take a large box and then stand in front of a closet and pull garments from hangers at whim. The exhilaration I get from this subjectively meaningless act is one resembling freedom after captivity. I literally feel euphoric. Why? Because after I pull the shirts, dresses and pants from their hanger prisons and donate them to the women’s shelter, Goodwill or trade them in, I get to go shopping for new favorite possessions.

The easiest way to complete this cycle is to take my big box of yesterday’s news down to urbanXchange. They’ll dig through the box, see what they think will resell in their store, and then give me cash or store credit for it.

I donate the rest of the stuff. The downtown Tacoma shop specializes in recycling gently used clothing and accessories through reselling them back into the community to keep them from the landfill. Now that’s a nice little turn for commerce. Check out the shop’s new Employee Favorites rack.

[urbanXchange, 1934 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280]

Oroweat Bakery Outlet

Everything under the sun — from sweets to healthy treats — lines the shelves of Oroweat Bakery Outlet Store. Your grocery list could include sweet treats of little individual cakes and pies to boxes of raspberry and lemon jelly-filled donuts, cinnamon apple cake donuts, chocolate covered minis, petite and full-size loaves of sweet raisin bread (traditional Italian and American styles), and feather-light angel food cake. On the healthy side, large loaves of whole wheat, oat and multi-grain, tangy sourdough, whole grain flour, and dark and light rye fill the shelves. Voortman’s Cranberry Omega 3 Flax Seed cookies pull double duty as a sweet and a healthy treat ($3 for a package of 20). The toasty scent of brown sugar and oats wafts from the package as you open it. The medium golden brown cookies taste of graham crackers and subtle cranberry. Visible flax seeds and oats provide great texture.

The outlet store also sells jams, jellies, honey, individual microwavable soups, and powdered gravy (Southern pepper cream, sausage biscuit, white turkey, brown) and a cheddar sauce.
Tucked back in a shopping plaza across Sixth Avenue from Kmart, Oroweat Bakery Outlet Store provides a convenient way to keep your kitchen stocked with baked goods with prices much lower than you’d pay at grocery stores such as Safeway and Albertsons.

[Oroweat Bakery Outlet Store, 5401 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.2146]