Giving Secondhand a Second Chance

Disclaimer: I thoroughly chuckled at my blog title when I came up with it. I had no choice, I had to use it.

Whether you recently broke your pizza cutter or wore out an old shirt, we all need to buy things on occassion. We can buy new or secondhand. There are lots of factors that go into which to go with and they differ with each purchase. I consider time, availability, convenience, etc. 

It can be a bit of a knee jerk reaction to just go out an buy something new, but let’s step it up for the planet and try for secondhand!

Until about a year ago, I had a no overwhelming reason to want or need to go to a thrift store. If I wanted something cheap, I would buy it from a place that sold cheaper items. I have now really changed my perspective on this.

I am going to dive into some benefits of shopping secondhand, discuss types of thrifting, and maybe leave you with an interest to give thrifting a go!

Benefits of Thrifting:

Cheaper

One of the many reasons people love thrifting is because it is significantly cheaper than buying brand new. When I went into the thrift store last week, I walked out with 3 shirts for $15. I also bought new string lights for Christmas for about $6 for three strands.

Thrill of the Hunt

Depending on what you are looking for, it can be exciting to browse the rows looking for the perfect item. Maybe you are looking for some décor you can keep above you kitchen cabinets all year long, a few stores in, you may find something that exceeds what you thought was even out there.

Unique Items

Thrift stores can offer items that are hard to come by or no longer for sale elsewhere. Make your home and wardrobe unique with the items you find. Vintage and antique stores are extremely popular right now for this reason. It allows us to give our homes character in new and fun ways.

Community Building

Many thrift stores are typically done by nonprofits. They are looking to earn cash to help further their mission. Donating gives those stores opportunities to sell to their customers. A customer could purchase an item, have it add value to their life when they need it, then they can donate it back. By being apart of this process you are allowing goods to stay in the community and benefit someone else.

Convenience

If thrifting in stores is not your thing, don’t forget about the large amounts of opportunities to purchase online secondhand items. You can check out sites like Facebook Marketplace or craigslist to buy things from others in your community. You can also use online sites like Poshmark or ThredUp if you are looking for a particular clothing item. I personally have used Poshmark in the past and found my exact pair of jeans that I like, gently used and in my size.

Earth Friendly

Buying secondhand gives that object a longer lifespan before inevitably being incinerated or ending up in a landfill. You are saving resources by not purchasing something brand new. Let’s use what we already have. Thrifting falls under the category of reusing. You will find many individuals who want to live more sustainably choosing to buy most their clothes and home items thrifted before buying a brand new “eco-friendly” option. However, everyone’s situation is different, so I recommend choosing what is important to you and going from there, no one is perfect either.

If you like to continually upgrade your wardrobe, consider thrifting instead of buying new! Get something for a few seasons, donate it, purchase something from the thrift store, and keep the cycle going!

Socially Conscious

Fast fashion is a term used to describe the practice of stores selling low quality and typically unethically made items at a fast rate. Forever21 and H&M are two common stores associated with this, but there are so many others. Think of stores that are constantly pushing different styles through their stores to keep encouraging customers to come back and buy the next item. Because the item is made so cheaply, the customer typically does end up coming back after the item has only been used a handful of times because it is broken or does not fit any more. Choosing to thrift and not contribute toward fast fashion can be a great way to take yourself out of the equation for those stores that do operate on that fast fashion mentality.

What are my options for buying second hand?

Thrift Stores

These are typically run by nonprofit organizations. These are great for a general miscellaneous collection of your community’s donations. It can take some searching and some good luck, but you can find some great deals and items here.

Antique and Vintage Stores

These are more curated clothing or home items. Someone took the time to find these items and bring them to you within their store. Typically, they come at a higher cost than a traditional thrift store, but if you are shorter on time, this may be a better solution than “sifting through the racks.”

Consignment Stores

These stores buy used items and sell them for a profit. Many find these are a bit more strict on what they allow on the racks compared to a typical thrift store. This can be good or bad depending on what you are looking for. Clothing stores like this may only have what is popular at the time. ThredUp is an online version of this

Online Marketplaces

These are platforms that allow anyone to list their items for sale for others to purchase. Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Depop are some popular examples.

Garage and Estate Sales

You never know what gems may be waiting at these. Just a reminder, if you are going to estate sales, please be kind, as you do not know why they are needing to sell the belongings.

Flea Markets

Flea markets have vendors come in with their secondhand items looking to sell. They are basically traveling antique and vintage stores brought to you.

Not all secondhand stores are created equal, find the ones you like and check back regularly.

Extremely Abundant Items at Thrift Stores

Over the last year, my husband and I made our way into our fair share of thrift stores. There seems to be items that are almost always there in excess. In case you weren’t aware either, here are some items I would check the thrift store first before going to buy new.

• Seasonal Décor
• Home Décor
• Wicker Baskets
• Sweatshirts and Sweaters
• Lamps
• Picture Frames
• Craft Supplies
• Kitchen Utensils
• Reusable Plastic Containers
• Dish Sets – Plates, cups, bowls
• Puzzles and Games
• Flower vases

Want some more inspiration to spark a secondhand shopping interest?

If you read this and still don’t feel the bug to spend an afternoon hopping from thrift store to thrift store, that is okay. My intentional/minimal side applauds you for not going out to look for something to purchase that you don’t need.

If you are interested, but just don’t feel like you are properly inspired, I encourage you to check out some other people online. There are so many youtubers and bloggers that have been thrifting for a long time. Find someone with a personality you like and check out their content. Youtubers vlog their thrifting experience and do the best kind of “haul” of what they got at the thrift store. So much better than a haul of fast fashion clothes they bought brand new. Instagram has tons of posts of people with their newest thrift store finds you can follow them for some daily inspiration.

Lastly, I recommend to just give it a chance. Look through what is available in the online marketplaces, see the types of things they have. It may surprise you. You can create a list of items you would like to get and if any of them happen to show up on those places, you can pick them up.

Be kind to yourself and the planet.

Resources:

Poshmark
ThredUp
Depop