Category — Secondhand is Better than New

63 Years Old & Still Going Strong!

I bought a used vacuum right after my husband and I got married, 22 years ago. The vacuum was already 41 years old at the time. It set me back $35.00 and worked wonderfully up until a few weeks ago, when it started consistently breaking new belts. I hauled it out to my car and took it to one of the few repair shops in town. The service cost much more than the vacuum did when I bought it, but was less expensive than buying a new one. And of course, that’s what the repair shop people wanted me to do—buy a new one. They tried to sell me when I first walked into the store and again over the phone before they fixed the old one.

Aside from it costing more to buy new, I just hate the thought of filling the overcrowded landfills with anything that still has use. Now that it’s been fixed, the vacuum works like a charm and has plenty of good years left. The next time it needs to be repaired I’ll be shopping around. Not for a newer model, but for a different repair shop.

 Thrift store jewels that I’ll make into other treasures.  

I’ve written before about how much I love vintage jewelry. Some pieces I wear as they are; others I disassemble to use the components to make something new. Yesterday while I was nosing around my local public library, I found a great new book on how to take bits and pieces of old jewelry, plastic cake decorations and doll furniture and turn them into necklaces, bracelets, earrings, shoe clips and more. The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girl’s Guide to Handmade Jewelry isn’t for those who love only pearls, solid gold and diamond jewelry. But if you’d enjoy a necklace made of plastic gnomes, you should check out this book.

I admit it—I sometimes buy new clothing. In fact there are items that I never, ever buy used, and I don’t even look in the areas of the store where these things are located. Everyone has a limit, even me. Here’s what I will only buy new:

1. Any and all underwear, except for beautiful old slips, which I love.
2. Swimwear. I don’t enjoy swimming and haven’t owned a bathing suit for the last decade. If I did need one, though, I’d spring for a new suit.
3. Socks.
4. Gloves or mittens made out of fabric, although I do occasionally buy used gloves that are made out of leather.

As a family, we are very careful to spend less than we have, and buying used clothing is one of the ways we do so. Since we’re saving so much on our clothing bills, we can afford to buy a few brand new things.

Earlier this summer I did something that I just hate—went shopping at regular retail stores for a new bathing suit. After trying on stacks and stacks of swimsuits at three different places, I found one that wasn’t terrible. It was all very discouraging.  

How interesting, I thought, that I never leave a thrift store feeling discouraged, even if I try on what seems like half of what’s in the store and find nothing worth buying. 

Maybe shopping for secondhand clothing is so much more fun than shopping regular retail because of my expectations. When everything is brand new, I somehow feel that at least some of it should look terrific on me. Secondhand stores, however, are filled with stuff that’s been rejected by somebody else for one reason or another. I expect used clothing stores will have loads and loads of stuff that I don’t want. Not finding anything great doesn’t surprise me, but when I do find something great, it’s an absolute thrill.

Anyway, to get back to swimsuit situation, the friend who was with me on this shopping ordeal (she also had to try on about a thousand to find just one that was reasonably attractive) suggested that if somebody could just come up with a bathing suit that covers every single inch of our bodies, that person would become wealthy indeed. 

One of the things I most love about secondhand shopping is buying summer clothes during the winter. Department stores stick to rigid schedules, clearing everything off the floor as the seasons change. It’s generally not quite as strict at the thrifts so I cheer myself up when it’s freezing outside by having a look at the summer shirts and skirts. Since everybody else is concentrating on sweaters and pants, I find some real deals.  

When the warm weather arrives, I take all my summer clothes out of the closet and mix-and-match. I have a new wardrobe for the new season, having spent very, very little money.