Great Reasons to Shop Secondhand

I grew up shopping in thrift stores. I remember my mother searching for me as I hid in between clothing racks, her cart piled high with colorful finds and the happy expression on her face when she found both my hiding spot and the perfect outfit for me. I learned during these excursions about the thrill of finding items marked for $2.00, with an original price tag of one hundred times that! It was and still is amazing what people both give and throw away long before their usefulness is through. While as a child I didn’t have much patience for shopping trips of any kind, I still found most of my adolescent clothes secondhand. My mother also created elegant outfits for her tango classes and hilarious Halloween costumes out of what she found at our local thrift stores.

When I got older and we had a bit more money, we stopped thrift shopping as much and started mall shopping. While these trips seemed “easier” in some ways, they never had the same sense of adventure, not to mention that the cost was far greater both monetarily and to my sense of sanity.

After entering college I luckily rediscovered the joy of thrift or consignment stores and yard sales. At that time I was shopping secondhand for the deals and eccentric outfits I could find, but later I came to appreciate all my used, but “new to me” items for the greater purpose they served. I realized that every thrift store, consignment shop, op shop, online secondhand retailer, yard sale and refurbished electronic store provided a secondhand haven for the millions of pounds of clothing and household items that would otherwise be headed for the dump. I learned that by thrift shopping I could save still useful and valuable items from being heaped into our overflowing landfills and save money and natural resources by doing so.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Laura S.

4:43AM PDT on May 23, 2013

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

May 23
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Latoya B.

4:28AM PDT on May 2, 2013

I keep spending my thrift store money at the dollar store. It's better to go to the thrift store first since some items are only 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, etc.

May 2
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Emelie H.

1:52PM PDT on Apr 27, 2013

Thank you for the article!

April 27
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Julie C.

6:41AM PDT on Apr 20, 2013

"I'm gonna pop some tags; only got $20 in my pocket..."

April 20
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Cynthia B.

3:23PM PDT on Mar 29, 2013

you can find some deals. I donate my clothes back to Goodwill I help myself and those employed at the shops plus the Earth.. Especially love the book prices

March 29
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7:42PM PDT on Mar 25, 2013

I need to move closer to thrift stores so I can go to them every couple of days.

March 25
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1:23AM PDT on Mar 21, 2013

I just bought a bunch of real cute shirts for $2 each.

I know I am getting cheap when I see shirts I want for such an incredibly low price and I am hesistant to buy them since I pay less at garage sales for clothes.

March 21
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miri s.

12:45PM PDT on Mar 20, 2013

I decided to shop only second hand, my main reason being that most big brands are arguably exploitative in that they charge high prices whilst their workers (mostly on minimum wages or less!!!) do all the work and I don't want to support that. But i totally agree that shopping in malls drives you mad, its just manic .. Also the fact that it costs so incredibly much water is an eye opener, thanks for this article