New to Me

Those of us who love shopping as retail therapy but who are also relatively thrifty will probably never buy anything at full or regular price.  A not-really-necessary skirt or blouse likely looks 100% better when it has been reduced to $4.99.  We scour the bargain racks looking for that super deal and even if it is not exactly what we want, will buy it because it was cheap.

image: racked.com

Others of us will clip coupons and collect promo codes to nab that perfect must-have latest item.  We frequent bogo sales and will buy something just to get that gift-with-purchase, all in the name of "saving".  But how many of us will consider pre-owned goods?

While you can be frugal and penny-pinching without having to buy anything pre-owned, most of us actually buy pre-owned items all the time. As a major purchase, some of us will buy a pre-owned car or house.  We likely would not hesitate to buy pre-owned books.  Even our pop bottles and beverage containers are all re-used. If you frequent garage (or car-boot) sales, everything is pre-owned.  The very idea of antique furniture means that it is old and obviously pre-owned.   Recycling has become second nature.

But many will balk at pre-owned wearables.  Consider this: How many items of new clothing are made each year?  What is the cost to the environment to make it?  Where does all the old clothing go?  They say North Americans recycle over 2.5 billion pounds of clothes each year!  Such a waste. 

True, there are many people in developing countries who need clothing, but just think: what if we all recycled our wearables?  Yuck you say. Yet clothing is washable.  You can wash it.  Would you stay in a hotel?  Who would you trust to wash something? Yourself?  or a hotel?  Check this if you said hotel:

There are all sorts of nasty videos about supposedly clean hotel sheets too.  So, give me a nice vintage wearable any day!