Buying second hand

oldtractor · 27 February 2015 at 10:44AM

So ages ago I learnt to stop buying new if possible and go for second hand recycled. It took me longer than it should to realize that even cheap stuff bought as a bargain is still clutter and money wasted if not actually needed.
Now I look at things and ask myself "would I pay full price?" If the answer is no then I dont buy it.
Does anyone else do this?

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purpleshoes_2 · 27 February 2015 at 10:53AM

No. I do most of my clothes shopping in charity shops and Im lucky enough to have one near me that sells all its clothes for 99p.

I am in the process of getting rid of all the clothes I dont wear and at some point I want the clothes I have to be the ones I wear, rather than a certain percentage sitting around unworn.

I bought far too many books from charity shops over the years, gave most of them back.

NewB · 27 February 2015 at 11:08AM

Second hand is great - choose the item you really want and look for it on ebay / gumtree etc. Better quality second hand is far better than new cheap crap! If I'm tempted by something in a shop that I wasn't planning on buying, I ask myself "if someone can up to me and gave me £10 (or whatever the item costs) is this really what I'd want to spend it on?" - usually the answer is NO!

GreyQueen · 27 February 2015 at 11:42AM

oldtractor wrote: »

So ages ago I learnt to stop buying new if possible and go for second hand recycled. It took me longer than it should to realize that even cheap stuff bought as a bargain is still clutter and money wasted if not actually needed.
Now I look at things and ask myself "would I pay full price?" If the answer is no then I dont buy it.
Does anyone else do this?

Not exactly. I have a carried a mental list over the years of things I'd quite like to have, but there's no way I'd pay new prices for. So, if I see one of those items cheaply secondhand, I'll buy it.

Such as a large, heavy stainless steel food prep bowl, which I was minded to acquire but not for about £6.99 +. Found one in a chazzer which was perfect for £1. I guess the person who hiffed it out didn't know that the ugly scratches on the inside could be polished out with wet & dry paper and brillo pad in 5 mins, but I did.

I buy books secondhand only, typically sub-£1. Most are temporary pleasures and are re-donated once read. I really can't get my head around spending nearly a tenner on a paperback which I can read in under 4 hours, typically. It's bought cheaply, or not at all (I do make extensive use of the library service, but they don't have everything).

My consumption has slowed a lot, simply because I have a well-equipped home now, so don't need to be bringing much into it.

nursemaggie · 27 February 2015 at 11:54PM

I did used to buy more because it was cheep from CS but I have stopped that now. Not sure if it is the "Not Buying It" thread or that since we moved house my local CSs only sell stuff I would throw out before a jumble sale.

Horace · 28 February 2015 at 12:40AM

I have bought furniture from the Heart Foundation shop before now - some of it was eventually put on freecycle but I have kept the 1920's chest of drawers which are next to my bed and cost me £20 as they are used as my bedside table (my bed is high and so are these drawers).

I will get clothes from CS occasionally, antique glass which I either keep if it is particularly rare or sell on and books which are often recycled back into the charity shop (except for first editions of newer books which I have sold on fleabay).

Evil_Olive · 28 February 2015 at 4:32AM

My flat is almost entirely furnished from charity shops. I say almost because I did buy a few bits from Argos etc when I first moved in. I already knew that the quality of a £50, solid wood, 1930s chest of drawers from the CS/Second Hand Shop, was a no-brainer compared to a £50 piece of chipboard sh!te, but I had moved (ex kept the flat and all the furniture) from Brighton, where a second hand culture is ubiquitous, back to Essex, where the opposite holds true, and CS's which sold anything bigger than a teacup were hard to find, so compromises had to be made in the short term. I'm gradually getting rid of anything that was made after 1970 though and replacing it with stuff that will last until 2070

(I call it 'The Law of Diminishing Quality')

xJOJOx_2 · 28 February 2015 at 11:01AM

I do this with clothes. Would I pay full price for this dress? No then I mustn't like it enough.
However, certain items house etc I don't want to pay full price so will try and find elsewhere.
Only buy things need or really want rather than buying rubbish x

barneydee_2 · 1 March 2015 at 8:54AM

I've always refered to myself as second hand rose lol, when my oh & I bought our first flat the only thing that was brand new was our bed, the first twin tub we had was one built by my oh using parts he got from two old machines ,one had a good caseing & one had a good motor , it lasted us years & my mum had it after us.
I have only ever had one telly that was brand new which I treated myself to at Christmas out some back pay I got at Christmas. My oh lothes paying full price & if he is paying cash he will barter as he says "if you don't ask you don't get" he also loves skips need I say more LOL
Dee x

thriftwizard · 1 March 2015 at 9:26AM

I make myself wait two days before buying anything that's taken my fancy, secondhand or new, for my wardrobe or for our home. Oddly enough, most of the time I've forgotten all about it by the time I can "allow" myself to purchase it. And sometimes, it's already gone, but that's life; I tell myself that that's "shopping karma" & it wasn't meant to be mine. Major & necessary purchases I will research thoroughly to find the best deal, new or secondhand; I learnt the hard way that secondhand cookers, for example, are not usually a bargain.

Trouble is, I can't do that with my business purchases; I have to act swiftly or lose the chance, in most cases. So now I have a house & garage full of excess "stock" to dispose of!

fuddle · 1 March 2015 at 9:28AM

I don't think in terms of full price because I'm quite happy to pay full price Ikea price if it's something that is needed or will do the trick.

I do think in terms of bargain if I can pick a solid piece of furniture up for minimal cost. My solid pine wardrobe was left behind by the previous tenants. We have permission to aquire it for ourselves as the LL deemed it 'rubbish'. I have lived with that scruffy bit of furniture for 15 months now but soon will be chalk painted white and will be beautiful. The same can be said for the solid pine chest of drawers that I picked up second hand for £30ish. It's dreadfully orange and quite abused but it's solid, will last years to come and will be beautiful with some TLC.

Would I pay £500 for a new white washed solid wood wardrobe and £250 for the same in the chest of drawers? No way!

I do, however, own a tiny wood effect table and 4 matching stools that sit in our living room. It cost £79 and is perfect for the space, very sturdy, cleans fantastic, allows us to have family meals together in the small space we have, the stools double up as side tables for our cups and the girls can glue/paint etc I am not precious about it other than appreciate it's value in terms of what it does for us. I would pay full price again for that. Absolutely.

What I would like would be a waxed wood top tabled, painted legs, a multitude of different wooden farm house chairs, painted and I think I would be able to achieve that second hand for what I paid for the current set up but it's not right for us at the moment as I would be too precious with the wood top and paint finishes when the girls are eating/crafting etc.

I made decisions on what is right for my set up at the time.

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Buying second hand

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