How do you feel about Hand Me Downs/Second Hand Goods?

Iguana

Is it so filthy that its unuseable? Is it so old that its electrically unsafe?
Would your other half accept it if a friend/neighbour/acquaintannce gave it to you?

elisebutt65

I love 2nd,3rd, 4th hand - whatever!!!

My kids are still wearing some of my little brothers clothes, tht were originally my big brothers clothes in the 70's, via nephews and cousins - lol. Our family recycles clothes in a big way!!

I recently got a proper Prada bag for £20 in Oxfam - It actually hurt paying that much for a bag but it's soooo lovely and it's lovely soft leather. I've jazzed it up with charms I got off EBay. Also paid a fiver for what I thought was a fake CD croc handbag but it had a certificate of authenticity in the pocket inside - nice one!!!

Got rid of the vcr on freecycle and loads of the kids old toys - just use the vcr in kids room if I must watch one - but rarely have time to watch normal tv, let alone tapes.

Even a lot of my shoes come from EBAY - I always spray them first with athletes foot stuff just in case, and give them a good clean, but no problems there. I remember mum buying me a bra from a jumble sale once but I put my foot down there - EeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuWWWWW.

My carpets came from a freind of mine who had a huge lounge and there wasn't a mark on them, so I paid £50 to the local carpet shop to fit them for me and had enough to do the whole house apart from my bedroom I have a very small house compared to their lounge!!!!

Hoopylass

I dont have a problem with it, I think the freecycle site is great and i am always buying clothes off ebay.

beautifulgorgeous_2

Shoes could be ok if anyone else is like I was. I used to fall in love with them put them on for 10 minutes so they could not be taken back, get awful blisters and pain and consign them to the back of the wardrobe! I am much older,wiser and poorer now and buy shoes purely for comfort.

moggins

With the recent report that we are using 3 times our share of the worlds resources then it's only ethical to 'recycle'!

At one point everything I owned in this house had been preloved and it's only with DH's arrival that we now have new stuff - but even he is now buying bits on E-bay and 3 of the 4 tops I recently brought him back from the charity shop have only been taken off long enough for me to wash them

The only problem I have now is that we all need wardrobes and I'm going to have to buy them new and flatpacked otherwise we won't get them up the stairs.

Peppa_Pig_5

I am overwhelmed by all the responses and I am so glad you kept posting here and not on another board as suggested. I have been advised on cleaning tips for the breadmaker over on the OS board. So am in the process of getting it all together and have to find an instruction booklet from somewhere as it didn't come with any. Once I have all the ingredients I will let you know how good it tasted.

sanfrancisco wrote:

The fact that most people are bothered by second hand goods is because we have been conditioned with 50 years of advertising by corporations that brainwash us into thinking we must have x, y or z and it must be new. There motivation is to make money and they make moeny by selling us stuff. They need to convince us that we need this stuff, when we don't really. Fashion is just clothes companies inventing new things to sell to us each year.

I make a predicition, that with the current state of the economy, being frugal will become very trendy in the next few years, probably under the guise of "being green", and everyone will be coming to us for tips. Look how the 4x4 is being replaced with that new green car thing. When something gets too popular we don't like it and we have to replace it with something new.

I hope so sanfrancisco. I really got into a book a few years ago about downshifting and that idea really appeals to me. It would be great if more and more people became frugal.

Peppa
x

Sweet_Pea_2

Since discovering MSE I have started to buy second hand stuff. I bought one or two things for my daughters from ebay to begin with, but I didnt tell them where it came from because I thought they wouldn't wear it if they knew. They are used to hand me downs from a friends daughter which they dont have a problem with though. I eventually confessed, and now I buy about half of their stuff from ebay, and I haven't paid full price for a coat for them in the last couple of years. I have had lots of compliments on their things too, I did say where I got them but got one or two odd looks, so now I just say thanks and smile. My younger daughter made me laugh the other day though. (She is seven) I asked her to have a look at something I was thinking of bidding on for her, she came running down the lounge towards the computer shouting, "I love ebay!" They occasionally ask if something is new and I have used Rikkis line "Its new to you!"
If I could go back in time I could have saved hundreds of pounds on all their stuff I paid top dollar for. I have also bought ebay stuff for me but found a large percentage of it just didnt fit, so I dont buy too much stuff for me now, although my winter coat only cost me a fiver! Inspired by the charity shop threads on other boards I have taken to looking round them although I wouldn't before.
I can say though - my OH would be exactly the same as the OH of the OP, he is very snobby and definately would not like the idea of a second hand breadmaker unless it came from someone we knew. I couldn't get him anything from a charity shop or ebay because he wouldnt wear it unless it had a shop tag on so he can see where it comes from. I bought him a shirt from bewise once ( from the shop, new with tags, just cheap!)and he wouldnt wear it.
There's not much I can do to change him, I just go my own sweet way and ignore him, with regards to the breadmaker I would have told him my mum gave it to me or one of her friends, he would probably be OK with that. (What he doesn't know wont hurt him!)

Peppa_Pig_5

Hi Sweet Pea, what I should have done is hid it until next week, given it a clean when he is on the afternoon shift and told him I had bought it. He wouldn't have been any the wiser. Mind you I will do that for the next second hand item that arrives in my house. But I will be keeping this breadmaker whatever happens.

Peppa
x

CharleneUK

I have no problems with second hand clothes for my kids.

85% of their clothing is brand new, and the rest is either from family, friends or ebay.

On the other hand, my husband hates it and wants me to stop (with no good reason, so I won't!)

There are things I'd prefer to buy new, though, things like Microwaves, ovens, washing machines etc.

moggins

Charlene, even second hand electricals can be worth their weight in gold. My 20 cubic foot chest freezer cost me £20 from a second hand electrical shop 7 years ago and is still going strong. The first ever tumble dryer I had cost me £5 at a boot sale and lasted 6 years. My dishwasher was £50 bought from the local paper, I'd never owned one before and it cost me £30 to have it plumbed in (we had to have all new fittings put in under the sink) I bought it 3 years ago, it looked like new and sparkled inside, the woman was only selling it because she'd just had a fitted kitchen installed. I've never bought a coffee maker new and the best buy I had was last year at a local fete when I bought a yellow kettle, toaster and coffee maker and it cost me £1 for the lot. Given away because it no longer matched the decor!! How mad is that? Luckily my kitchen is decorated in yellow and green so it fitted in beautifully.

If I stopped to think about it I could probably produce a list as long as your arm of the second hand stuff in my house. Even my first computer was bought second hand from the paper. Now I have a mad DH who has gone and spent £500 on this monster when all we needed was a bigger hard drive