why do people think second hand is manky?

We got pretty much everything second-hand for our new baby - I love a good bargain! Full bin bag of almost new onesies & outfits for under 10 - dread to think how much that would have cost new. There were over 100 things!

I never understand why people would donate stuff for for the bin!

I wouldn't buy used shoes either, but I've found a few brand new pairs second hand for a bargain.

Who scratches their eyes - unless you mean arse? Which is the sold reason I have never bought a second hand book !

I rarely buy anything new! All my (very smart) workwear is M&S, Planet, John Lewis and Monsoon - all bought from EBay. My favourite bargain was a silk Whistles dress for £15. I have a good friend with whom I would never share this info. When a mutual friend of ours described her vintage Levi’s as “used”, I thought she was going to barf!

I'm all for it, tbh. Ok, underwear is off limits but most other stuff is fine. Would rather upcycle furniture than throw it away

Because consumerism has done an amazing number on some people's thought processes to render them unfit for rational decision making.

😀
Brilliant

I help to run a second hand childrens clothing exchange. Some of the stuff that is given in is absolutely grim and gets thrown away. The majority is immaculate and the really little baby stuff is often still with tags on. People have washing machines I assume!?

I am glad they do!
Dont tell them!

Leaves it all cheaper for the rest of us.

No idea. Something you buy from a shop can have been tried on by countless people before you buy it. Especially shoes. Lots of other people’s sweaty feet may have been in those. It’s also so easy to wear something and return it back to a shop. Including pants! - not that I’ve done this. But I used to work in a department store and lots of people do. So new does not guarantee cleanliness.

I worked in a charity shop for a month when I was 16 and it horrified me the state some people sent their stuff in BUT we did get them cleaned and pressed but it just always put me off. Since I hit my 40s I’ve started going though and agree you just clean what you get

Original - do you never borrow a library book?

Someone needs to tell the queen. Wearing those old hand-me-down jewels. What a slob.

Lots of stuff in charity shops is brand new anyway - I manage a charity shop and we get regular donations from big name, High Street retailers ... it's either their end of season stuff or very slightly shop soiled or maybe has been used in mannequins on display. It's very good stuff and I sell it at very good prices. But there really is a mind set among some people that they just won't buy from a charity shop ... .

Former charity-shop obsessed here.

I realised that people are genuinely pretty gross.

Books, for example: are read in people’s dirty beds, toilets.. people absent-mindedly pick their noses, scratch their eyes, lick a finger and turn the page.

Mattresses - God, no. Back sweat, spit, god knows what in the innards.. other bodily fluids.. even sofas and armchairs see too much!

😂

Ooh I bloody love a good bargain! There's a charity shop in the next town to me, where if you time it right, you can get 3 children's items for 99p!! Picked up some proper bargains for dc when I last went there, including a next hoodie and and M&S top, both barely worn! I always pick up second hand bits for the woodland school as they only get trashed anyway. I also try to get the next size up from there too so that when they have a growth spurt you've got some reserves so you don't have to go out and emergency shop as that's when you end up spending a fortune imo.

I think some people delude themselves about how clean brand new clothes are likely to be. The fabric will have passed through many pairs of hands, been transported, probably been kept on a warehouse, not to mention the process of making it in to a garment and getting it to a shop. Then how many people will have touched clothes in a shop and possibly even tried them on. I can't imagine everyone who turns their noses up at second hand is carefully washing all their new clothes before the wear them. Or scrubbing brand new jewellery etc. When I buy second hand I know I'll need to give it a wash.

The only person I know IRL who refuses to consider anything second hand is a friend's DH. His view is that second hand (especially charity shop) means that someone else didn't want it, so why would he want something that wasn't good enough for it's last owner? I'm pretty sure that says something about his self esteem but he's a pompous arse so I will judge him for this He is blissfully unaware that his wife has been dressing herself and their DC in charity shop finds for years.

I'm not a fan of secondhand books. I think people might have been reading them while picking their nose or sitting on the loo. Not normally a germaphobe, but I defo have a thing about books. 😊

Have you read some of the threads on here, where people have declared some very dodgy hygiene standards. There are people like this in the real world, who would to use their clothes, jewellery etc.

I'm another one who mostly buys second handfor me and kids. A few safety exceptions like car seats and mattresses.
I think the judgement come from the perception of it being cheep and that's where some of the perception of it being dirty come from.

It's probably the same people who donate old used pants, t-shirts with holes, broken toys and mouldy books to charity shops and then complain "oh the charity shop didn't want them.... I thought they were desperate for donations".

Agree with the shoes, I don't really want to buy second hand shoes - unless they look absolutely perfect.

But house is furnished with second hand furniture, some very old some not so much. Maybe if it's antique - some of it is - that's OK.

I wouldn't buy second hand towels as I suspect they'll already have had much of the use out of them!

Sheets, really good qualify linen I probably would if I got the chance.

Curtains, soft furnishings from a pet free smoke free home (or didn't obviously have cat hair or smell of smoke) yes,

People are weird.