To think that the majority of people don't realise stuff can be bought cheaper?

[Namechangearoonie123]

Who is buying new retail stuff

At a car boot sale yesterday everything was 50p-£2, DVDs, furniture, dresses that would cost £50, shoes that would cost £60,chests of drawers that would cost £40, books - almost new 10pence

Everything I buy from EBay is half/third of what it would cost new

I got a barbecue for free on freecycle, I'm just about to give away a leather sofa for free that would have cost £600. (It's as new and was in the house when we moved in)

Who is buying new ?

I wouldn't buy a sofa 2nd hand. Grim.

But I am pretty savvy when it comes to getting bargains.

Some people don't realise and can others can't be bothered to search around to get the best deal. Some people are snobs. My brother in law will only shop at Waitrose and thinks I am a chav for going to Aldi.

Each to their own I guess!

Can I ask, how do you clean second hand clothes to make sure that any sweat or bodily fluid type stuff is well and truly gone?

I've got this wonderful contraption called a washing machine.

I had the sofa professionally steam cleaned for that exact reason. (The first thing my mind jumped to was "I wonder if the previous owners ever had sex on here?")ewwwwww

New furniture is, for the most part, dull, bland, cheap and ugly. "Solid wood" tables are made with a cheap wood carcass and a heat-laminated veneer. They all look the same. I spent hours looking round furniture shops for a dining table, to find they all looked alike and they were all depressingly shoddy looking.

Found a solid oak, draw leaf, Edwardian table in a local second hand shop. It cost me £100 and it's a thing of beauty, much better quality than anything that's passed the doors of John Lewis and for a fraction of the price.

I do buy second hand (eBay and Facebook) but went to a car boot fir the first time in years today and it was such crap, prams and high chairs covered in black mould, a lot of the stuff there wasn't fit to be sold on tbh!!

Oh, and there was me getting excited thinking there was a helpful answer. I wondered what kind of wash you had to do to make sure all bacteria etc was gone but thanks for the sarcasm. I did need a timely reminder as to why I try not to ask for advice on here anymore.

Definitely not someone else's clothes

I am one of the people with enough money and no time, but once or twice a year I do price comparison for car insurance, utilities etc - saves me enough to fund my Amazon and John Lewis habits!

Sienna I should think a fairly hot setting, so that would rule out things with delicate fabrics. Maybe start a thread on here - someone must have tips.

UABU most people are well aware of the wide availability of second hand items. I like second hand items however I rarely use ebay due to concerns over items not being as described and then the hassle of trying to sort it out with the sellers. Again I have used sites such as gum tree but the amount of time taken to go and view an item and then it not really being what you want can be off putting. Car boot sales are my idea of hell on earth, hot, crowded, migraine inducing places added to the increased risk of items that you purchase having been stolen and no come back if you later realise they are damaged or don't work.

I like charity shops and secondhand furniture shops though.

I also like to buy new items if its something that is going to last for a long time.

Also if nobody bought new stuff there would be no secondhand market

I'm happy to buy 2nd hand clothes, I can't afford designer gear so if I can buy a 2nd hand designer top for £3 I would rather do that than buy a £3 top from primark which will shrink in the wash or go out of shape, most the stuff I buy is almost new and sometimes I will find things with the tags still on them. I do buy most of my clothes in sales though as you can get some things cheaper new than 2nd hand when there's a good sale on. Kids clothes is so cheap new that I don't buy them 2nd hand very often ( postage has got so expensive that ebay is no longer that cheap for kids clothes ).

My 2nd hand sofa is not gross, it is leather so easy to clean, i think I would have been lest tempted if it was fabric though we have had a 2nd hand one before. The household things we really buy new is electrically as they are worth buying new for the guarantee, we still shop around for bargains with electrical a though and only pay sale prices.

Keep second hand furniture for long enough and it becomes antique .

There's nothing wrong with buying second hand. I have wooden dining chairs that are still made and would set you back £250 each new. Mine are vintage 60s and still perfect. The colour has improved with age. They were less than £200 for 6. They're hard to get on eBay now though. As so done said above, some fucker dips them in Annie Sloan shit and wants triple the price.

Someone

I just checked. More like £300+ a chair new.

A lot of it depends on size/age.

I've been to the car boot a lot and still not managed to find anything decent in a size 20/22 for me or around aged 12/13 for dd.

Charity shops here are crazy prices (old faded asda jeans -£5) and the postage on eBay makes buying clothes silly.

There is nothing wrong with buying either but for something like a piece of furniture I want to go to the shop and buy exactly want I want. When you go to a charity shop it's pot luck if you find something you like.

I totally agree with marne2, charity shops have become very overpriced sometimes it's cheaper to shop for new when there are sales on

Years ago I would never have ventured into a second hand shop/car boot sale. Pride saw to that.

Now, we have high outgoings and limited disposable income so I have had to change my mindset.

Yesterday I ventured into a local charity shop and bought two items for £10. One is from a well known designer. I will of course wash them!

I have every intention of going every month even if I have only £10-15 to spend.

The number of times I have bought items in Primark and they have faded/ripped after a few washes. I felt they were a bargain at £7/8 but they were not at all.

Sorry for the sarcastic reply Sienna but why do you think that other peoples' "sweat or bodily fluid type stuff" is any different from your own? If you are happy to launder your own secretions then why are other peoples' secretions any different?
You either believe washing machines work or they don't; you can't believe that they only work specifically for your family's dirt.

I buy new because, my hoover breaks i need a new one today, not when somebody else gets bored of theirs, i wAnt a guarantee that it will work for at least 12 months 2 years for certain items.

I buy new clothes because only 1 or 2 shops fit me properly and i see a dress i like i don't want to wait until next year hoping somebody else will have bought it and not want it anymore.

Because i am time poor, i want it and i want it NOW

@Sienna, look at a sterilising powder like Napisan or Oxycleanse. But they do slightly bleach clothes. Something like milton tablets might sterilise things to your satisfaction (also somewhat bleaching).

I need a sofa to replace our current (second hand) one but charity shops round here are as expensive as new and like said above, you dont get much choice.

Did find a nice 2 seater sofa in a BHF shop last week - £299. Second hand. And another I liked for £189. I dont have access to a van so ebay/freecycle are put. Where are the cheap sofas everyone talks about?

Ikea, Anna. They deliver too (and will take your old one away for a fee). I need a sofa too and I'm looking for an old farmhouse table for my dining room (I'm going for the rustic look). I haven't found one I like yet.

I choose to inherit all my furniture (and some of my clothes) - much cheaper

Carol finally
All these nouveau riches buying their furniture