To think we all need to learn to love second hand

[Ravenspeckingontheroof]

Second hand almost everything? Go onto eBay; there are 92000 used size 10 tops for sale, 4500 used travel systems, 1700 used Bluetooth speakers. Go to your local recycling centre and watch people throw perfectly useable furniture away.
We are literally drowning in cast offs many of which will go to landfill, but which are perfectly useable.
I’d say about 1/3 of my wardrobe is preloved and maybe 10% of our household furniture. I love going and choosing new things. But I think choosing preloved needs to become a first choice, and we should be incentivised to do so.
But if I walk down any high street, read any magazine, pick up my phone I am bombarded with ads for all the new things I ‘need’. Every single shop is rammed with more stuff to buy. Our society depends on us buying more stuff. How do we fix this?

A really good post!

I tend to buy preloved. But I’m guilty of buying too much! Dresses and kitchen stuff that I don’t really need.

And I am bidding on a lovely dress from eBay as we speak...but it will be posted from the US

I don't know how to fix it but I agree with you. My children both go to schools with vvvvvv expensive uniforms - both are largely kitted out from second hand uniform shop, where the stuff is in excellent condition and so much cheaper (daughter's full uniform for Reception around £100, would be £500+ new and they're changing uniform in September 2022!!) In this case it's a status thing, most other parents I know don't want their child in "old" clothes, and they say they can afford brand new so why not?!

I’m a recent convert to buying second hand and it’s a little addictive 😂. I’m pregnant with my second and raging at what we spent buying everything brand new when o see what’s out there pre loved now!

But if I walk down any high street, read any magazine, pick up my phone I am bombarded with ads for all the new things I ‘need’. Every single shop is rammed with more stuff to buy. Our society depends on us buying more stuff. How do we fix this

Second hand is good but we also need to buy less in the first place. I don't have the time or inclination to trawl ebay or charity shops for clothes of the type that I need and are unlikely to fit - about 90%+ of anything I try on even in the right size doesn't fit well, so buying from ebay especially is totally impractical.

I buy hardly any clothes but when I do, I wear them for years and they're only fit for rags when I get rid of them. Likewise for everything else, buy less in the first place. Remember that it's Reduce, reuse then recycle.

Plus I never buy books of adverts magazines and never look at the promotions section on my phone, or actually look at websites unless I have already identified the need to buy something and thought about whether something I already have serves that purpose.

I completely agree with you!

I try to buy second hand whenever possible, especially things like books and clothes. I also like to give things away in free cycle in an attempt to keep things from landfill.

My other obsession is to not waste food. I try to plan meals before shopping and cook what we have rather than buying more whenever possible.

I think a lot of people used to get Second hand but lately I've noticed some people think using the cringe term 'preloved' means it somehow is worth 90% of the original price. I've been put off second hand as there's so much dishonesty now that people are doing it for money rather than moving stuff on.

Of course, second hand for things like school uniform and baby equipment is an excellent idea and far more practical.

We try to buy second hand. Many of the dcs toys are second hand, they got second hand playmobil for Christmas last year which made me pause but actually why not.

I have challenged myself to see how long I can go without buying any shop clothes. So far I've been going round in circles with jeans, I have bought 2 pairs off vinted and neither fitted but was able to resell them. I am reminding myself that buying jeans in a shop is a similar mission isn't it! I've got a long skirt that'll be nice in autumn and picked up a checked shirt that I'm happy with for £3 yesterday, and got some brand new converse for £15. I need to think about the fact that none of my new clothes go 😂

I was having a wobble about the jeans as I need to go to the mall today to get Dd some trainers (ds will get the hand me downs!) , but thanks to this post I shall resist!

I always get furniture second hand. Our oak dining table with 6 chairs was £150 and our £250 sideboard was £70. I can't afford to buy all new for a start!

Second hand is good but we also need to buy less in the first place
@BarbaraofSeville you are right. People make a living out of decluttering services......says it all really. I also don’t engage in advertising, but when you go into a shop for one item, and come out with ‘other stuff’......if there was less you’d come out with less.

But there wouldn't be any second hand stuff if people didn't buy it new in the first place.......

There was a news article recently about how much more time is spent online in the UK than other european countries. Apparently we are shopping more.

people are doing it for money rather than moving stuff on
I think if people don’t do it for money it will never get off the ground. Remember many shops selling new would go out of business if we all did this- so the retailers could move into second hand shops.
I think the government should incentivise second hand by having reduced business rates on shops that only sell second hand, and increasing VAT on new products (and not having VAT on the second hand stuff).

I don’t buy second hand things for the children or clothes for any of us. I’ve had books from charity shops. Tbh the things I’ve seen people sell on marketplace tend to be scruffy or obviously very well used and I wouldn’t want them. I don’t have the time to go hunting for good second hand things.
I think it’s also because I was brought up never to have peoples cast offs. My mother was brought up in a foster family with very little money so everything was second hand which caused her a lot of embarrassment at school. She was determined her own children would never have to have other peoples things and I think it’s rubbed off on me.

I do sell things on if they’re still in very good condition though so someone is buying them!

I want to buy more second hand but mentally I find it difficult. I am always happy to take donated clothes / furniture etc from people I know - I had loads of second hand baby clothes and maternity clothes from friends and relatives, lots of our furniture has previously belonged to other people we know. But buying second hand from eBay and charity shops I do find difficult, I am not entirely sure why. I grew up with very little money and had lots of second hand stuff but again my mum would get this from friends and family, never bought it as she felt there was some sort of stigma to doing this (early 80s). So it's probably from that.

I do wear clothes and shoes I buy new for years though and I sell lots on stuff eBay / Music Magpie / Gumtree etc, I never throw anything out I can sell or donate.

I agree. I’ve only started using eBay this year and I can’t believe I didn’t use it before. It’s difficult for the DC as they are more fashion conscious. They keep saying how thrifting is big on Tik Tok but they aren’t brave enough to find their own style with that.

Yes. I’m in the market for things for DC2 and 3 at the mo and first stop is local Facebook groups, eBay etc. It’s been amazing - car seats from a trusted friend, a good condition double pram for £50, piles of bodysuits and surplus nappies free from another local mum, an extra cot from another (obviously will buy mattress). Compared with spending when I had DD - when we were far less well-off, paradoxically - it’s been such a revelation.

The spur for it was going on eBay to see what DD’s old pram would go for (we need a double). Next to nothing, was the answer, for something that was £400 new four years ago. I gave it away to a friend expecting her first.

@NeverForgetYourDreams, I get that, but as pp said we need to buy less. As the OP said, there are 92000 size 10 tops on eBay right now, plus all the ones on market place, plus all the ones in charity shops, plus all the ones hanging at the back of everyone’s wardrobe that they never wear. I’m pretty sure that all the size 10 people in the uk could manage with what they’ve got and what’s already out there without buying any new size 10 tops for about 5 years before we’d need to start replacing rags. Reply scenario for every other size and item of clothing/baby stuff/household items etc and you are left with a couple of shops, not high streets and mall stuffed full of new stuff.

Completely agree. I buy most toys, books and children's clothes second-hand.

I think if production of new things stopped completely for 5 years there’d still be plenty to go around from what’s already there. I plucked the number at random for this dystopian scenario.

I agree OP. More than half our furniture is second hand or inherited.

I just wish charity shops would stop trying to charge so much for items. £4 for a primark vest top, really? I could probably buy one from Primark for not much more & have a choice of styles & colours. They have dvds on at a pound each & the shelf is bulging because no-one wants them.

I've not bought any new clothes for myself since the start of the pandemic, except for one pair of pyjamas off the market (they are M&S end of line) because mine were entirely past it. Fed up of all the polyester crap, I don't buy it any more & I'm certainly not spending £4 on second hand polyester crap that was originally made by children in a sweatshop somewhere.

As far as I'm concerned, you're BU. Because I don't need to 'learn to' - I had wartime generation parents, and everything was reused - within the family or given away - and we had bargains galore from jumble sales and charity shops.

But not everyone's like me, because I've never understood why people buy new all the time and actively reject the idea of secondhand. So perhaps looking more widely YANBU

I buy a LOT of 2nd hand - almost everything the younger girls wear is 2nd hand from friends and nearly new sales/ charity shops. We even have 2nd hand cloth nappies (from my cousin though not a stranger!) Most of my clothes are charity shops too although I buy trainers new as I run and need them to fit well and not be worn. However my big sticking point is my 12yo - she wants the "right" trainers, clothes brands, sportswear, coats... I've found the odd thing for her 2nd hand but generally she has everything new and its not going to get any better as she gets into her teen years. She absolutely loves to shop as well and it makes me cringe when she bounces in with arms full of plastic bags when I know she will be grown out of / bored of all the clothes in no time.

I agree. Apart from the environmental impacts the costs of shipping are going up because of all the disruption they have faced over the last year or so (Brexit, covid, Suez canal delay) and consumer goods are becoming more expensive.
I get almost all the dcs clothes second hand plus some of my own and a lot of toys too. I also pass on to friends' dcs, charity shops or sell on Ebay when we have finished with stuff. I think some of the baby stuff has been passed round our friendship group at least twice now!