Squeamish about buying used items? Get over it
Second-hand purchases come with multiple benefits, including those for the planet and your pocket book
Bedbugs. Weird smells. The possibility of imminent breakdowns. People have all sorts of excuses for not buying used stuff.
Those who deliberately buy used items, though, say such fears are not just overblown — they’re also expensive.
Katy Wolk-Stanley, a Portland, Ore., labour and delivery nurse, has a short list of things she’ll buy new, including personal care items (toothbrushes, makeup) and certain clothing (socks, underwear, bras).
Otherwise, she looks for second-hand options, something she’s done for more than 10 years since she first heard of the Compact, a group of people who pledge to avoid buying new.
The idea is to reduce waste, clutter and the negative effects of consumerism. The original pledge was for one year, but Wolk-Stanley and other members of the group kept going.
“You save money. You make a decision that you feel good about. There’s no reason to stop,” says Wolk-Stanley, who blogs as the NonConsumer Advocate.
Saving money, helping the planet
Wolk-Stanley and others use thrift stores, Craigslist, garage sales and local Buy Nothing or Freecycle groups that connect people who have stuff to give away with those who want it.
“I’m not buying used things that are worn out. I’m buying used things that look brand new,” Wolk-Stanley says. She’s using the saved money to help put two sons through college without loans.
People who buy used often value the idea of keeping stuff out of landfills and reducing their environmental impact as much as they do saving money.
Julia Park Tracey, an author and journalist in Forestville, Calif., refurbished her home using materials that otherwise might have been discarded. She bought new energy-efficient appliances but gathered most supplies from The Freecycle Network, Craigslist and the non-profit Habitat for Humanity ReStores.
New can mean expensive
The decision to buy new can be costly. Take cars, for example. The average transaction price for a new vehicle exceeds $34,000 (U.S.), and it will lose as much as 22 per cent of its value when driven off the dealership lot, according to car research site Edmunds.com. If you make 10 vehicle purchases in a lifetime, you can save more than $100,000 simply by buying cars that are two or three years old. And you might stack up more savings by avoiding long loan periods and high interest rates that people take on to buy cars they can’t really afford.
Household goods prices often are inflated as well. Furniture, appliances and electronics tend to have big markups, and there’s an $8 billion rent-to-own industry devoted to making them even more expensive. The weekly or monthly payments often add up to twice or more what the item would cost if purchased outright.
Getting started
Some things are better if purchased new. Safety experts recommend avoiding used bicycle helmets and car seats, for example, in case they were damaged in previous accidents.
People leery of buying used appliances and furniture can consider refurbished versions, floor models or the “scratch and dent” section of home improvement stores, where imperfect merchandise can be bought at steep discounts.
Some people who buy most things used avoid mattresses and upholstered furniture for fear of bedbugs. Wolk-Stanley hasn’t found any yet. The blogger washes clothes and linens before using them. Anything upholstered gets thoroughly inspected before it enters her home.
Hunting down good used items can take more time than snapping up something new, but Wolk-Stanley believes she ultimately saves time as well as money.
“I’m looking for a higher-quality item that would not necessarily have been in my budget originally,” WolkStanley says. “That item will last longer and not need to be replaced, and therefore, I’m buying things once.”