Why I Buy Used

I am a regular thrift store shopper and rummage sale-er, and have been since I was in high school.  Back then it was “cool” to buy old clothes, the weirder the better, now it just makes sense.  It makes sense for my two favorite reasons:  It costs less money, and it’s “green.”  I buy almost all of my clothes at thrift shops for a fraction of the cost of buying new.  I also donate clothes that I no longer wear or need.  I do a lot of shopping at thrift stores that support our local social services agencies, two birds – one stone.  When people ask wear I got some article of clothing and I respond that I got it used there is sometimes a strange reaction.  Like buying used clothes is somehow dirty. . . come on people, they’re clothes. . . its not like I’ll be eating them.  Everything I am wearing today is used, except for my sandals, however I do buy used shoes on occasion.  Not buying everything new saves on production costs ($$ and precious resources), saves me money, and keeps things out of landfills.  There really is no downside to it.  In fact you can find things free from sites like Freecycle and Craigslist.  It is such an easy thing to do, an easy step to take on my path to a greener, cleaner, and cheaper lifestyle.  I am committing myself to taking my buying used up a level and do my best to not buy anything new.  I’ll keep you all posted on how this goes.