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Thread: What Do You Not Buy Secondhand?

  1. #1
    Yppej
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    What Do You Not Buy Secondhand?

    In preparation for my thrift store trip today I have been thinking of this and have come up with:

    Upholstered furniture (potential bedbugs)
    Hats (potential head lice)
    Anything electrical (potential fire hazard)
    Undergarments

    If I had young children I would also list toys that they might put in their mouths.

    What about you?

  2. #2
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    purse/luggage-also d/t possible bedbugs and they are really hard to clean well.

    I've bought 2 crockpots for the kitchen at work. no electrical issues.

    That's all I have to add to your list.

  3. #3
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Athletic shoes

    I did pick up a hat recently at Goodwill and wondered about head lice, but put it on anyway.

  4. #4
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Shoes, unless nearly new. Underwear.

    Shoes.jpg Like this.

    i don't worry about insects in anything i can wash. I generally don't worry about them anyway.

    i have no worries about buying appliances--i bought a gem of a toaster for $7. I tend not to leave them plugged in.

  5. #5
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Soft stuff -- upholstered furniture, bath rugs, throw pillows (as if, but it's an example), luggage, etc.
    Underwear
    Non-shrink-wrapped puzzles and games (unless I can verify quickly it's all there)
    Power tools with spinning parts
    Christmas lights (too many recalls on those and no one keeps track)

    Of course, I also don't buy the tchochkes that sit on tables and collect dust, 8-track tapes, and so on. But I think you mean of the items you would buy anyway.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  6. #6
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    I would buy any clothes at a thrift store (except underwear) for regular daily use, but I do draw the line at clothes for work/client interface, UNLESS it's this season or last season's style. Clothing silhouettes can scream "thrift shop!"--if the lapels are too narrow, or the pants flare a certain way, or the shoulders too wide. My son is a lawyer who LOVES the local thrift shop, and when he stops by our house coming from afternoon meetings I cringe when he looks like a cheap ambulance-chaser. Sorry--but impressions are important in business.

    So, I'll go to my favorite stores (White House Black Market or Banana Republic) once a year and update my wardrobe with a couple of classic pieces, like a black blazer or a new pencil skirt. I'll wear a $5 thrift store t-shirt under the jacket, but I want the right silhouette for work.
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  7. #7
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    Oh I've bought hats (got a nice one) at the thrift store, and I wouldn't mind so much electrical appliances (but truthfully I seem of the philosophy of limiting electrical appliances I own period, as I find them a pain so). I definitely buy tchochkes or artwork at the thrift store, oh definitely, they have nice vases and the like, but my collection is quite limited.

    I think I might not buy say a space heater at the thrift store as I have no idea how dusty or what pet hairs or whatever it may have (and it is not something that is easily cleanable). I don't buy upholstered furniture even though it is very tempting to do so, because I don't want bedbugs. I tend to buy clothes new as well as I figure it's probably a better look (and look I fricken hate clothes shopping, I don't keep up with styles or anything else, I don't want to go around clothes shopping for hours looking for a nice piece, I just want to be in and out of the store as fast as possible with something that looks at least what I think is nice on me, so I can move on to spending my time on something less lame than clothes shopping, and that's probably easiest new). Shoes I buy strictly based on them being designed for comfort (though they do have to look decent) so that's usually new.

    So I guess though I have some furniture thrifted - tables, a lamp, plastic storage boxes and drawers etc. (and some tchockes! and some art and useful simple kitchen/cooking stuff as well) I'm not a huge thrift shop shopper as I don't need that many things beyond clothes occasionally etc. which I generally get new, and when I do have my mind set on something it's often a very particular thing and that's not so easy to find.
    Trees don't grow on money

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    Underwear/lingerie/swimware/socks
    food
    Items like razors and syringes
    anything I can’t wash adequately at home (except once I bought my Dd a prom dress for $7 that had to be dry cleaned)

  9. #9
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    I would buy any clothes at a thrift store (except underwear) for regular daily use, but I do draw the line at clothes for work/client interface, UNLESS it's this season or last season's style. Clothing silhouettes can scream "thrift shop!"--if the lapels are too narrow, or the pants flare a certain way, or the shoulders too wide. My son is a lawyer who LOVES the local thrift shop, and when he stops by our house coming from afternoon meetings I cringe when he looks like a cheap ambulance-chaser. Sorry--but impressions are important in business.

    So, I'll go to my favorite stores (White House Black Market or Banana Republic) once a year and update my wardrobe with a couple of classic pieces, like a black blazer or a new pencil skirt. I'll wear a $5 thrift store t-shirt under the jacket, but I want the right silhouette for work.
    I wish I knew what pants are supposed to look like. Boot cut or what, exactly? I live in stretch yoga type pants but wonder what the leg is supposed to look like if I were paying attention to the current look.

  10. #10
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    Anything I can't wash. With clothing, I have to wash multiple times to get the Febreze smell out. The pants silhouette is irksome to me. Women everywhere now where skinny pants and or leggings. IMO they aren't very flattering to the majority of women. Although not in favor these days, a slim bootcut or straight leg kind of evens out the proportions so I can always find those second hand. I think you have to go with what looks the best proportion-wise regardless of trends.

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