How to Make Buying Secondhand A Habit

If you want to reduce your environmental impact, one thing you can commit to is purchasing items secondhand. This guide will walk you through the steps to make a secondhand mindset at the forefront of your purchasing decisions.

1. Get familiar with the secondhand options available to you. Try Googling thrift, secondhand, and vintage/antique near you!

• If you live in a suburban or urban area, you likely have in person stores near you.
• If you live in a rural area, your in person options may more limited.
• Regardless of your location, online shopping can be a good option for finding very specific items or to simply have a wider selection. For example, finding a specific style of furniture may be difficult to source at Goodwill. By looking at Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and estate sales, you may be able to find what you’re looking for more efficiently.

2. Make a list of items you truly need and then wait a bit before shopping. For example, I’ve been thinking about purchasing a spring/fall coat. Before doing any shopping online or in-person, I wrote down what I was thinking. In doing so, I realized this item wasn’t a true “need” as I’ve been doing without for years. That said, I found multiple occasions over this time period, where I thought a lighter jacket would be suitable. In the end, I decided I wouldn’t actively look for a spring/fall coat, but, if I came across the perfect rendition I would consider it. It’s been more than 6 months now and I have yet to find what I’m looking for and that’s okay with me!

3. Create a shopping plan for making the secondhand rounds; be persistent if you don’t find something right away. If you’re going to shop in person, consider going to multiple thrift stores, in case what you need isn’t at the first. If you’re shopping online, try different search terms and check consistently. Certain items, like furniture, can be sold in less than 48 hours on Facebook Marketplace. Don’t get discouraged if finding what you want takes a while; sometimes the items you love most will be acquired after months of searching.

4. Stick to your list when secondhand shopping. It can be really tempting to get items because they’re extra discounted, near perfect, or on trend. RESIST! If you don’t stick to your list, you will bring more clutter into your life.

5. Cherish the items you find secondhand. Repair them if they break. Tell others how excited you were to find them (if you’re like me, nothing is as satisfying as bragging that you spend $5 on something really beautiful and useful).

6. Keep an eye on your most loved items and notice if they’re at the end of their life. You may want to thrift ahead to find the right replacement (because it can take a while to find the right replacement sometimes). I’ve actually thrifted my favorite jeans, twice, through Poshmark.

7. If, after a reasonable amount of use and consideration, you decide you actually did not need a secondhand item or it did not bring you joy, responsibly recycle it. This may mean selling it on some of the sites listed below, giving it to a friend, or (last resort) donating it to a secondhand shop.

A note on access, privilege, and cost

I want to take a moment and note that the steps I’ve outlined above are a great way to shop secondhand and to do so as sustainably as possible. But these steps aren’t accessible for everyone. If you work multiple jobs, if you make minimum wage, if you are a caretaker or a single parent, leisurely shopping at multiple thrift stores or holding out for a needed item just isn’t attainable. Additionally, some secondhand shops can be expensive. If cost is a concern for you, I recommend sticking to in-person thrift stores, as I’ve found these have better prices than online stores, like ThredUp.

Ultimately certain components of secondhand shopping may not be possible for everyone. Recognize what is doable for you. Even if you pursue just one or two of the tips above, know that your effort makes a difference!

In Person Shops to Consider

Clothing Only

• Plato’s Closet is across the country, with a focus on teen and young adult clothing for men and women.
• Buffalo Exchange is across the country (but sporadic and missing quite a few states). Adult clothing only; they typically have a vintage section in store.
• Crossroads Trading is across the country (but sporadic and missing quite a few states). Adult clothing only.
• Local vintage shops
• Local consignment shops

Household (including household stores with clothing)

• Habitat for Humanity ReStore located across the country, they specialize in all things house. Items range from décor, lighting, flooring, hardware, and furniture.
• Goodwill is across the country with larger cities often hosting multiple locations. Goodwill is great for men’s, women’s, and kid’s clothing, books, furniture, décor, craft supplies, and appliances.
• Savers is across the country, skipping just a few states. Savers is great for men’s, women’s, and kid’s clothing, books, furniture, décor, craft supplies, and appliances. I have personally found that Savers is more expensive that Goodwill, generally.
• TurnStyle is only in Colorado, Minnesota, and Arizona. Stores typically have a wide selection of women’s clothing (including plus size and petites) and a smaller section of men’s clothing. In addition, the home section includes furniture, rugs, art, and décor.
• Local antique shops
• Local furniture consignment shops

Online Shops to Consider

Clothing Only

• ThredUp includes clothing for women and children. The filters are extraordinary; you can filter by price, color, size, condition material, style, brand, and more. Sizes include petites, tall, maternity, and plus size options.
• Swap includes clothing for men, women, and children. The filters include size, brand, price, season, color, and condition. There is also a plus size, petite, and maternity section!
• ReRuns includes clothing for men, women, and children. It’s a little harder to filter or search for something specific, but you can shop by size and brand. Sizes includes petites and plus size options.

Household (including household stores with clothing)

• Goodwill, the online version, allows individual stores to auction off items. Items include clothing, furniture, books, décor, appliances, and household goods. There are categories, but searching and filtering isn’t very user-friendly; expect to spend a decent amount of time sifting through the site.
• VarageSale garage sale style website with a variety of clothing and household items.
• Etsy has great secondhand clothing, furniture, and décor. Make sure you filter to vintage items to buy secondhand.
• Online auction sites typically include a way array of furniture items, décor, and appliances. Occasionally, you will find lots of vintage or used clothes. K-bid, Hibid, and Bid2Buy are online sites I’ve used.

Trade / Buy-Sell Options

• Local Buy Nothing group, depending on where you live, you can join this group to snag free items near you.
• Poshmark is mostly clothes for men, women, and kids. However, their pets and home section are expanding every day.
• eBay although hard to sift through, you can find many secondhand items through eBay. Vintage and antiques can be great finds on this site, but appliances, books, and clothing can be gems as well.
• Bonanza is like a more organized eBay. Make sure you update the condition filter to “used” to buy secondhand.
• Facebook Marketplace mostly furniture, household goods, and appliances, but also clothing. Category and location filtering are available. Make sure you update the condition filter to “used” to buy secondhand.
• OfferUp (recently merged with LetGo) includes household goods, appliances, electronics, clothing, and furniture. It’s relatively easy to filter by location and category within the website or app.
• Craig’s List includes furniture, cars, appliances, clothing, and more. This classic website is a little harder to sift through, but the deals are often better and the site sees less competition than Facebook Marketplace.
• Estate sales are usually household goods, kitchenware, furniture, and clothing. You may enjoy estate sales more if you’re into vintage. I recommend previewing the estate sale online to ensure the style is what you’re looking for.
• Garage sales can be a crapshoot. That said, you can often find excellent deals on vintage, furniture, and household goods at garage sales.

How I personally shop secondhand

I do not own a car, so my secondhand shopping includes a mix of online and in-person stores. I have a Turnstyle within walking distance and a Goodwill, vintage clothing shop, and antique shop within bussing distance. I often shop ThredUp for specific items I haven’t found in-person, Poshmark for vintage, home goods, or specific items I know fit me, and Facebook Marketplace for furniture. I recently started shopping estate sales within walking distance from me and I’ve found beautiful vintage clothing, garden items, and home goods from these sales.

I have a bit of a history of getting overexcited about items, and not sticking to my list, when shopping secondhand. For example, I recently found an oversized Mason jar at the thrift store. As soon as I got home, I realized it was wide mouth jar and all of my other jars are regular mouth sized. It seems silly to purchase new lids to fit just one jar and I’m pretty disappointed I didn’t notice this while shopping. That said, everyone makes mistakes, and I will certainly not make this mistake again.

I’m also an avid reader, so I really enjoy buying secondhand books. I either shop these at Half-Price Books (walking distance), a local bookshop (bus distance), or at Goodwill (bus distance). I’ve found thrift store books to be the best priced and it’s pretty common for me to find bestsellers and/or perfect condition hardcovers.

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