Buy Used, Save the Difference
Ok, so I feel kind of silly admitting this, but I first remember hearing this expressing from matriarch Michelle Duggar on 19 Kids & Counting! LOL I honestly don’t know why this particular expression stuck with me all of these years but it did, and here we are...
A couple of weeks ago I did a poll on my Instagram stories asking if people like to buy items second hand and the answer was an overwhelming “yes!” I figured there would be some people that did but the 95% in favour truly surprised me... and encouraged me!
I think there are many great reasons to buy used from everything from vehicles to baby clothes, and I thought I’d chat a little about the why and how of that... I used to think buying used things was something only people with less disposable income did but I recognize now that it can environmentally responsible as well as financial responsible.
Although I will say, that where we live, I do sometimes find this practice to be challenging. People often want so much for their used items that it actually doesn’t makes sense to buy used, and I think that’s a shame.
Reasons I Love Buying Used
Saving Money! I mean, duh! But seriously, stuff only ever seems to go up in price and as I’ve gotten older, it’s become even more import to me to be financially responsible and spend our money wisely. That doesn’t mean not buying things but it does mean being patient until a deal comes along and being willing to do some research to find the best deal.
More Variety! I find this particularly applicable to furniture and home goods - We have quite a bit of home things from Ikea… and there is nothing wrong with that (I do love Ikea!) but after several years, I started to feel like our home looked like a page out of an Ikea catalog. Buying used had given us the opportunity to buy things from stores that I normally wouldn’t shop at. Like the mint condition Natuzzi leather chair we bought last month for $260 off of Facebook Marketplace when a new one sells for $2,500-$3,000. That kind of ties into my next point…
Better Quality! That $260 we spend on a (barely used) genuine leather chair wouldn’t get us very far if we were trying to buy new. We’d be lucky to find a vinyl chair from a shady warehouse store for anywhere near that. I love that we are able to have a quality piece of furniture in our living room, that we can have for years to come, and all for less than the cost of a poor quality new piece.
I can’t wait to share more y’all about how we’ve been applying this to buying for all areas of our life and the items I’m most excited about! Let me know in the comments what your favourite used items are…! :)
Until I blog again,
Alex
