Goodwill Shopping -- Could You Only Buy Used?
I took an hour or so from my day to scout treasures for my $100 Goodwill Gift Card Challenge. (My goal being to find items to resell to support the Oregon Food Bank.) Unfortunately I didn't find anything to resell, but I did buy a couple items for myself, which meant paying out of pocket.
My husband asked me awhile back to keep an eye out for a "new" coffee grinder, as our one didn't grind as finely as he prefers. I kind of forgot about that request until yesterday when I came across this $7.99 Cuisinart burr grinder, which ain't too shabby considering they sell online for $75. Yes, please!
I cleaned it out thoroughly and am happy to report that it works perfectly. My husband will now take our standard grinder to his office, where it'll stay in use.
My other purchase was the above white and white striped Longitude brand swimsuit for $6.99. (New ones sell for $100-$120) My husband and I are going out of town for my birthday, and the lodge where we'll stay has a pool and large outdoor hot tub. The perfectly good Speedo suit to the right never really fit properly, so I'll list it on eBay for $25 or so, which'll more than cover the cost of the new suit.
I want you to notice that I'm keeping the older items in circulation. I often think about all the stale belongings that we hold onto in our homes. Whether those items are packed away in closets and attics or cluttering our kitchen cupboards -- it's an excess of stuff.
Can you imagine if we simply kept the items that we loved and used and put everything else back into circulation? I feel like we could take a decade off from most manufacturing.
I choose to only buy used things and frankly it's ridiculously easy, as there's almost nothing that can't be sourced through the secondhand market.
Are you working to decrease your part in overconsumption of manufactured products in 2026? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
I have been wanting to try Cricut but I know there’s huge buyers remorse with them. I instructed my spouse that I would like one, *used*, as a gift. He delivered! I haven’t had a chance to play with it, yet, but will get there. And plan to resell it if I don’t enjoy it!
I have one I bought used, and I’m stuck on how to get it started up. It was $3 at goodwill, and I’m worried that it’s just a brick.
Some libraries have how to sessions on cricuts from time to time.
Good to know!
I would try YouTube videos or look up instructions from Cricut on-line. Though I have not personally used online info except for my printer (which didn’t come with paper manual), others seem to have good results with YouTube, including plumbing!
I love buying used! With the exception of a few items, my entire home has been furnished secondhand (hand-me-downs, thrifts, OfferUp, Craigslist, trash nothing, Nextdoor)! My wardrobe is almost all secondhand as well (thrift + clothing swaps with friends). There are a few things we buy new (socks, undies), but otherwise the first choice in our home is always secondhand.
Same! The only new furniture in our house is the office worktop (we could not find a used option in the correct size for the space, and created our own from Ikea components), and our mattress and adjustable bed frame we bought 2 years ago. Everything else was hand me downs, curb finds, and bought used. When the kids were little I didn't want anything too nice that would get spilled on or worse, and now that they're older its become so easy to find pre-owned items online why spend more to buy new?
I’d love to buy all used. My limiting factor is time and my decision to remove myself from all social media (thereby losing access to buy nothing) There’s no thrift stores in my town and I work fulltime and have two young kids so I rarely get to a thrift store.
I do try my best given my circumstances though. When my kids were babies and toddlers I was able to get almost everything for them used through buy nothing and another local parenting group I was in on Facebook, and I usually didn’t even have to buy it, people just gave it away!
I use a lot of online used options including eBay, ThredUP and online used bookstores (if I buy a book, usually I just get it from the library). I know someday I’ll have a little more time to search thrift stores though.
This is my year of keeping what I love AND making sure I don't settle on purchases.
I have listed a pair of shoes on eBay (never could break them in), sold several book to Thrift books, and donated 2 bags at the thrift store today. I bought a M&S tin (IYKYK) at the thrift store as I'm a maker and source bits and bobs second hand/free so I need good origination!
I'm 100% in on keeping items in circulation by donating, gifting on buy nothing, or my favorite, remaking.
Trying to find a way to use what I have before jumping on the impulse to buy something new, or new to me. I have a perfectly good skirt that's a little stretched out at the waist but otherwise in excellent condition. Rather than search for a new one I broke out my needle and thread and took the waist in a bit. Fits better than when it was new!
Most importantly I am trying to bring less into my home. If I get an itch for something I'll research it and maybe add it to a wishlist for a while. If time passes and I don't think about it or have a real need for it then I'll delete it.
I see a lot of posts about how much of our well intended donations to thrift stores often end up in the landfill anyways so I'm trying to donate to people or causes, like women's shelters, through friends, etc. before dropping off at the mega thrift stores.
Great point! I offer to friends and neighbors, then the buy nothing group, and then if I don't get any takers I donate to the thrift. I'd rather the item finds the right person than have it become a burden somewhere else.
A lot of the stuff that was bought new in my house is now 40 or more years old, and some of it is circa 1920 (my grandparents') or 1940s (parents). That stuff was inherited but I also bought some older items myself. Here in my den, for instance, every one of the lamps are second-hand. (Although "updated" with LED lightbulbs instead of incandescents.)
The roll top desk is a genuine old one, as is the trunk that serves as a coffee table. I have 2 desk chairs, both secondhand; a thrifted 20th-Century TV that also plays both DVDs and VHS tapes; and even the bookshelf, clock and pictures are thrifted or scrounged. The sofa and loveseat and two side tables are the only "new" things in the room, but even they were bought 25 years ago.
I could take you on a tour through the whole house, with similar results, but you get the picture.
All the furniture is solid wood, not particle board, and will last almost forever.
Oh, and I recently returned a Walmart clock -- a very cute one with a steampunk design -- and replaced it with a $3 clock from Goodwill. The steampunk clock didn't have a back to it -- and when hung on the wall, I couldn't see it very well; its numbers, hands and my paneled wall are all brown. The GW clock has a white face and I can read it from across the room, but it has a wood frame so it still looks nice with the paneling. It keeps perfect time. Sometimes the old stuff does better than the new designs!
Most of my furniture was purchased (or scrounged) used. I’m sitting in my living (on my secondhand sofa) and from this vantage point, the only thing I see that was purchased new, is the TV set, and it’s 15 years old.
I think my home has a lot more character than the homes where everything is new. And greige.
Most of my clothes are secondhand, and this is partially because older clothes are better quality. If I buy a new tshirt, it’ll have a hole in it within a month or two. Meanwhile, I have tshirts from Goodwill that I’ve been wearing for years, and they still look good. It’s because they were manufactured before clothing quality made a huge nosedive.
I’m careful about secondhand shoes because I’ve had a couple pair where the soles hydrolyzed with age and fell apart in a spectacular fashion! I was leaving a trail of disintegrated sole.
Raising glass to you! I whole heartedly agree with you on over consumption. I'm surrounded by likeminded friends, so it is even more fun to share. The only thing I have bought new in the past 14 years were nurse scrubs, work boots, tv last month and Battery powered brush hog and girl sized chainsaw.
I would love to find a burr grinder!!! It's been on my list for a couple of years. This might be my year...crossing fingers.
I did a massive amount of decluttering in 2025, and I have more to declutter in 2026. I donated a lot of items to thrift stores and sold several things on Facebook Marketplace. It is so satisfying to watch the boxes that I have had in storage decline. Getting rid of books was the most difficult, but I
love that they will be out there in Little Free Libraries waiting for new readers to enjoy them.
There are some things that are problematic when trying to buy second hand. Athletic shoes for one. If they are worn then your joints take the stress from the pavement. I have found a few "like-new" pairs but I can't depend on finding them.
I know you can buy a 2nd hand refrigerator. However, will it be reliable? Is it worth it to have a fridge full of food spoil due to the breakdown of a used fridge? If you buy a used stove or dishwasher it is not such a problem if it breaks.
Buying used tires can be a safety issue & there is no warranty. My husband sourced a few used tires that had a lot of tread. However, he is a mechanic & knows what to look for. He often buys new car parts rather than rebuilt parts for reliability.
I try to buy used if possible, but sometimes you have to spring for a new item.
i do love buying (or finding) used, and mostly wait until i find the right thing. for instance, i had received a used bathroom cabinet from a friend and used it for years, but it was getting pretty messed up in the last few years. i was unable to find anything new for a reasonable price. i waited longer than i 'wanted' to but eventually found a perfect one on the street for free last summer.
occasionally, i go around my apartment and note the second hand/thrifted furniture, etc and it feels amazing, haha.
That's a great coffee grinder. I have the same one. My husband bought it for my birthday over ten years ago and it's still going strong. I like that you're reselling your old bathing suit. I agree that I keep to many things that aren't being used. I'm working on it. I don't have a lot of luck selling clothing on Ebay. I've sold a few to a used clothing shop and I need to have another garage sale.
Although I've never formally embraced the "Buy Nothing New" Compact, I certainly live by it in practice, with some exceptions (as most of us do make). I applaud Katy's coffee grinder, for instance, but I've never had much luck buying small appliances used. And I'm increasingly having to buy shoes new, given my age and orthopedic condition. As for swimsuits--well, until a female structural engineer designs one, I'm not going near the water. 😛
But the part of Katy's post about keeping things in circulation is timely for me, as I'm occupying this snowy January with a major cleaning/cleanout of my office and the small adjacent book room. (These actually = a single bedroom with a partial divider installed by the home's previous owner, a poet of modest importance who taught in the creative writing program at the local university.) I've got boxes going for donations to the local thrifts, donations to my local libraries' book sales and/or my neighborhood Little Free Libraries, and donations to the annual antiques/collectibles auction run by the library near the Bestest Neighbors' lake house. (Members of Ms. BN's family founded this library in 1896.)
I buy my swimsuits used also. I have had great luck at the large thrift store in the college town where I used to live. I have a stack of books to donate to the little free library at the laundromat. I should go through my books and donate more.
I definitely buy mostly used. Some personal items are new, and I do buy new sneakers for exercise. Everyone has their 'need it to be new' items. There are some things we have at home (furniture/coffee pot/hot air popcorn popper) that we've had for 30 plus years. Some were bought new and due to the quality has lasted and should continue to serve us well. Other decades old items were bought used and keep on going. We do our best to keep things in circulation. We had to have our deck replaced about 15 years ago and we put the old boards on Craigslist for free and someone came to pick them up. We have given furniture to nieces/nephews (children of friends, too!) just starting out, donating to Goodwill/thrift stores, and there is a textile recycling company about 45 minutes from us. When clothing/shoes/purses finished and cannot be donated (really bad stains, tears etc), this place recycles the textiles into insulation.
We also tend to keep cars for a very long time. We take care of them and they last. DH bought a new truck after donating his 15 year old vehicle, and then I bought a new car in after having my Civic for 16 years.
To echo what others have said, I have become so much more cautious about buying anything in the first place. I ask myself if I "really" need something, Could I borrow this from the library or neighbor? can I make due with something I already have?, will this be in the donate pile later?
I so wish for a textile recycling center near me!
(and yes, I did do a google search. Some of the answers were thrift stores, and that isn't the same thing. I want my son's giant worn out t-shirts to be recycled, not shipped overseas in bulk loads to make mountains of moldering, animal ridden, fire hazardous, fabric).
I recently did a Trashie Take Back Bag. It cost $20 but they send a huge bag for you to fill and they recycle the items that would otherwise end up in the landfill!
My city has a pop up recycling just about every month of the year. I love this and attend most months (if not all) of the year. They accept electronics, books and maybe best of all---textiles! This is a terrific way to get rid of clothes that are so worn out that you wouldn't donate them...or a random sock, etc, whatever doesn't go to the thrift shop.
Another great thing is terracycle. I have joined many of their free programs and occasionally ship a full bag of items (with the free label that they provide). Through their website, I also found a local dentist that accepts used toothpaste tubes, floss, etc. for recycling!
As for second hand items in my home, I like so many of you, can look around and nearly everything has been found, given to me, from a thrift shop, flea market, antique shop, etc. and I think that makes life so much fun and interesting.
Ten percent of the things we purchased in 2025 were bought new - shoes, husband's clothes, electric razor, bed pillow, bath towels, earbuds, and a vehicle phone charger for trip. (Yes, I keep a spreadsheet - I love data.) The rest came from Buy Nothing or consignment. For things we got rid of, most went to Buy Nothing, thrift stores, or the county's environmental center for their reuse room.
I meant to say the things we ACQUIRED (not purchased) in 2025.
And another thing for any data geeks out there: Seventy percent of what we acquired came from Buy Nothing, and that's not counting consumables. The only reason I have a Facebook account is for Buy Nothing.
Yes, I am all in. I saw a NYTimes segment recently about buying a pallet of returned Amazon items as a “treasure hunt”. The description of the warehouses full of these was horrifying.
Somehow, after 29 years using our JC Penney wedding silverware set, we were down to 4 spoons, which was annoying at every nightly dinner. I made a visit to St Vinnie’s ( like Goodwill) and found 8 lovely mismatched ones for my sweetie’s Xmas stocking. Nightly annoyance, solved! And no new “stuff” needed to be created.
Personally, I would hesitate to buy electrical items. Lamps yes, small appliances no. I don't think we have a single lamp that was bought new. We have 2 recliners bought new. The third, the biggest and most comfortable and same brand as the others, came from a yard sale for $35 and the seller delivered it. Most of our furniture was bought used or inherited. At this point, if we needed another large piece of furniture (which we don't) we would need to get it delivered . Otherwise we would hurt ourselves. That probably means new.
We have an appointment to tour the models at Disney's "Cotino". The one they're building in the middle of the Palm Springs, CA area desert, complete with a huge man-made lake and wave machines. (So ridiculous and environmentally irresponsible!) We're doing it on a lark because we're here this week. We're here to take care of our rentals, so I packed accordingly. I popped into a great thrift shop and scored a casual dress for $8.10. I'm going to feel delightfully subversive wearing a thrifted dress to get an inside peek at such wretched excess.
I volunteer at a thrift shop, so it's easy for me to pass along my no-longer-needed items.
I buy a lot of things secondhand. My wardrobe is almost entirely secondhand, but I find I often have to buy new shoes and coats, because I just don't find the right ones at thrift stores. In those cases I do my best to get a deep discount. Undies are always new, and socks, mostly. I find a lot of crazy socks at thrift stores, and I like them.
My furnishings are inherited or thrifted, with the exception of upholstered pieces. Just don't trust the used ones. I've heard horror stories.
Kitchen ware is almost all thrifted. I do buy new frying pans, because the used ones are always so beaten up. But this year I got a set for Christmas, so, while I didn't help out with the landfill, I didn't have to spend! The old ones went to Goodwill.
Used cars -- always. Books -- always from the library or from the little free libraries. Sheets and towels -- I have little luck finding the lightly-used good-quality linens, so those are usually new.
Just today I went to Goodwill, where I bought a pair of leggings, a box of light bulbs, Christmas cards, and one of those tools that breaks a car window in an emergency. I always thought I should have one of those, and this one was brand-new. And I found a pair of reading glasses that had been left in a cart outside! As well as a quarter and a penny on the ground. Pretty typical trip for me.