Second Hand September has begun! The movement started by OxFamUK last year is back for its second year and challenges us to not buy new for 30 days. Please read their kick-off post. It has a ton of information, tips for successful shopping, mending, and more.  A lot of focus is put on clothing (due to fast fashion) but of course, you can shop for anything second hand.

I have been thrifting for years. Two of my besties from junior high shopped for clothes after school and we still meet up on the regular. Back in the day thrifting and second-hand stores were looked upon as a place to go to “buy things from dead people”.  If you told people that you got it at a thrift store, it followed usually with a comment about the smell, or ‘how gross’ etc..

Of all the years that I have been going through racks at thrift stores, antique malls, and vintage clothing stores I’ve only had one bad apple. It was a velvet jacket and fit great, didn’t appear to have any problems. When I brought it back from the dry cleaner and opened the wrapping, my god. It was if the cleaner extracted every bad smell from the universe and put it in the jacket. It was god awful and I promptly threw it away. Sure, I’ve gotten things that didn’t fit or weren’t quite right but really I have not had that many disasters. In reality, I’ve probably wasted more money buying RTW at department stores than at a second-hand shop.

A lot has changed over the years for sure. It’s harder to find quality clothing from thrift stores. Mainly because of cheap fabrics and poor quality. Clothing is created to not last. Also, prices can be high for what you’re getting. Sorry, just because it’s new with tags (from Kohls no less) doesn’t mean a $50.00 price is justified. But, I’ll save my kvetching for another post.

This year on my Instagram feed I’ll be showing off my second-hand treasures from the past, some of those few once in a lifetime finds. Plus, new things if I find something I can’t live without. I hope you join in!