More of our series on saving money while being environmentally friendly and buying nothing new. Well, almost nothing! I think it’s amazing how these things go hand in hand!
This week I thought I would share how we save money and valuable resources by buying things used rather than new, by re-gifting (I know it’s sort of a social taboo but I really love it!), and by re-purposing!
We’ll start with buying used: I can only think of a few categories of goods that I would NOT buy used…food (yeah, yeah, that’s a given), undergarments (for obvious reasons), personal care items (razors, toothbrushes, hair care items…the common sense stuff) and for me, socks. But other than that, the possibilities are endless. We have found so many things used on craigslist, ebay, at garage sales and thrift shops, resale and consignment stores, large community consignment sales and newly available virtual resources like FreePeats and FreeCycle where parents offer used baby and children’s items for FREE and in return they can find what they need for their child (kind of like a big swap!).
This method of “buying” what you need not only saves you money…it saves enormous amounts of energy expended in the manufacturing and transporting of new products around the globe! Imagine if more and more people just rotated baby goods around until their useful life was up. Kind of like our parents and grandparents did decades ago when we didn’t live in a disposable world!
Re-gifting (the social taboo has an underground following): I’ll bet there are more of you out there than would openly admit who have given a gift that you didn’t actually buy. Furthermore, I’ll bet you’ve been given a gift that wasn’t originally purchased for you! Gasp! The horror!
It’s really not a bad thing. I’ve been given many things that are really nice gifts but for some reason or another, they just don’t get used or aren’t really something I will make useful. So, what do I do with these things?? I am a clutter-phobe, if things get too cluttered in the house my brain gets cluttered! I can’t think, I’m grouchy, and I start on a trash can party (literally tossing anything in my path!). I put these things in a bag and save them for Christmas or other random events that arise (baby showers, birthdays, house warmings). We still put thought into whether or not we have something a particular person would like and can use and if we don’t we’ll go buy something, but more often than not, I have the perfect gift right there in my “re-gifting bag”.
Re-purposing: This is likely the area we could all use a little help with. I read about crafty, creative uses for all sorts of things I have laying around the house collecting dust. Parents magazine prints reader tips for these great ideas and there are likely thousands of bloggers and blog readers who find ways to re-purpose items that would otherwise go to the trash.
I personally need to take better advantage of this opportunity.
