Thrifting
Why thrift?
Buying secondhand items and using hand-me-downs is a great way to contribute to a circular economy and reduce your waste. While something may be collecting dust at one person’s house, it may be the very thing you were looking for, or vice-versa. As the old adage says, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!
Before you go out and make a new purchase, ask family and friends, or look around in local thrift shops or online resale marketplaces to see what you can get first. You may be surprised at how much money you can save on perfectly good items in perfect shape that meet your needs.
Where can I thrift?
You can find many gently used clothes, household items, electronics, games, and many more before opting to purchase something new. There are a variety of local thrift shops, neighborhood tag sales, small boutiques selling used items, as well as online options like Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Poshmark, Craigslist. There are even luxury sites like TheRealReal, Rent The Runway and thredUP.
Regifting
What is regifting?
Regifting is when you repurpose an unused gift as a gift for someone else. Much of the time when we (or our kids) receive gifts, they’re a duplicate of something we already have or something we don’t need/want at all. But that doesn’t mean it won’t make a great gift for someone else!
Why should I regift?
Regifting an item can be very meaningful when the gift is something the receiver will genuinely enjoy or use, and there’s no reason we should feel the need to buy a new gift just for the sake of it being “new.”
Not only that, but regifting will help you save money by reducing new purchases and it will help you to clean out unnecessary clutter.
Let’s make regifting cool!
Next time a holiday, birthday, or other occasion comes up, request your friends and family only bring regifted presents! Starting the conversation with your own or your family’s gifts can help make the topic more comfortable in your community and help to make it the norm.