Someone walked up to me once at a garage sale and said she was surprised to see me at a garage sale. When I asked why, she said, "Because you live on the lake." I asked her, "How do you think we can afford to live at the lake?" She gave me a look that said she didn't get it, but luckily we figured it out decades ago.
It's all about priorities. We can go and buy brand new clothes that will be used and almost without value the first time we wear them, or we can buy our clothes and other things secondhand and live on the lake, which we consider priceless. We can't afford to do both.
We can spend a pile o'money on brand new household goods, or we can buy them secondhand and then pay cash for a brand new camper like we did last year (only because we could not find a used one that met our requirements.) Much of what we put into the camper, however, was bought secondhand, because we had another choice to make: We could either spend more money to buy new items to put into the new camper, or we could save most of that money by buying secondhand and then take the savings and put it in the gas tank and pay camp fees for a trip or two or six.
All those kinds of things are easy decisions. You can't spend the same money twice, so you have to decide what's most important to you.
We draw the line at things like underwear though. Although we will buy underwear at thrift stores if it's new in the package or new with tags.
I agree with others who have said to pick a well-kept thrift store. There's a big difference between a thrift store and a junk shop. I don't necessarily mind junk shops. There are sometimes great bargains to be had there, but it can be a turn off if things are dirty or damaged or whatever. I usually won't buy clothes at a place like that, but hard goods like glassware that's easy to clean and sanitize before use is fine by me if the price is right. But a well-kept store is a great place to shop. Just be sure to look things over carefully for damage. Good stores look things over before putting them out for sale, but sometimes damage gets missed.
Remember that bleach is your friend.
We've bought countless items secondhand over the years and saved countless thousands of dollars. Our quality of life has been far better than if we would have had to buy everything brand new. Buying new would mean our dollars would not stretch nearly as far, and we certainly wouldn't be able to afford a lot of the extras we've had and continue to enjoy over our lifetime. I've bought a lot of things that needed repair or significant cleaning or refurbishing, but it's been worth it for the savings and for the education I've gotten in learning to repair and refurbish. We've also bought many, many items that needed nothing except an initial cleaning that even brand new items get when they come into our house.
Just for funsies, here's an example of how secondhand stuff can be refurbished. I paid $1 for all of these. They came in a big pail, which I used as a planter for our container garden. I bought these because I knew I could easily clean them up and I wanted the two brat cookers that were in the batch, and which sell for about $17 each new. Clearly, nobody would be cooking with these and many people would have thrown them in the trash.
These cleaned up easily. Now anyone would cook with them. Most of them ended up being given for door prizes at our RV rallies, saving us from having to buy new items to give out, not bad for my $1 investment.
I've gotten off track, but suffice it to say you should be able to find items in good condition if you pick the right stores.
My best advice is to just do it. You'll most likely end up getting hooked on the thrill of the hunt!
