Same here. BTW I think someone should pay me to walk around as a billboard for their logos. Logos make me cringe. I had depression-era parents. Maybe they didn’t teach me frugality per se, but they did teach me good sense, including financial.
It saddens me that some people feel ashamed thrifting.
Yeah its weird, I’m not deterred by humbleness when seeking out hole-in-the-wall restaurants. And family has always encouraged frugal-ness, maybe I’ve always reacted against that and wanted my own shiny new thing but let’s not get too deep 
In my defense, my intro to GO was a (since closed) store on 4th Ave S in Seattle, a less aesthetic/inviting bit of the city.
Yeah, and I mean, no one here feels “ashamed” of going to happy hour or taking advantage of a BOGO offer at a restaurant.
So why the supposed angst at shopping or (gasp!) being seen at a thrift store.
Isn’t it the same sort of mentality?
I’m not ashamed, either, for the record. I chose the word to spotlight that treasures are (sometimes) there in thrifts to be found. Neither did I try to shame anyone who shops thrifts, either out of necessity or recreation. I’d say exactly the same things about dollar stores.
But proud?
I thought thrifting and vintage were cool again? Anyway, sustainability is definitely a priority among the younger and hipper folks I know. I do care about sustainability but I qualify for neither youth nor hipness.
Sure. Of course the younger and hipper (and gainfully employed) thrift shoppers also compete against the people who really need to come away with max value for min money.
My former local Goodwill used to be in a wealthy ZIP code, and could be counted upon to have some nice things, occasionally very nice. And the car line to donate was sometimes blocks long. However, as far as I can tell, the “score quotient” of finds and steals dropped to a meh level. I suspect Goodwill changed its sorting and distribution, so that much of what comes in to this location now goes out to other locations or is posted online.
They are cool again. I went with my son to the Rose Bowl Flea Market and he spent the entire time perusing (and purchasing) vintage clothing. I was into vintage in my day too so I understood but was bored stiff. Had to go off to look for wooden/metal kitchen stuff and silver jewelry.
And THIS is exactly the reason to thrift. There’s no need to be ashamed. Trying to keep up with the Joneses just isn’t worth it.
Another (much larger) example: my current car, Gilda the Gray Lady, and bought 2-years used, is a 2012 Camry. She has a bit over 145,000 miles, and is running fine. The previous 1999 Camry, the Good O’ Girl (GOG), had about 206,000 miles on it before she decided to bite the dust in November 2014 when a suspension knuckle and a strut broke. She chose to do that when I was only driving about 10 MPH on an exit ramp off a highway. (If I had been going faster and was still on the highway, per the service technician, I wouldn’t be writing this.)
Doesn’t make sense to me to spend $30K on a new car when a gently used and certified used car works just as well.
I’ve never been lucky enough to get over 200K miles on vehicle. I’ve hit 150K on 4 of them (well, my first, a Honda Civic with no AC and AM-only radio, started off with almost 100K. Cost me $900 and I sold it 2 years later for $1200).
We had the same thought when it came to the daughters’ cars after years of listening to financial gurus. My wife’s stipulations were that a car had to get 5-star ratings both on the required gov’t crash tests and also that offset crash test by the insurance institute, that they be relatively small, but also taller than a sedan (e.g., small SUV).
Then when we started looking, model years 2014, 2016, and 2018, each time the incentive stacking made the model we were looking at $1K-2K cheaper to buy new vs, 2- and 3-year old used (except very high mileage cars, +70K miles).
Finance though us? $2K incentive (“please - you don’t have to - but if you make 3 payments before you pay it off we get credit, can you do that?” “No problem, will do.”), brand loyalty = 1K, veteran = 1.5K, factory incentive = 3K. There were a couple of other small incentives I don’t recall, but in the end, all 3 times we ended up shaving $8-9K off the MSRP of a ~ $29K vehicle.
Well, those days seem to be in the rear view mirror. I recently replaced my 2009 Honda and not only were Honda corporate and individual dealers offering no incentives, the dealers were playing tricks to jack the price $1200-$3000 over MSRP. Add on mudflaps, free routine service for 3 years, roofrack, add a year to the B2B warranty or make power train lifetime (good only at that dealer), etc. I looked at every Honda dealership along the route from Bradenton FL to Bloomington, IL (which my wife and I were going to be driving) and every dealership was playing the same game. [ETA - and certified pre-owned in the hybrid model I wanted was very tight. Some with the ugly “Pearly White” paint were available but I ain’t driving that.]
Ford right now seems to be having a problem moving trucks, but $8K off an $80K truck isn’t in the same league as those long-ago deals. And I’ve got no rational reason to buy an F150. Although I admit that I (irrationally) kind or wanted to… 
when i first joined the workforce, i was working for a large corporation and was attending a retirement event for a long time employee. he was retiring at 55. he was asked what his advice would be to us youngsters should we want to similarly retire at that age.
He thought for a moment and said, “never buy a new car”.
And i never have. and yes, i will be retiring early.
Recycle. It is good for your health.
I don’t really go to physical thrift stores anymore. I actually had to bring a package back to a DHL point last week (internet purchase), and the DHL point was part of a larger thrift shop. I browsed around for 5 minutes but didn’t see anything I liked. Felt out of place, because there weren’t many quality items around.
When I was younger I did frequent thrift shops more often, always looking for 50s, 60s, and 70s modern interior design furniture. Back then nobody really knew and appreciated these objects so I got some great deals: I still have in my living room a really nice sideboard by the Dutch brand Pastoe which I had bought for 10 euro and currently will fetch around 1000 euro. Unfortunately, bargains like these are hard (impossible) to find. I bought an Oman Junn highboard a few years ago, vintage from the 60s, for 1500 euro, and that was before the inflation episode.
Right now I mostly use an online market place for bargains, or at least things I want to buy but don’t want to pay full price for. From TVs and hifi audio (mostly older stuff that isn’t available anymore but which I find better than modern day equivalents) up to stuff for the new baby. I did contemplate getting a used pushchair but decided on a ‘new’ one: a previous (but new) model with 30 percent off from the official producer.
For me it’s just fun, not out of needing to save money, as I still spend lots of money on food, travel, menswear and other things I like (and don’t need). Oh and my car now has 270k miles on it, a diesel running very efficiently…
Wow, I’ve been lucky, I guess. I’ve gotten >300k miles on three different vehicles, two of which are still going strong.
Does no one have a mechanic to work on vehicles anymore?
I apologize for the confusion. I used to live in Baltimore, but now reside in Sacramento. You’re not missing out on much, especially if you have Aldi nearby, which is different than GO, but is a shop I miss.
My parents were struggling immigrants. Maybe they were ashamed of thrifting and garage sales because to them it was a marker of semi-poverty. They were definitely embarrassed of being perceived as financially constrained lower middle class workers, which they were.
Not sure why. They were always upstanding citizens. When I was about 5, I remember at least one instance where my mom paid for groceries with government assistance coupons. To this day she denies that ever happened.
Baltimore. My dad, who grew up during the depression, actually made light of their dire circumstances. Taking other families into their house to pay the mortgage. Writing book reports for other students for a fee. Cardboard in shoes. Working at 16 to support the family. He said that the welfare people made more stops in the neighborhood than the postman Starting his future business from his house when he was 16. Night school college. He and his neighborhood friends ended up doing well in life - but he always wanted new and shiny - no comprehension for antiques or vintage. That meant poverty.
I was reminded of ‘The Official Preppie Handbook’ and the inspiration on vintage goods BITD.
There is an eBay ID called seattlegoodwill with 315,635 (!!) points that sells all kinds of nice items for a lot more than they’d get in their store. They always have hundreds of items listed. The stores in Seattle don’t even have glass cases anymore for expensive goods, so the only nice things that make it on the shelves are when they fail to recognize the value in an item. Thankfully they often undervalue kitchen smalls. The golden era of goodwill is in the rear view mirror.
As the stigma of thrifting declines, the popularity of buying second hand will continue to climb. If I could buy stock in goodwill I would.
What brands are you talking about? (I’m a hifi enthusiast).
