With all of the greenwashing that companies are doing today to sell their products, it is difficult to tell whether or not you are getting a truly green product. Unfortunately, many of the truly green companies that sell certified organic clothing and other products charge an arm and a leg. Wouldn’t it be great if you could buy durable products at reasonable prices that don’t have any carbon footprint whatsoever? Well, you can! I’ve been doing it for years, and I’m about to let you in on my secret. Prepare yourself… the secret to going green without breaking the bank is… second-hand stores. That’s right! Not only are second-hand stores great for the environment, you can find some awesome items there. Join me on a walk through Thrift Town and I’ll show you some of the cool things you can find at a second-hand store.

Household Items

When I was moving into my first apartment for college, I found some of my best necessities at thrift stores (excluding the items that I got from my parents). Stainless steel pots, plates, kitchen knives, silverware, glass baking dishes, and cups were just a few of the things that I selected to furnish my kitchen. Since I was not overly concerned about having dishes that matched, I chose my dishes individually for about $1 or $2 each. I had a lot of fun picking out cool plates, bowls, and cups in various shapes and sizes. Here is a picture of the wide range glass items that you can expect to find at a thrift store. Smaller glasses are 69₵ while larger glasses are usually 99₵.

If you want a matching set of dishes, you can find them at thrift stores as well. Sometimes, for whatever reason, people just feel like they need to change their style and donate a whole set of dishes to a thrift store. When this happens, the thrift store sells them as a set. This 32-piece set is $40 and comes complete with matching teacups. While I was visiting Thrift Town, I also saw a 55-piece set with matching teacups and a 16-piece set without teacups for $20.

Furniture and light fixtures are also items that you can find in thrift stores. I’m not talking about the stained, ugly couches with torn cushions that you see on the side of the road with a “free” sign on them. A thrift store would not even accept one of those as a donation. All the items that you will find in a thrift store are carefully pre-screened for quality. If you are looking to give your home a more classic, upscale look, you will find what you need in a thrift store for a lot less than you would pay in a home improvement store or furniture store. These light fixtures are a perfect example. The large one in front is selling for $25. The small one on the left is $10, and the one behind it is $16. By buying one of these light fixtures and putting compact fluorescent lights in it, you can save lots of carbon dioxide from being expended on manufacturing a new light fixture.

When I moved into my college apartment, my roommates already had a couch, but it was a little drab. Thus, I decided to buy some couch pillows to make it feel more like home. Thrift Town has a wide variety of couch pillows in nearly every color that you can imagine. Couch pillows range in price from about $2 to $7 depending on how fancy they are. If you are looking to give your home a little more character, a second-hand store is a great place to go.

Clothing

Due to various reasons, people often get rid of perfectly good clothes. Sometimes, they received them as a gift and never wore them. Sometimes, they gained or lost weight and their clothes just don’t fit them anymore. Sometimes, they belonged to children who grew too large for them. Since children outgrow clothing quickly, second-hand clothing is great for children who do not have older brothers and sisters who can give them hand-me-downs that fit. In fact, it is great for any kid who wants to pick his/her own clothes. Since fashion trends come and go, you can often find some exceptionally awesome clothes from several years ago that mimic modern fashions. Actually, it’s the other way around. Modern fashions are mimicking older fashions. What better way to be cool than to wear the original style?

Formal clothes are an excellent thing to buy at thrift stores. Thrift Town keeps several racks full of men’s ties. The ties range from subtle to loud, and are great for men who want to spice up their wardrobes. Women can find formal clothes at thrift stores as well. Thrift Town has a whole rack full of “After five” dresses. Many people who buy fancy dresses only wear them once for prom or some other special occasion. So, you’ll find lots of fabulous dresses available for less than half the cost of a new one. When I entered a pageant back in 2007, I had to get one evening gown and one red “cocktail dress” to wear. I found the evening gown at Thrift Town for $8 and the red dress for $2. The red dress had a broken zipper, and I did not feel that my sewing skills were good enough to mend it, so I took it to a local tailor who replaced the zipper for $30. The evening gown was perfect just the way it was. Wedding dresses can also be found at thrift stores. If you are planning a wedding, you may want to buy your wedding dress at a thrift store and then donate it back when you are done with it so that it doesn’t tie up closet space.

Shoes are also a good thing to buy at thrift stores. Like evening dresses, many women only wear their fancy shoes once and then donate them to thrift stores when they are done with them. Shoes at Thrift Town are sorted by color, so you can easily find something to match your outfit. There are several shelves full of black shoes, and several shelves full of more colorful shoes. Just to give you an idea of what you can find at a thrift store, here is an assortment of several different ladies shoes that I put together to photograph. As you can see, many of the shoes are very fancy and stylish. However, you can also find some more sensible shoes at thrift stores. Have you ever gotten a pair of shoes and realized that they just don’t fit as well as you expected them to fit after wearing them for only a week? Well, why not trade in that pair of shoes for a better pair? By buying shoes at a thrift store, you can put out a minimal investment and if you can’t break them in after a week, you don’t have to worry about dealing with long customer service lines when you return them. Just donate them back to the thrift store, and they’ll be a perfect fit for someone else.

The only clothing items that you will not find at a thrift store are undergarments and socks. Thankfully, many companies offer environmentally friendly intimates made from organic cotton or bamboo fiber. Bamboo fiber makes exquisitely soft fabric. For socks, hemp makes a good durable material. Unlike cotton, hemp and bamboo are both very easy to grow without pesticides. Unfortunately, green products are in high demand and thus they are quite pricey. So, you may want to save your cash by buying all of your non-intimate clothing at a thrift store and buying the few things you can’t get used from and eco-friendly (not greenwashed) company. Ecomall.com is a good place to look for green clothing companies. I can’t remember the last time I bought something other than socks or unmentionables new, and I can’t say that I miss shopping at a mall at all. Thrift store items are sorted by size and color rather than brand, so I find shopping there a much more efficient and pleasurable experience.

Toys and Accessories

Thrift stores offer several toys and accessories for people of all ages. For kids, there are many toys and picture books available. Since kids outgrow certain toys within a few years, it just makes sense to get second-hand toys and donate them back when they are no longer desired. Stuffed animals can also be found at a thrift store. One of the best things about getting toys at a thrift store is that they don’t come with lots of unnecessary plastic packaging. The only thing you’ll need to remove from a thrift store toy is a little sticky paper price tag that is easy to peel away. Little paper tags have a much lower environmental impact than the bulky packaging that comes with new toys.

Vintage electronics are also a great thing to get at thrift stores. If you or someone you know is a vinyl enthusiast, a thrift store is a great place to find old record players for very good prices. You can also find old gaming consoles for diehard vintage video game fans. On this particular trip to Thrift Town, I spotted an original Sony PlayStation console being sold for $8. You can also find extra video game controllers, keyboards, mice, AC adapters, and other electronic gadgets that people decided that they did not need anymore. These devices may consume slightly more power than newer, more efficient devices, but the extra power consumption requirements for using the devices pale in comparison to the extra power consumed in manufacturing a new device and the environmental impacts of sending discarded electronics to the landfill.

Holiday decorations are also a great thing to buy at thrift stores. Most thrift stores put out seasonal items on certain shelves and keep non-seasonal items in storage. Christmas decorations are easy to find at thrift stores. You can get stockings, candle holders, trains, ornaments, and more. Sometimes, you can even find an artificial tree for sale. The best part about it is that you can choose anything you want because you will not be constrained by price. Plus, if it doesn’t fit the rest of your décor as well as you thought it would, you can simply donate it back with no worries. These pretty little frosted glass stocking hangers are only 99₵ each, so go ahead and indulge in a few extra decorations next holiday season!

What about designer purses, jewelry, belts, and other accessories that are totally over-priced at retail stores? Would it surprise you to know that many thrift stores have huge stocks of these items? As a fashion accessory, fancy purses may only have seen a few uses before their previous owners decided that they just didn’t fit their style. Purses at thrift stores come in many different shapes and styles. You can also find laptop bags and backpacks at a thrift store. On this particular trip to Thrift Town, I saw a genuine leather laptop bag for $16, another very nice laptop bag made from a synthetic material for $13, and about 20 other laptop bags stacked on a shelf. Since laptops tend to burn out every five years or less and vary widely in size, chances are that you will not want to use the same laptop bag you have now for your next laptop. So, why not donate your old bag to a thrift store and pick another one while you are there?

Bottom Line

My favorite second-hand store is Thrift Town in San Leandro, California. There are several small thrift stores in the city of Davis where I live, and I like those as well. One of them is run by the SPCA and all the extra profits go to helping homeless pets. Small thrift stores have a very friendly atmosphere, and the people there take time to set up beautiful displays for the items that they are selling. However, Thrift Town is my favorite because it is the largest thrift store I know and has a large variety of goods all in one place. When you shop at a thrift store, you are also supporting green jobs. It takes time to sort and categorize all of a thrift store’s donations, so thrift stores must hire a lot of employees. I had a friend in high school who worked at Thrift Town, and she loved her job there. Thrift Town has six other locations in California, six locations in Texas, one location in Utah, and one location in New Mexico.

Even though the products you’ll find at second-hand stores may have originally been produced in factories that spew carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere, we can’t do anything about that now. It is a sunk cost, and if we did not buy clothing at thrift stores, it would only be thrown away. So, the next time you are looking for something to enhance your wardrobe or improve the atmosphere in your home, make your first stop your local thrift store and see what treasures you can find!

Photo Credits: Mara Hodges