This coming year, I have decided to challenge myself to a full year of living secondhand. Yes, as in, not buying anything new. As you can tell by reading this, I’ll be sharing this journey with anyone that might care. Follow along on Instagram, Tiktok, or Youtube shorts for short form content or here on the blog for longer updates.
The Rules for My Living Secondhand Challenge
Starting in January 2024, I will not allow myself to buy anything new. I will “shop” at thrift stores, Facebook marketplace, Kijiji, yard sales, and accept hand-me downs.
This does not include consumables like food, drink, diapers, shampoo/conditioner, wipes, etc. or anything that may affect health in a detrimental way.
I will, of course, not be rude and will accept gifts given from friends and family. I’m not here to force my habits on other people.
Disclaimer: My husband is NOT on board and will not be participating, but I hope to have enough foresight on things that I am aware he and the family need to take care of them with second hand items before he can buy it new. I anticipate that I will not always be successful with this, but that’s just how it goes.
Why Live Secondhand?
But why on earth would I do such a challenge in the first place? In a culture of instant gratification, cheap wares, and convenience, we seem to gain so much. The more I ponder it, however, the more I think about what we lose in the process. There are a lot of things I hope to gain and learn from doing the secondhand challenge, and I hope to explore these topics more in depth throughout the year as I live it more.
Slow Living
Everything in this world seems to be moving faster and faster. It’s always next thing, next thing, next thing. Lately I’ve been trying to lean into the concept of slow living, and I’ve wondered how a secondhand challenge like this might help me grow more in this. Could this force me to slow down? How? Will it relieve stress or create more?
Money
Obviously, I hope to save money. I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone as I think most people shop second in order to save money. Sometimes money seems to disappear so quickly and most of us would have trouble telling you where it goes. I’m hoping that this challenge will both save me money by getting good deals, but also by helping me buy less in general. We’ll see how that goes.
Fun
Maybe you disagree, but I just love thrift shopping, hand-me-downs, and a good marketplace score. It’s the thrill of the hunt, the rush of the find. There’s just something so satisfying about finding that perfect piece for a great deal that just fulfills the dopamine needs of my basic forager brain.
Gratitude
Why is it that the more we have, the faster, easier, and the more convenient it is, the less gratitude we have for it? You think of something you need, pull out your phone to order it off Amazon, and get it the next day. It seems like when we get something right away it’s only satisfying for a very short while and we need to move on to the next thing. I’d love to explore more this year how shopping secondhand might help us to be more thankful for what we have.
Clutter
Will this increase or decrease the amount of clutter I struggle with? I think this will all depend on how I approach the challenge. If I start constantly picking up junk at thrift stores that I won’t love or use just to fill some shopping void, then I’m not accomplishing anything. However, I think using a more intentional approach could lead to buying less and I’d love to explore how to do that better. Part of this will be learning how to make peace with leaving a store with nothing sometimes.
Sustainability
Another big reason why I like to shop second hand is simply because it’s less wasteful. Fast fashion and consumerism makes an unthinkable amount of waste each year, and I want to avoid adding to that as much as possible. It’s just not responsible to continue the trend of mindless consumption. The more we reuse, up cycle, and make do, the better.
Mindfulness
In this instant world, we seem to cater to our forgetfulness, cultivate laziness, and erase thoughtfulness. Why would you need to plan and organize when you can easily find a last minute gift on the way to a party or order your spouse’s birthday gift the day before? When you live second hand, you can’t guarantee you will find what you need right away. Can second hand force us to keep the future in our minds more intentionally? Could keeping a loved ones gift in mind months in advance create more closeness to that person in our minds? I have more thoughts on this that I will share in a future blog post.
I’m so excited to start this experiment and continue to share my thoughts with you as well as my wins, tips, cool finds, and challenges along the way. I’ve got high hopes for this year.
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