Why I Buy Second-Hand

For Those With a Conscience

I’ve been reading a dynamite book called The Rough Guide to Shopping with a Conscience. I call it dynamite because it gets me passionate about the issues discussed—it makes me want to do something.

Often, however, I can’t do much, and I get frustrated. So this is my way of channeling that passion—sharing it with people! So read and believe! (At least, read.)

This book covers topics such as:

• sweatshops
• fair trade
• ethical investment
• organic produce and free-range meat
• “green” energy
• transportation 

Interested at all in the consequences of where you put your money? Check out this book.

From the back cover:

Shopping can sometimes feel like a moral minefield.

The issues: Do boycotts work? Is buying local better? How can we reduce our impact on global warming?

The products: From coffee to cars, fish to furniture, pensions to plane tickets—the problems and the ethical options.

The companies: Where to shop and what to look for in food, clothes, banks, travel agencies and much more.

The book presents the pros and cons of boycotts, localization, and selective shopping (choosing among companies), making me re-think some of my guiding principles when it comes to spending money. I still have my “Buy Local” enthusiasm, but on the other hand, what about impoverished workers overseas? Am I harming them? This leads to the problems of sweatshop and fair trade. As you can tell, it’s complicated and I won’t attempt to explore those topics in this post.

My solution: support neither the locally-produced goods nor the imported clothes—buy second-hand and bypass all the mess.

CLOTHING

Plato’s Closet

I’ve mentioned Plato’s Closet before, when writing about a particular Saturday. This is a teen-clothing shop that buys and sells brand-name, gently-used (or even new) clothing. It has over 250 stores across North America; the nearest to me is in Matthews, NC.

I love that the store has everything I need all in one place—shirts, jeans, shorts, shoes, belts, jackets, hats, jewelry and sunglasses. The only thing you won’t find is socks and underwear! They even sell books and DVDs.

Also, there are some great deals. I’ve bought a shirt for $4 (that I’m wearing right now) that had its original price tag for $24.50!

Another attracting quality of Plato’s Closet (which makes it relevant to this topic) is the “recycling” theme. Apparently, the philosopher Plato spoke of reusing and preservation, parallel to the founders’ idea. For my purposes, I’m not buying directly from any company (thus supporting the production of new stuff), but supporting the re-use of products.

Another “re-use’” store close to home is Sweet Repeats (in Waxhaw). They sell both teen and children’s clothing at this consignment shop. The selection is less than Plato’s, but the overall quality is higher. The store is also less busy and crowded, with more room to browse. This store is competitively priced with Plato’s Closet.

BOOKS

There’s a store in Waxhaw that sells donated books for very low prices, and all proceeds benefit the public library. That’s what I call guilt-free shopping.

BETTER YET

It’s easier and simpler to not buy anything at all. Of course, that’s not possible, but personally I’m trying to refrain from unnecessary buying for a while.

Update to UliMana product review

1. Goji Cherry Truffle                      

Read the original review.
2. Dark Truffle                                  

This was plain and almost bitter. For simplicity in chocolate, I look to TJ’s 73% bar.
3. Hemp Nut Brownie                     

I disliked this the most. I don’t think it’s worth the money.
4. Chocolate Apricot Walnut       

On to the delicious ones! What a great idea… the apricot and the walnut were of high quality and the three elements (fruit, nut, chocolate) balanced each other well.
5. Lemon Fig Bar                            

Mmm… there’s some coconut in there, too. This reminds me of Katie’s “babies,”
6. Chia Moon Drop                         

This was the prettiest, and I saved it for last, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it much.

Look for more reviews soon!

Related articles by Zemanta

• ARA: Seeking genuine thrift stores (timesunion.com)
• Clothes Mentor coming to Albany (timesunion.com)
• 5 Frugal Deals You Can Find in March (suddenlyfrugal.com)

Springfest and Yard Sales

Cheap but quality clothes? Kitchen tools? Books? Produce? I know where they are. No, technically I don’t need any of it, but I find it a very enjoyable way to interact with my community. Buy local!

Saturday morning.

7:30 am – bike ride.

Smell of honeysuckles = bliss.

8:15 am – Neighborhood yard sale.

Now I can organize my shoes, among other things.

9 am – Waxhaw Farmer’s market.

I bought rainbow-colored Swiss chard, spinach, and peas, all from The Specialty Farmer.  The passionate growers, Donna and Bill, offer high-quality organic produce. Everything is very fresh, picked either that morning or the late the night before.

This young lady plays the violin for donations, so that she can see Ireland.

9:15 am – Attic sale.

This garlic roaster and keeper from Norpro costs me 50 cents, compared to a retail of $10 and $8 on Amazon. The sellers didn’t even know what it was.

9:30 am – Free kittens.

A lady was giving away a litter of kittens rescued from the floods in Tennessee.

9:45 am – Relaxing at Crossroads.

I read my book and enjoyed a “Salty Garlic Knot” from Flanagan’s Bread (from the Waxhaw Farmer’s Market – also sold at the market in Charlotte). The salt was delicious and obviously high quality, and the soft, white yeast bread hinted with garlic. Rustic.

10 am – Waxhaw Springfest.

The Springfest is a 2-day outdoor family fun festival held in historic downtown Waxhaw. It goes from 10 till 6 on Saturday and 12 till 6 on Sunday. I like the vendors.

Free samples from Sandy Creek Herb Co., producer of gourmet salt, dip and seasoning mixes, rubs, and teas.

Not free… I wish.  Their salts included Himalayan Pink, Alaea Hawaiian, Pure Atlantic, Applewood Smoked, and Hickory Smoked.

Tupperware.

You know I don’t drink soda. But anything homemade interests me… I asked for a free sample of root beer, and this kind man (not Bob, FYI) happily obliged.

Sweet, actually refreshing, mildly carbonated. The carbonation in commercial sodas bothers me. This soda earned a review on a healthy living blog because the man was very kind, thus improving my emotional health.

11 am – Friends of the Library used book store.

Special Springfest storytime. I’ve mentioned this place before; volunteers manage the shop and all the donations help the public library system in Waxhaw.

This particular visit, I took advantage of their BOGOF (buy one, get one free) paperback sale, purchasing The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (possibly this year’s required summer reading) and a book on analyzing handwriting. It costs me a total of $1—they are really giving this stuff away.

11:45 am – Sweet Repeats.

This is a consignment shop in Waxhaw that sells both children’s clothing, and recently, juniors-sized clothing. It’s competitively priced against Plato’s Closet, another re-sale clothing store for teens.

Afternoon – Plato’s Closet

Incidentally, later in the day I visited Plato’s Closet for some spring clothes and “travel jeans” that Teen Missions requires for my missions trip.

I love buying a shirt for $4 that has the original price tag of $24.50!

I highly recommend these stores and products. I am not getting money or exclusive free samples (with the exception of Bob’s soda, but he didn’t know it was for a blog), so this is simply my opinion! Any bias comes from my love of Waxhaw.

Do you enjoy yard sales and local vendors? Does your town host any interesting festivals?

To summarize: shampoo, iHerb, giveaways.

Remember my how, thanks to my new haircut, my hair is lightning-fast to clean?
This is how I clean. I recently received an order from iHerb.com which included Hugo Naturals Lemon Verbena shampoo, for my thick, oily hair. I only require the tiniest squirt of soap. This shampoo, according to the website, is free of sulfates, parabens, petroleum products, animals fats, alcohols, synthetic colors and fragrances. Read about harmful ingredients by clinking on the links.

I also ordered Alba Botanica sunscreen—free of parabens, oxybenzone, phthalates, synthetic colors, and animal testing. The vanilla lip balm was a free sample!

Giveaways and specials…

* Learn more about iHerb and enter for a $50 shopping spree at Choosing Raw.

* Who grew your lunch? WeAddUp  “Buy Local” t-shirts are 20% off for the week. That’s the shirt I have! Enter coupon code CommunityFood at checkout.

Look for more giveaway links on my blog, as they come up!

My Beautiful Town

Who says there’s nothing to do around Waxhaw? They’re wrong—one could spend all morning walking around town. I love it!

Here are some ideas for a Saturday morning:

Stop by Crossroads Coffehouse for a warming beverage.

Mine was vanilla chai with steamed milk and a 75-cent banana. They have a million kinds of coffee, though!

Buy local at the Farmer’s Market.

They have everything described in the signs (free-range eggs, grass-fed organic beef, alpaca products, amazing goat milk soap, local raw honey, fresh-cut flowers) and more (dog treats, and many kinds of bread, muffins, and other desserts). Right now the farmers are also selling fresh leafy greens (one farmer had spinach and four varieties of kale picked that morning), strawberries, and seedlings and plants for gardening. Last year they had goat cheese from Bosky Acres. Remember: Buy local and support agriculture, not agribusiness.

They are open 9am till 1pm on Saturdays.

Browse the bookstore.

This is new in town. The library is trying to raise money to support itself, so they’ve opened up shop where the Fresh Market used to be so. Operated by volunteers, this store sells donated books very cheaply. It’s a little chaotic, but I found some popular books (in good condition!) for a dollar or less, including The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. They were giving away magazines, too.

Enjoy the finer things in life at Waxhaw Art and Chocolate.

They sell handmade jewelry, paintings, pottery, handbags, bookmarks and cards, and a variety of gourmet chocolates. One time I stopped in for some of the free chocolate samples, and I met the mayor in there! They are open on Fridays and Saturdays 10am till 5pm.

Antique Shops

Can’t forget all the antique shops! There’s the Antique Mart on Main Street, and several others around, too.

Just thought I’d add that the pictures are from Saturday April 17. I went to all these places (except Art and Chocolate) and spent $22.15 total. You don’t have to spend a fortune to support and enjoy your local venues.

Do you live in a small/historical town? Are there any really neat places to go in your town?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Good reads on my other blogs: December ’09 edition (shannonturlington.com)

shopping trip (part II)

Missed part I? I got racing shoes! And after that, we stopped into Target, and Mom bought some Chik-Fil-A, and then we were off to my favorite grocery store: Trader Joe’s!

I have only been to TJ’s once before. Ever since, I have been slowly eating and dreaming of their dates, nuts, fruits, breads, and chocolate. This time I bought extra because who knows when I can go back?

Right after I took this picture, a woman pulled out of the parking lot (from bottom right in the picture) and almost ran over a woman walking out. The pedestrian was talking on her cellphone, but she screamed and then yelled at the woman in the car about “ You need to open your eyes and retake your driving test!” They parted ways, both quite shaken.

I had to take a whole drawer in the fridge for the nuts and fruits I got—raw almonds, walnuts, pepitas, hazelnuts; TWO packages of dates, dried apples, dried cranberries (NOT Craisins!). I bought bags of blood oranges, grapefruits, and a bunch of 19-cent bananas.

Sitting in the fridge are also a bag of Brussels sprouts and asparagus, which I’ve never had before. (HeatherEatsAlmondButter inspired me to try the Brussels sprouts.) I bought no less than 6 bars of dark chocolate! All this food will last me forever!

I’ll leave you of a picture of our tiniest shopping companion: