Comments on: Clothes Horse? NOT!

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:04:07 +0000

Keep up the good work.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:41:28 +0000

At least once a year I get together with my sisters and a couple of friends. Each person goes through their closets (coats, shoes & purses included), and brings a box of clothes to a “Closet Party”. We make martini’s and spend the entire evening going through the collection of things that we may want. What ever is left over goes to the local Women’s Shelter. Each person always ends up bringing more than they take home, and for those that are a little weary of second hand stores, it’s a little more comforting knowing exactly who had the clothing before.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:02:09 +0000

I can’t shop at second hand stores as I really detest having to look through everything in hopes of finding a gem. This is the same reason I do not shop for clothes at Winners.

By: Alicia

Alicia — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:02:29 +0000

I love to shop secondhand (my husband thinks I’m crazy for spending so much time there, but oddly enough loves it when I come home with a great find for him!).
Recently, however, most thrift stores have increased their prices and I have now found that I can get clothes cheaper on sale in good quality stores in the mall. Same goes for Walmart – case in point, last Christmas my inlaws gave me a sweater from Walmart that I wanted to return. I took the cash Walmart gave me and got two sweaters at my favorite store (RW&Co, which is expensive to me) for the same price on sale!
I’ve found that it’s so important to comparison shop – it’s shocking to me that I can get clothes cheaper at more expensive stores than Walmart or the thrift store!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:11:35 +0000

If I could avoid staying in hotels I would, Susan, but alas, I must put up with used sheets etc. I don’t have to put up with used clothes because I can buy new ones instead.

By: Leslie M

Leslie M — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:21:08 +0000

Funny that this should come up today as I was figuring out what to pack for my holidays. As usual everything I love to wear is what I regularly wear and discovered that it all will fit in my suitcase (despite the fact that I am a notorious overpacker). I plan to take what I don’t use regularly and put it into a spare closet, and whatever doesn’t get used, looked at (with the exception of special occasion clothes) in the next 3 months will be off to charity or in my case usually my mom wants first crack at what I am giving away. I had a garage sale recently and made a few dollars, fortunately other than a mortgage and car loan I have no other debt, so the extra funds went to my vacation fund, the best part was not having the extras to trip over or stuff to the back of a closet. Nothing came back into the house everything was sent to charity when it was done. Admittedly however, my purses are non-negotiable

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:26:08 +0000

Good points Susan. It’s funny how we’re selectively squeamish..

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:24:52 +0000

Just wondering if those who are squeamish about wearing second hand clothes are also squeamish about sleeping in hotel sheets and using hotel towels. Quite likely these items have been used by hundreds of people. Is it any different than wearing a tee shirt that was purchased at a thrift shop? How about purchasing clothes in a department store that have been tried on by dozens of people? Or sitting on cloth upholstery that has never been cleaned and has been sat upon by thousands of other people? Just wondering.

By: gail

gail — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:01:52 +0000

Hey Geoff, I’m a firm believer in buying anything you want IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT. It is the people who prioritize stuff over a plan for the future that have me baffled. I don’t care what people spend the money they have on. I object to people spending the money they haven’t yet earned to build or maintain an image. Once upon a time, how much you had saved was a benchmark. Now, it’s how much credit you have access to. Too bad.

By: Tracy J

Tracy J — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:44:05 +0000

I need to bring up the positive aspects of second hand clothes:
#1: Price, WAY less than retail! Especially for the high-end items.
#2: You are supporting a charity or local small business by shopping 2nd hand
#3: The environment. reduce/RE-USE/recycle! By finding new homes for clothes that don’t fit or never felt right on the original owner (we have all had clothes like that come into our lives) the new owner is helping the planet out by using less natural resources that are required to make new clothing and diverting waste!
#4: Practicality. A couple scuffs on the handbag takes the stress out of using it somehow. AND you already know what it will look-like/fit-like after it’s been washed! (I personally hate getting a new garment only to have it fit terrible after only one wash. By buying second hand I know exactly how it will wear!)

*** I have a pair of PRADA boots. They are of superior quality and feel luxurious on my feet (and they look great too). My old dress boots were worn right through so I went to the thrift shop. I don’t know HOW they ended up at there – wrong size on eBay? One too many pairs of little black boots? Who knows! – but I was VERY happy to pay $6 for them. That’s right, under ten dollars for DESIGNER Italian footwear and I was supporting a terrific charity too! ***

By: Maxine

Maxine — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:42:20 +0000

After re-reading your blog, Gail, I thought about what you started to say about judging others by what people are wearing. Of course, we all do it. You really can’t get around it unless you’re blind. It’s a reality in the work world too. How can you impress someone? There is the old saying that the ‘clothes make the man’.

Did anyone, when young, envy someone for having something that they didn’t have? Is this where the need to have things – despite the costs – started? Are we nothing more than how we can keep up with the Jones? Our pain makes us spend so that we feel better?

I’ve watched a TV interview (many years ago now) about a gentleman who, during the depression, went hungry so often that he had to have more than enough food in his home at all times. He couldn’t just have enough food in the house – he needed to have more than enough – because of that psychological hurt from doing without. Do we act in the same way with clothing? When young, did our parents supply us with not enough, enough or too much clothing? As a result, has this affected us in how we deal with clothes for ourselves and our children too?

Just a few thoughts, Gail.

By: Tracy J

Tracy J — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:25:45 +0000

My sister loves to buy clothes. Thanks to the limited size of her closet, I get some very nice hand-me downs great for almost any situation! She has fun taste in clothes.
I have a “one in = one out” rule for my closet, so I have to really think about what I am ready to get rid of before I accept anything new. That simple rule has saved me a whole lot of hassle (and squashed any guilt I may try to feel by removing “perfectly good” things from my life). I take all the things I no longer love or wear to charity, I know the money that they raise by selling them goes to helping people that need the extra clothes more than I do.
Last Boxing week I splurged and got a very nice, fitted wool jacket suitable for business meetings. It was drastically on sale and worth it to me to have a presentable appearance to my clients (I used to remove my shabby jacket in the car and shiver into my meetings). It only took about 2 years to find a jacket I liked at a price I was willing to spend! Ugh, I hated LOOKING for the coat, doing the store to store thing in the mall. I find it emotional draining and clothes shopping always leaves me feeling inadequate somehow.
(Grocery shopping is my passion!)

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:30:01 +0000

Guess we all have our foibles and probably all have stuff we could get rid of but just can’t seem to bring ourselves to do so. Can’t resist quoting Mark Twain – “Never trust a man without a single redeeming vice.”

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:16:12 +0000

Interesting point Geoff. And i have to say that I agree with you. If someone isn’t spending past their means, then it isn’t for us to decide if it’s right or wrong.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:27:58 +0000

Excellent point, Geoff. I buy “expensive” clothes (by the standards of some people in this thread) – the last shirt I bought cost about $50. Frankly I find the idea of wearing the discarded items of people I don’t know pretty gross. I’d be as likely to shop at a thrift store as I would be to eat people’s leftovers I found in a garbage can.

But Gail is right that it shouldn’t be about collecting “stuff”. People should buy the clothes they need. I have a small wardrobe. I currently own three pairs of slacks suitable for winter weather and I’d like to buy at least one more pair, so I’m saving up to do so. As long as I’m not going in to debt to afford my clothes and accessories, what I spend is irrelevant.