“Reuse” Means Buying Used

One of the three (well, four) Rs in living a greener lifestyle is to reuse. Sometimes reusing something doesn’t mean that you bought it new in the first place. Sometimes, reusing means buying used and that can be used items like vehicles and homes to clothing and appliances. There is one thing I really love buying used because it is like a delayed gratification treasure hunt and it forces me to stop and browse.Yes, I am talking about my favorite collection item category: books. I grew up reading the Nancy Drew books published with that yellow hardback binding that’s like a cloth texture, Hardy Boys from the same era, and one of my favorite series, Fury: Stallion of the Broken Wheel Ranch by Albert G. Miller. I have fond memories of those books and it is like a treasure hunt when we hit up flea markets and I see old books. I always stop to browse. I was browsing our local flea market/consignment shop on Saturday with a specific purpose: to find a large print, King James Bible for my grandmother.

She had moved into a nursing home a month or two ago and in the transition and packing, her Bible didn’t make it with her to the new place. Apparently this was a Bible she had purchased in the eighth grade, made notes throughout, highlighted or marked favorite verses. I get it; as I make notations and reminders in my own Bible, you’re creating a history of sorts to those who will read it later of what is important to you. I have a similar history being created with my address book. Address changes are marked through and new ones added with a date of when the change was made. I have been able to track one family member’s multiple moves over the last 12 years or so through my address books. I like to joke about how I’m running out of room in that letter range for his last name. Sorry, back to the discussion at hand…

Now, I live states apart from my grandma so I couldn’t physically go through her boxes and find it for her but I thought perhaps I could find an alternative that would help her in the interim until her Bible was found. Also, I thought if it was large print, that would be helpful and less tiring for her eyes. So that was the quest: to find Grandma a replacement Bible that might be easier to read. Now, I like to stick with a budget and honestly, I thought a used Bible might have more personality to it than something I bought off Amazon. Seriously, Amazon would have exactly what I am looking for but would it have a sense of history to its pages? Probably not. It would also mean generating unnecessary shipping waste that could be avoided if I shopped local first.

We have a great little used bookstore here in my town and I follow them on Facebook. The best part about this store? Besides offering a discount for teachers (which I don’t get because I am not a teacher) is that ALL of their used books are $3.77 or LESS! Seriously, I often find kids’ books in good condition for 99 cents. They have a lot of sales throughout the year to reduce prices even further plus they purchase books and you can get store credit… which I use quite frequently. I am on first name basis with the main book employee, to give you any indication of how often I’m in there.

So my first thought was to see if the bookstore would have what I am looking for. I sent a quick Facebook message to inquire and actually got a response back within minutes. Unfortunately, they didn’t have what I was looking for. Apparently in my area, large print King James Bibles are a hot commodity and don’t last long on the shelves! Who knew? This was a bit of a bummer but the hunt continued! I told my eldest about our treasure hunt to find a Bible for Grandma and after a quick stop at the farmer’s market, our family hit up the local flea market/consignment shop.

This place is two large buildings with two or three main aisles and off each aisle there are booths people rent out to sell their wares of who knows what. It is almost impossible not to find something that appeals to you if you are willing to spend the time looking. One of my favorite finds at this place was a gorgeous wine red colored antique chair that had a high channel back and was oh so comfortable to sit in. There was only one and I snagged it for $25 in spite of the back being shredded by a cat at some point. With the back to a corner, no one ever knew about that part.

Anyway, we set out searching through the booths for our targeted treasure. There were lots of exclamation over various discoveries and I know I said more than once “I remember having one of those growing up!” I seriously started feeling kind of old seeing my childhood memorabilia popping up as antiques or classic toys in some cases. There were also a lot of “put that down!” to the children because they were like puppies let loose in a ball pit. Everything was fascinating and my eldest brought his birthday money. He was so excited about how far his dollars could stretch in this place. Ah, youth!

It was finally tucked off in a stall at the end of an aisle where this particular booth had a wide range of items for sale. The best part, though, was that they’d labeled their shelves of books. I beelined to the “Large Print” section and lo and behold, found a large print, King James Bible. Granted, it is just the New Testament and the Psalms and Proverbs books but still. This would definitely be better than nothing! And it was $4. Definitely within my budget! It had some age to it but still in good condition with binding intact.

Rather than spending $15-31.99 on a new one from Amazon, I found exactly what I was looking for at my local consignment mecca at a fraction of the price and without shipping materials being used. The only way this find could have gone better was if it had still been on sale. The gentleman ringing me up said the owner of that particular booth had her books half-off the week prior. Drat! I could have gotten this for $2! Oh well. I’ll pay full price at $4 because it’s still a wonderful deal.

Because it was such a nice Saturday to be out and about, we kept browsing and I found another book from my childhood – the Cherry Ames series that came out in 1950 written by Helen Wells and Julie Tatham. This one was on sale and still cost $4.50 but that’s not too shabby for an almost 70 year old book.

I know this post has focused on buying used books but the concept remains the same for almost anything we consume. I saw potato mashers and those things for tea leaves, fantastically whimsical costume jewelry, tackle boxes, furniture, home decor, and so many more things. If you have something in mind that you want or need, consider first searching locally for it used and maybe make it a treasure hunt as a family adventure for a fun weekend out and about. A lot of times, the euphoria we get in making a purchase is because we have hunted down a particular item. At least if we try to find it at a consignment shop or resale shop, we can still get the pleasure of the hunt and discovery but at a fraction of the cost. Plus by buying used, we aren’t consuming new resources in the process.

Share with us what your favorite or best resale or consignment find has been! And as always, fellow Texans, go green!