It’s unfortunate that life is increasingly unaffordable, but it’s an absolute win if we as a society shift to buying second hand and reusing things more often. I wish it wouldn’t be considered so shameful. Kids clothes in thrift stores are often in near new condition. We live in such a wasteful consumer society.
Those used clothes are often more expensive than new.
My wife and I try to shop for clothes for our kids at places like Once Upon a Child. We find George (Walmart) brand clothing there with prices higher than buying new at the local Walmart. There’s not a lot of incentive to recycle clothing when it’s priced like that.
Value Village is picked clean… There are some “vintage” clothing stores nearby as well… they are shockingly expensive.
It’s really difficult to try and recycle clothing and buy or source used clothing When it is priced at the same as or higher then brand new.
Have you tried a local Buy Nothing Group? Also can get a lot of stuff from kids clothing swaps.
I haven’t heard of this… took a look. There are two (Facebook) groups in the city I live in. I’d have to get a Facebook account to join. Hmmmm… will think about it. I’ve been avoiding Facebook since I disconnected from it a few years back.
Yes same. I wish people didn’t use Facebook. I keep mine around for some groups like this one, and sometimes for marketplace, but I’m not happy about it.
That said, Buy Nothing is super useful, both for getting free stuff but also for unloading stuff in a way where you have some reason to think that it won’t immediately go into a landfill.
Yeah I can see that being useful. We are planning to sell the house in about 18-24 months (assuming things don’t totally collapse) and will have to start clearing out the cruft at some point. Things not good enough for a Craigslist sale, but still has life left if someone is creative.
Still… sigh… Facebook…
I have noticed secondhand stores are getting more expensive. In my area, it’s still way cheaper for adults than new. For children, it’s more of a crapshoot, but it’s still hands down cheaper for more expensive durable items like coats, jackets, etc.
27 per cent of respondents said they will spend less on school supplies this year compared with previous years due to inflation
The one advantage of being mandated back to the office? Office supplies have a ton of overlap with school supplies!
The cure for high prices is high prices.
The cure for high prices is firing the politicians who aren’t bothering to solve the problem and replacing them with someone who will.
Which country, which politician?
https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/PCPIPCH@WEO/WEOWORLD/VEN
Honestly, probably all of them. Politicians around the world are failing to keep their respective economies stable. This should not be tolerated.
In a few countries the politicians are in control, but most countries put the control of the hands of the populace. The politicians are hired only as employees to carry out the wishes of the populace. Canada is one such country. As always, it’s not the employee’s fault when someone goes wrong, it’s management’s fault. And, indeed, management trying to pass the buck to the lowly employee is a sure sign of bad management. Hiring another worker to act under the same bad management will yield the same results. In fact, you know this to be true because we in Canada replace the workers every approximately four years, yet keep seeing the same problems over and over. The only solution is for management to get their shit together – but are they capable?
Nope. The real incompetence was inside us all along. Inside right-wing voters, to be precise.
I am not an economist. So this is my humble opinion. We chose to live in a capitalist system. Inflation, amongst other issues, is a problem with this system. We fail to vote for politicians who will regulate this system. It seems to me it is the voters who chose the system, it’s regulation and the politicians and policies that influence the system.
We chose to live in a capitalist system. Inflation, amongst other issues, is a problem with this system.
Inflation is merely observance of people believing that a currency has become less valuable than in the past. In what way is that a problem of capitalism? Currency is not a feature of capitalism, nor is assigning value to something a feature of capitalism.
Perhaps you mistyped ‘currency’ when you wrote ‘capitalist’? Autocorrect can be a harsh mistress. It is true that we live in a currency system.
@EhForumUser
Nope, no autocorrect. Currency is a means of trade within the system. Not sure why you would not think that was a necessity within the system?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Inside, students, parents and community members were greeted by a spread of second-hand clothes, backpacks, shoes, boots and books.
Queen Elizabeth School was hosting its first-ever back-to-school shop, an initiative spearheaded by vice-principal Kyle Bishop and the owner of a local consignment store in nearby Riverview, N.B., called Ready, Set, Grow.
As inflation continues to put pressure on the cost of just about everything — from food to clothes to school supplies — Canadians across the country are preparing for the back-to-school season by turning to second-hand options as a way to save money.
A line snaked outside the entrance to the Cape Breton Regional Library in Sydney, N.S., one morning last week, as the branch hosted its first kids’ “clothing swap” — where a donation gets you a shopping voucher.
Jannette Vusich, assistant regional program co-ordinator at the library, previously organized two adult clothing swaps thanks to demand from patrons.
Thrifting has become trendy, especially among teenagers, she said, and people are generally looking for more sustainable alternatives to fast fashion — where cheap clothes are mass produced quickly and then discarded.
The original article contains 909 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 80%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!