By Kevin M
America is often described as a “throw away society”. We buy things—usually brand new—use them for a while, get rid of them in some form or fashion, then move on to the next thing.
This creates an enormous pile of stuff sitting somewhere—much of it of pretty good quality—and presents a real financial opportunity to anyone willing to invest some extra time and effort in buying what they need.
Why buy anything used? For one thing, new isn’t always better; sometimes we can get better quality merchandise second hand that we could never afford brand new. Sometimes, the item in question is one we don’t use that much, or won’t use for very long—why pay a premium for it?
But more important by far: any money we can avoid spending is money that can go either into debt reduction or directly into savings.
What are some items that are better bought used than new?
