{"id":10271,"date":"2025-11-21T14:51:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T20:51:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/?p=10271"},"modified":"2025-11-21T14:51:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T20:51:54","slug":"i-cant-even-a-diversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/archives\/i-cant-even-a-diversion\/","title":{"rendered":"I Can’t Even … A Diversion"},"content":{"rendered":"

So this bit of click-baity\u00a0OMG \u2013 You Should Never<\/a><\/em>! Turned up a couple of times on my FB feed, and I read it with a growing sense of disbelief \u2026 and wondered if the person, or as I began to think likely, the AI who wrote it \u2013 ever actually shopped thrift stores. (Also estate sales, rummage sales, garage sales, or just looked at stuff parked on the sidewalk when the neighborhood has bulk trash collection scheduled and took home the choicer bits.) Look princess \u2013 there are those of us who can\u2019t afford to shop for pristine new items, presumably sterile and new, wrapped in bubble-wrap and never touched by human hands.\u00a0(Oh, and BTW \u2013 wash all that new stuff anyway. You don\u2019t know where the heck it has been \u2026 even before it was sanitized and sealed for your protection)<\/em>
\nBecause if my daughter and I ever paid heed to this hare-brained set of strictures \u2026 well, the house would be a lot emptier. As for the first half dozen items on this list \u2013 well, simple good sense suggests giving a miss to them anyway. As for car seats, most thrift stores won\u2019t even accept them in the first place. Mattresses \u2013 well, hell no, and the same for underwear and socks. Shoes in a second-hand stores? Probably give a miss to the nastier used specimens, but as for lightly or barely-worn? You have eyes, and a sense of smell. I\u2019d recommend using them both. As for \u2013 used makeup? Who the hell \u2026
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

But never mind \u2013 the recommendations get even more \u2026 to the point of missing the entire point of thrifting, which is getting the good stuff at a rock-bottom price, being an environmentally-responsible citizen, antiquing\/collecting vintage and maybe even finding a genuine historic treasure worth several thousand times more than the pittance you paid for it. Honestly, I do so despair \u2013 anyone who would take this list to heart must be the reason that we have to have warning labels on everything. It seems that using the sense god gave a goose \u2013 using your eyes, ears, sense of smell, a tool kit and a washing machine set on hot with bleach, ammonia and a double dose of detergent are concepts unknown to whoever generated these recommendations.<\/p>\n

Ok \u2013 so you will take your chances with used electrical appliances \u2026 but again \u2013 so do you with brand-new-in-the box. Stuffed animals, blankets, towels, and pillows? That\u2019s what the washing machine is for, cupcake.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I don\u2019t think I\u2019d bother with old jigsaw puzzles and board games \u2013 just too many out of a kajillion pieces or essential elements could be missing, and it\u2019s not like Goodwill would be OK with having you set up and put the puzzle together there and then, but some of the other \u201cdon\u2019t buy this thing!\u201d had me scratching my head, right along with the reasons given.
\nGive a pass to antique or vintage crystal because of \u2026 lead? Or hidden cracks? Well, there is a reason that the good stuff is called \u2018lead crystal\u2019. Hidden cracks in antique crystal is a new one on me. Must be some kind of stealth technology. Avoid purchasing vintage candle holders because \u2026 ooohhh, they might have hidden damage \u2026 and tableware because of hidden cracks hiding stealth germs \u2026 and that the whole set might not be complete \u2026 I don\u2019t think I have ever seen a complete set of six-piece china table settings for twelve at Goodwill \u2026 but Replacements, Inc, is a source for missing elements, and was it a rule that everything has to match, anyway? I thought that random china was one of those shabby chic design standards.<\/p>\n

Whoever generated this series of no-nos also unaccountably thumbs-down baby clothes, which are probably some of the most overpriced and briefly-worn clothing items around. You can dress the sprout in an expensive outfit from Baby Gap and watch them grow out of it in hours. It\u2019s not until they get to school age that their clothing will even begin to wear out! We have dressed my grandson from infancy in clothes from Goodwill\u00a0(some of which were new with the original shop tags still on them)<\/em>, and local children\u2019s resale shops, which have always taken care in presenting items for resale that are clean, unstained and in excellent condition.<\/p>\n

But the absolute prize of no-nos to my mind \u2013 books! Apparently in their opinion, secondhand books are full of mold and smells and previous owner\u2019s margin notes, and OMG \u2013 missing pages and chapters.\u00a0Quel horror! (Please direct me to the fainting couch \u2026 oh, no, never mind. It is also second hand and might have smells in the upholstery and undetected weaknesses in the wood frame!)<\/em><\/p>\n

At reading that item, I threw in the towel of credibility. Whoever assembled this list I can absolutely guarantee has never thrifted, done estate sales, or even side-walk-shopped in advance of bulk junk pick-up. By their lights, I appear to have lived most dangerously; my daughter and I have cheerfully, recklessly and openly violated at least half to two thirds of the don\u2019t buy recommends of that list.<\/p>\n

Comment as you wish \u2013 what was the best thing that you ever found, second hand, or even just spotted and regretted not buying?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So this bit of click-baity\u00a0OMG \u2013 You Should Never! Turned up a couple of times on my FB feed, and I read it with a growing sense of disbelief \u2026 and wondered if the person, or as I began to think likely, the AI who wrote it \u2013 ever actually shopped thrift stores. (Also estate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,85,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fun-and-games","category-geekery","category-general-nonsense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10272,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10271\/revisions\/10272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncobrief.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}