Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekly?

[Amethyst]

Just wondered on people's views following on from a bitty on Radio 4 #YouandYours programme this morning.

Why do ''low-income'' consumers buy furniture ( sofa's/beds etc ) from places like Brighthouse / DFS / Sofaworld rather than purchase low cost second hand items from places like BritishHeartFoundation, or priavtely through Ebay / Gumtree or even Freecycle ?

Convenience ?

Perceptions of second hand items ?

Just general consumerism ?

Also, slightly separately but same principle, why a car on finance as opposed to a cheaper second hand car ? maintenance costs? cheaper to run ? etc?

[PAWS]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

This is an interesting point! Missed the programme but I have often had this discussion. I think it has a lot to do with pride. Many years ago some work colleagues were visiting me at home. I was delighted by their reaction and positive comments. I then began to point out that most of the furniture was bought second hand. Now to be honest I love old furniture and do have a few antiques but they were horrified. They actually recoiled from the things they had been admiring!
One woman whose husband had left her in dire straits actually said she would rather starve than go to one of ‘those’ places!
I have thousands of old books in what we grandly refer to as the ‘study’ but all have come from car boot sales and second hand shops. I have designer clothes in my wardrobe- mostly thanks to trips to the thrift shops of Kensington or posh towns where you get a much better class of ‘cast off’! Most of my clothes, furniture, paintings, curtains, oh all sorts,were the result of ‘rooting around’ dusty junk shops or car boot sales and I do get a smug smile on my face when people go in raptures over my ‘priceless heirlooms’. I do believe that even if I won the lottery I would still enjoy a good rummage and the buzz of a bargain.
I think people need to stop being so bloody middle class and snobby. If they took the time to look about and didn’t fret so much about what their neighbours and ‘plastic’ friends thought they might discover they can sleep at night as well as having a beautiful home.

[Kati]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

I honestly don't think there is a single item of furniture in my house that was bought new! Charity shops, car boots and ebay are my shops of choice for a good bargain

Take my daughter's pushchair for instance ... when her other one broke, I had a look on ebay and saw one being auctioned from just over a mile away. I put a max bid of £10 on it thinking that I could get a cheap one in town if I didn't win - and got it for 99p

[wales01man]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

When we were first married it was Second hand stuff was allwe cpuld afford took a good few years to get new ,maybe we had different values then?

When you see these youngsters in low paid jobs with families walking round clutching 500 pound phones you wonder what their priorities are maybe we built a consumer world where its all MUST have NOW

[Kati]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

My neighbours are a lot like that Wales ... almost once a month the Brighthouse van is outside delivering something else They must have brand new tv's in every room and god knows where they put everything!!

[Amethyst]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

We had a similar discussion last year http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...necessary-evil - so seems nothing is changing.

In the last year one of my daughters has become ummm a snob - and refuses to enter a charity shop - I blame her peer group. So now if I take the girls shopping my other daughter and I go in the charity shops and sometimes find some brilliant stuff - and she sits outside sulking on a bench pretending not to know us when we come out lol... she'll get over it ( she'd better get over it !)

[Amethyst]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

My neighbours are a lot like that Wales ... almost once a month the Brighthouse van is outside delivering something else They must have brand new tv's in every room and god knows where they put everything!!

half the time its delivering.... other half it's collecting .... if it's anything like my next doors anyway

[Kati]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

half the time its delivering.... other half it's collecting .... if it's anything like my next doors anyway

It could well be :lol: but I've never seen anything being brought out (maybe their house is a tardis )

[wales01man]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

Apart from cooker and washing machine everything in this house is at least 12 years old still looks good paid for with cash in the good times this laptop is a refurbished ex school one free son is IT manager at school tele im watching j kyle on is a hand down from my son I got a 300 quid car of my own wife has a motability car we are happier now than when we were earning avery good money.

If the businesses had not gone in the recession we would be worth nearly a million have ourselves and family worth more than money that .

got a 10 quid mobile

[PAWS]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

half the time its delivering.... other half it's collecting .... if it's anything like my next doors anyway

Classic!
I would rather have the boys from Sue Ryder outside than the ‘repo van’

[Kati]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

Even the lads xbox was second hand here ... they got it as a joint Christmas present a few years ago and save up their pocket money to buy games from Cex or Grainger Games

Our bbq is being built from bricks I was given from a local builder (who was nice enough to deliver them for me too) and we're getting the grill bit from the scrap man

[wales01man]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

We live in very affluent Oxfordshire where we see top of the range cars and very expensive homes we both think both are very nice but have a saying everthing you cannot afford is nice!

When the threatned interest rate rise come later in the year a lot of people will be struggling with big debts and big mortgages plenty of S?H stuff for sale then

[PAWS]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

Another thing people do not seem to do is use ‘hand me downs’. I have two brothers and two sisters –all married with children. The same cot, pram, high chair and pushchair and most of the baby clothes travelled from one house to the other as the need arose and regardless of the sex of the child. Many new parents seem to think their child will break out in a rash if they touch anything second hand.
When my MIL was at the checkout in M&S (Oh yes, food shopping in M&S) she noticed she had forgotten to get an item. An assistant ran to pick it up for her. MIL actually had a hissy fit when she noticed the item was marked ‘reduced’ and asked to see the store manager to complain! I usually have to fight like a demon to get to the reduced stuff! :fencing:

[nemesis45]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

We have acquired some very good furniture from 2nd hand / charity shops in particular a lovely Georgian desk for my office.
There's no shame in buying from such outlets always remember " antiques" are just 2nd, 3rd +++ second hand goods.
Many families have no option and this is far better than falling into hands of companies like Brighthouse!

nem

[Amethyst]

Re: Second Hand Furniture vs four years 'interest free' credit or 'Brighthouse' weekl

lol, was just looking for a pic of our bbq for Kati, this was the only one I could find... from about 4 years ago