I grew up in an era of hand-me-downs and thrift store shopping. Back then, these practices weren’t very popular, certainly not flaunted if someone were to compliment an article of clothing or household item. Today, Instagram accounts are full of folks finding fabulous items they’ve thrifted for themselves, their families, or to resell. The fact that it’s gone from an adjective to its own verb—thrifting—says a lot about its popularity.

Today, you’ll encounter all ages at thrift stores – older folks trying to stretch a dollar, families looking for inexpensive kids’ clothes and toys, and young people treasure-hunting for household goods for new apartments. You may even find people of all ages with smart phones scanning tags to ascertain whether brand-name items, books, or collectibles can be sold online as a side hustle. 

In fact, Forbes magazine noted that the secondhand apparel market grew from $28 billion in 2019 to $49 billion in 2024. And that growth isn’t only in apparel, but household items as well. Whether we’re looking for value, treasures, or just trying to save useful items from a landfill, resale shopping is on the rise.

And as thrift store traffic and pricing increases, people have also begun to embrace another of the unspoken hobbies of my youth and early adulthood: dumpster diving. Sometimes, it’s easier for people to place unwanted but still usable items at the curb instead of going to the trouble of finding someone who needs it, selling it online, or holding a yard sale. It can be true that one person’s trash is another one’s treasure.

My first apartment as a single person was filled with items I found at thrift stores, rummage sales, or at the curb on trash day. Since I didn’t have the budget for a particular aesthetic, my search for items was based on what I saw and how I could alter it to serve my needs. The wooden door became a mosaic framed desktop when balanced across a pair of file cabinets. A quirky cane chair from the curb completed the home office set up. A low wooden dresser from a rummage sale, once painted, became a convenient countertop and linen closet in the awkward bathroom of my rental. Over time I added more items, based on the treasures I found and how I could modify them for functionality as my space became homier. 

Initially, my husband didn’t embrace this way of thinking. If we happened to drive by something with potential just waiting at the curb to be reborn, he would only stop under the cover of darkness, and once the offending items were loaded, he’d drive away like he was leaving a crime scene. But over time, as he watched me refinish and refashion items, he slowly came around. Eventually, he caught the bug himself, when he took over the refinishing of a wooden frame mirror I had unapologetically pulled from someone’s trash. He had it sanded and stained before I could get to it, marveling at how the new-to-us style accented our youngest’s bedroom furniture so perfectly. 

Recently, he texted me a photo of a wooden desk with curved legs he’d found at the curb. “Who is this?” I joked, “and what have you done with my husband?!” He picked it up because he thought one of the kids could use it as a desk, and had it sanded and refinished in no time flat. And now we’re both on the lookout at thrift stores for the perfect chair to match it. Maybe it is true that everything old is new again. That seems true, whether it’s in music, fashion, food, or furnishings. 

Thinking back on all the things I've seen reborn—even those reclaimed by my family and me, reminds me that our activities are much bigger than just repairing what was old. 

It takes fresh eyes—and a little hope—to see how something old can become new again. Sometimes, all it takes is looking around with fresh eyes to find a new perspective—or solve an old problem in a completely different way.