WASTE NOT, WANT NOT.

It's possible that the millionaire next door dresses the kiddos in hand-me-down clothes, or goes thrifting.

Northern Star columnist Byrdie Seda advises her classmates to live like the millionaire next door.  "It’s OK to wear thrifted, second-hand or cheaper clothes."

The subtext of her column?  Students at a regional comprehensive mid-major ought live prudently.

It can be difficult to find fashionable, current and affordable clothes in today’s economy— especially with social media usage growing rampantly, wanna-be influencers portraying lavish lifestyles and fancy outings that feature countless luxury items.

It can be difficult for people to not feel left out if they aren’t also having those experiences.

The reality is, most people overhype their life on social media and post the highlights of their life and nothing else. They often splurge on things they don’t need such as, fancy cars, expensive jewelry and lavish decor, just so that they can show off.

This sort of mindset also tends to follow people into the real world, causing them to feel that they not only have to follow trends on the internet, but also in real life.

This mindset also causes many young people, especially Generation Z, to feel an immense amount of pressure when it comes to how they present themselves and what they wear. The amount of money that people spend under the mindset of wanting to fit in and the culture of overconsumption causes a lot of mental, environmental and social consequences, which is why buying second-hand clothes is a far better option for people nowadays.

I'm eleven years into retirement, and thus cannot offer any from the field observations of sorority rush these days.  I do not recall the sort of positional arms races that seem to be all the rage in the Southeastern Conference these days going on in DeKalb.

Living prudently, she continues, does not have to mean looking like you're down and out in Liverpool.

Buying second-hand clothes is not only usually a better financial option for people, but it also saves on resources while providing an outlet for others to share their previously beloved outfits with others instead of throwing them away. The idea of wearing something that someone else wore can be off-putting to others, especially since they don’t know where those articles of clothing have come from.

However, most second-hand stores have specific standards as to what articles of clothing they are willing to resell, and only accept donations of an acceptable quality (i.e. no huge stains, rips or bad odors). Furthermore, there are many popular clothing brands that are donated to second-hand stores with their price heavily marked down strictly because they had a previous owner.

These clothes can often be very high-quality while being a fraction of the price of it brand-new. To most people, it won’t even be noticeable that clothing was bought second-hand unless it’s pointed out. Buying clothing second-hand allows for people to live luxuriously on a budget while also recycling old clothes.

Buying clothes this way is also much more beneficial to the environment. Fast fashion produces a lot of waste when items are often worn once or a few times and then discarded. Of all textiles, 85% end up in dumps each year. If the byproducts of fast fashion aren’t sold second hand, it only increases the amount of waste in the environment.

If more people bought clothes from second-hand stores and donated their own clothes rather than buying brand new, expensive clothes that will eventually be tossed, then there will not only be less waste, but there will be fewer resources being used to create new clothing as well.

That might be good reason to buy the traditional look, as such clothing, whether used a few times and then donated, or bought at the thrift shop, will not be as obviously out of style as whatever the latest fast fashion thing that wears out fast is.

She concludes by noting that people can write off clothing donations on their taxes.  She's probably too young to remember that no less than Bill Clinton did so, including his lightly used boxers.