Something old, nothing new
Posted on: October 23, 2014; Updated on: October 23, 2014
By Chris Horn, chorn@sc.edu, 803-777-3687
Most consumers don't think twice about buying a new coffeemaker or new chair or whatever new gadget they can't live without.
Cynthia Swanson doesn't think twice about such purchases either — because she doesn't make any. In 1998, she vowed to quit buying anything new that she could find used. That includes a washing machine, two refurbished TVs, silverware, dishes, five lamps, three chests of drawers, 72 folding chairs and an Oriental rug.
"I'm the biggest patron of eBay," says Swanson, a 1971 education graduate. "I can find just about anything I need — preowned tablecloths, a desk, wing chairs. One time I asked a restaurant owner what he had done with their old patio furniture, and he gave it to me."
Swanson says her determination to buy used is neither eccentricity nor frugality. "I got started when I saw a video about how 99 percent of the things we buy end up in the landfill within a year," she says. "Usually the preowned things cost less, but sometimes they are the same price or even more. I am doing it to save space in the landfill."
Swanson belongs to the Coastal Conservation League, the Waccamaw Riverkeepers and the Winyah Sierra Club and supports the S.C. Environmental Law Project. She also chairs the educational fund of the Conservation Voters of S.C.
Swanson's "something old, nothing new" mantra extends to her wedding planning business in Myrtle Beach, S.C. She typically gives antique champagne glasses to her newlywed clients — an elegant gift, she says, that speaks to permanence and long-lasting enjoyment and has the added benefit of being recycled. Her first grandchild was born this past spring, and, true to form, Swanson's first gift for the little tyke was "a refinished rocking chair that was mine when I was little."
This story was published in the fall 2014 issue of Carolinian, the magazine for alumni and friends of UofSC. Get all three yearly issues by joining the My Carolina Alumni Association or supporting Carolina's Promise.
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