I haven’t bought anything new for 20 years, even my pants are second hand – but it’s saved me £150k & I’ve bought a flat
MEETING friends for lunch, Tamara DiMattina, 48, looks like she just stepped off a catwalk in a Collette Dinegan beaded silver dress and designer Jimmy Choo heels worth £2k new.
“I love your outfit,” said one pal. “It’s so on trend, It must have cost a bomb.”
“I’ll take the compliment,” said Tamara, a sustainability and communications consultant. “But the outfit didn't break the bank. Everything I'm wearing is from charity or second-hand shops, even my bra and knickers. The underwear cost less than a fiver.”
Because she hasn’t bought anything new for TWENTY years and in doing so has saved more than £150,000 .
“Everything including my clothes, pyjamas, furniture, bedsheets, kitchen crockery and utensils and towels are from second hand shops, charity stores or from recycling and upcycling,” Tamara told Fabulous.
“‘I have an amazing collection of ‘second hand’ unworn undies and charity shop bras. Even my swimsuits are second hand, you just have to know where to buy.”
Read More on Money Saving
Tamara's top tips
Tamara's top tips to buy cheap
Have ‘swap shops’ with pals. “We all bring items we don't wear anymore as well as a bottle of wine and have a fun evening swapping and chatting,” she said.
“Big hotels will often sell sheets, towels and other items from rooms when they re-do interiors - find out about them,” she said.”
Check out closing down sales. "My dining table has a beautiful second-hand table that came from a cafe that was closing down," says Tamara.
Tamara also says she in the UK finds great second-hand items at cash converters, pawn shops and even household item auctions.
Visit garage sales - you can pick up bargains there
“My MacBook and smartphone are secondhand. I never buy an electrical kit for work or my house unless it comes from a secondary market and is quality second hand or refurbished,” she said.
According to Tamara less people are turning up their noses and instead they’re enjoying the benefits of copying her frugal habits which she describes as “life changing”.
“My house is full of beautiful things,” she said. “Everything from my extra-large hardwood coffee table, cream sofas and Persian rugs has been bought secondhand.
“When I tell people almost nothing was brought new, they are left stunned. I am proud of my achievement. It’s a commitment and it has saved me so much,” she said.
HUGE SAVINGS
“I only realised how much it saved me when I bought my first flat in Melbourne, Australia. “I’d managed to save an 80 percent deposit thanks to my ‘don't buy new’ commitment,” she said.
According to former London auction house staffer Tamara, who now lives in a three-bedroom warehouse apartment with her long term partner David, 51 the only ‘new’ items she has bought in the past 20 years have been personal and hygiene items.
“I don't live in a skanky house,” she said. “I don't wear smelly or ugly clothes. I 've got lovely things, I'm not a minimalist. I am just committed to what I do.
"I like to have a new outfit to wear but my new outfit is second hand but it’s new to me.”
SECONDHAND QUEEN
Tamara says after 20 years of refining her ‘buy second’ skills she says no to any new items she knows she can get used or from a ‘secondary market.
“I refuse to pay for a new product when I know I can get it used, from a second-hand store, at a swap meet with friends or via online sites like Facebook Marketplace, Vinted or car boot sales,” she said.
Tamara's decision to buy only second-hand dates back to 1997 while working at Sotheby's Auction House in London.
She couldn't afford to buy a new wardrobe like the other staffers, and so she bought a second-hand sewing machine to make herself the clothes she needed.
LONDON LIVING
“I was living in a shared bedroom off Kensington High Street and my money went on rent and the tube,” she says. “I couldn't afford posh clothes for my job.
The first second hand item Tamara bought when she was 21 was a sewing machine on eBay. “I found some amazing red silk discounted as it was the end of roll in Goldhawk Road and made an amazing skirt,” she says. “People thought it was designer but it only cost me a tenner to make.”
Tamara started making more outfits and scoured London charity shops and vintage stores for bargains.
“I quickly realised I could save money and wear original dresses and outfits I designed and made myself. People constantly asked where I got them from.
WHO CARES IF IT'S OLD? IT'S NEW TO YOU!
“I remember more than 20 years ago visiting the British Heart Foundation and other charity shops finding donated clothes and upcycling them.
“It really changed my outlook on buying new.”
Tamara admits it’s while living in London she also realised that almost every day we’re using items other people have used before.
It was a revelation that made her rethink her attitude to buying used, second hand or refurbished items.
TWO DECADES OF NOT BUYING ANYTHING
“We live in secondhand houses," says Tamara.
"When you go to hotels, or you eat in the finest restaurants in the world you're eating from second-hand cutlery and plates.
“Your fabric napkins posh restaurants have been used by other people then washed and ironed. You don't refuse to use them because someone else used them the day before, do you?
“When you stay at a 5* hotel you're sleeping in sheets someone else has slept in. You are using towels someone used the previous day. We don't think twice about that.
“That's why I haven't bought nearly anything new for 20 years.
£1 CHARITY SHOP PANTS
“I buy underwear from charity shops, but they have never been worn. It’s a fact with fascinated people who assume my knickers are ‘used’.
“My undies and bras still have the tags on them and that’s because companies are making so much stock, they offer it to secondhand shops for free rather than sending it to landfill.
“I pay £1 for knickers or £2 for a bra instead of £40 new.
“When people see me, they see a fashionable woman in on trend clothes. They see a lovely home and someone that shows not buying new can lead to high end living at a fraction of the price.
“So rather than turning up your noses at second hand embrace it. Everything from blenders to bras and napkins to knickers can be found this way. It’s the sustainable way to save and be on trend as well.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Visit Tamara’s websites: Buy Nothing New Month and The New Joneses - Road Trip 2023
