Idaho Town Vows to Live Off of Items Only Found in Thrift Stores

Thrift stores are filled with tons of odds and ends. Many people have been in the news recently talking about how they have tried to live off of only what they could buy in a thrift store.

Seattle, WA (prHWY.com) September 25, 2012 - Thrift stores are filled with tons of odds and ends. Many people have been in the news recently talking about how they have tried to live off of only what they could buy in a thrift store. While most of these cases have been about one person or a single family, a small town in Idaho is making headlines for their commitment to only shop at the local thrift stores.

"We saw in the news how one man lived off of what he could buy in a thrift store", said mayor of Hope Springs, Tad Johnson. "I thought it would be a great idea to give the entire community a chance to try it out."

Tad Johnson proposed that the entire community of Hope Springs try to live off of what they could find in the local thrift stores for the course of six months. The challenge does not apply to items such as food, household cleaning products and personal hygiene products.

"I really think that this could be almost a fun little activity", said Johnson. "When I proposed it to the city they thought that it would be fun and over 90% of the population has signed a commitment to try and live like this for six months."

The local thrift stores are preparing for this event. Rose's Second Hand Goods has been shopping around at several thrift stores in the state in order to bulk up inventory. Some of the thrift stores have formed alliances with other thrift stores in other states to keep the inventory fresh.

"Our biggest concern is making sure our customers have plenty of items to choose from when it comes to shopping at our store", said Rosie owner of Rose's Second Hand Goods. "If people are coming to us for furniture items, clothing and decorations I want them to have tons of things to pick from."

Some people have taken notice of this community's effort to shop only at thrift stores. Several major universities sent psychology students to the area to see how people act over time.

"We believe this could be a great social experiment", said Julie Taverns, a graduate student in psychology. "I plan on interviewing the people at the beginning and watching how their attitudes change over time. Are they still excited about thrift stores? Did they find what they wanted there? Were they able to save money? All of these things I want to explore."

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Tag Words: thrift stores

Categories: Consumer

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