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10 Things You Should Never Buy Used 10 Things You Shouldn’ t Buy Used Items that you just don’ t want to bring home from an estate or garage sale Image Bank / Getty Images Leaving that garage sale or yard sale or thrift store with an item you purchased for pennies on the dollar — like, say, a 10-cent electric toothbrush — can feel so empowering
But be careful of coming home with a box filled with regret
A real bargain should of you or your family members
If the item doesn’t properly function once you get it home, where’s the bargain? And, ick, did someone actually stick that electric toothbrush in their mouth before you? AARP asked the experts
1 Medicine — of any kind This might seem like a five-alarm no-brainer, but that doesn’t stop motivated sellers from trying to unload of all kinds at yard sales
Bruce Littlefield, author of Garage Sale America, remembers walking into a yard sale near Alexandria, Virginia, and seeing a used tube of Preparation H with a 25-cent price sticker on it
“The idea sends shivers up my spine,” he says
Littlefield has also seen outdated prescription medications sold at garage sales
“That screams danger,” he says
Never, ever purchase any kind of prescription or nonprescription drugs of medications used, he advises
” 2 Anything for a newborn This includes baby clothes, bottles, bedding, cribs, strollers and car seats, too
The problem: the unknown
You don’t know who used them last and how they were potentially misused
You don’t know if they’ve been for safety reasons
And you don’t necessarily know if they are damaged or broken
“When it comes to baby stuff, it’s always better to err on the side of caution and buy new,” says Kathy Ozzard Chism, author of Garage Sale Success Secrets: The Definitive Step-by-Step Guide to Turn Your Trash Into CA$H! 3 Mattresses bedding pillows and sheets When you see a used mattress or pillow for sale, all you see is the mattress or pillow and not what you really need to see: its history
You don’t know if it has dust mites, mold or
This is way too much unknown to risk your health on, says Anita Chagaris, coauthor and publisher of Garage Sale Gourmet: Streetwise Shopping for Fun, Profit, and Home Improvement
Considering that each of us spends about one-third of our lives in bed, we should at least take the basic precaution to make sure the bed and bedding we sleep in do us no harm, she says
4 Wetsuits and bathing suits First of all, you don’t know who has been wearing a used bathing suit
And, while you can probably sterilize it with hot water and bleach, bathing suits aren’t exactly noted for durability
The suit may be stretched or tight in areas you don’t want stretched or tight
And, as with bathing suits, wetsuits need to fit properly
An old suit has probably adapted to the former diver’s body — which is probably not the same form as yours
Moment / Getty Images 5 Perfumes colognes cosmetics or body lotions Few things are more personal than those things that we rub or spray on our own bodies — so don’t even consider purchasing these things used, Chism says
Used cosmetics, in particular, can be breeding grounds for germs and potential infections, add Chagaris
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“You need to be extra cautious with any fabrics that can transfer bacteria,” she says
Much like , she says, since you don’t know the history of the furniture, you don’t know what kinds of germs, dust mites or bedbugs might be lurking inside
So go crazy for wooden furniture, she says, but pass on upholstered
That’s because you don’t know if the helmet — typically built for onetime emergency use — already has served that function in a previous emergency and is now, basically, useless
Not only won’t you have the full force of its protection, Littlefield says, but you also don’t know if this particular helmet has been recalled or replaced by a newer model for safety reasons
Speaking of headgear, be wary of used hats
And you can ruin a hat if you don’t know how to sanitize it
8 Stuffed animals They can look so darned cute at yard sales or when strategically placed in thrift shops — all but daring you to purchase them for just a buck or two or three
Even if they have been washed and sanitized, you don’t know how clean they really are, nor do you know how often the kid who previously owned it stuck the stuffed toy in his or her mouth while teething on it, Chism warns
But used pots and pans typically come with all kinds of large and small scratches — and therein lies the danger, Chism says
Pots and pans that are rusted, scratched or burned can that you don’t want in your body — or the bodies of family members
Some nonstick pans are sealed with a Teflon coating that can contain PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) or PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene), which can create toxic fumes when heated
” Symptoms include breathing difficulty, fever and sore throat
Only purchase nonstick pans new
10 Puzzles and board games Unless they are sealed — and have clearly never been opened — you are setting yourself up for disappointment if you purchase jigsaw puzzles or board games that are used, Littlefield says
After spending hours working on the puzzles, they later were disappointed to find that pieces were missing
It’s very difficult at yard sales, garage sales and in thrift shops to verify that all their pieces are there
Used board games can be troublesome, too
“You don’t want to be fooled later,” he says
His password: “frustration
” Don’t make it yours
He previously wrote for The Los Angeles Times and USA TODAY
Horovitz regularly writes for The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, AARP Magazine, AARP Bulletin, Kaiser Health News, and PBS Next Avenue
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