My best secondhand buys in 2025
My favourite new-to-me finds from last year.
Happy new year! I for one am glad to say goodbye to 2025, a financially stressful and professionally devastating year. Even so, I'm kicking off 2026 with a look back: a helpful way to remind myself of the many good things that did in fact happen between all the horror.
Shaking off the bad vibes of the past also means more writing! I'll be adding more reviews and articles regularly, with a mix of current release and retrospective topics.
Year-end reflections, best-ofs, in-out lists; everyone has their own feelings about which aspects of the past are worth celebrating, and which we'd all be better off casting into the void forever. While I'm not entirely convinced by some—I'll believe Labubus are out when I find one at Vinnies—contemporary trends aren't my strong suit, so I'll defer to the Instagram fashion girlies on this topic. I'm more about retro, vintage, and stuff that's just old in a way that isn't (and will never be) cool.
These are my favourite new-to-me finds; not always the wildest or weirdest, but what was worth bringing into my life. They're from all across 2025's secondhand landscape: op shops, Savers, eBay, Depop, Facebook Marketplace, and good old digging around in the hard rubbish.
Blacksnake Blues Tele-style guitar ($192.50, eBay)
When I was made redundant at the start of the year, my first instinct was to lean into my newfound unemployed slacker status and finally learn guitar. Playing lefty* limits both my retail and secondhand options, but there's still interesting discoveries to be had—like this somewhat unusual Telecaster-style machine. It's most likely from the 2000s and the triple-pickup, bunch-of-switches setup is a lot of fun for a complete beginner like myself. Part of the joy of learning something new is having no idea what you're doing, which is great because I still have no idea what I'm doing. 2026 is the year of actually taking lessons in things.
*I warmly invite anyone who wishes to advise me to "just play righty" to send me $1000... or at least subscribe.
Rosa Bloom sequin playsuit ($90, Sacred Heart online shop)
I couldn't have justified this purchase but for some lovely friends who gave me a SHMonline gift card for my birthday, which brought it down to $40. With a RRP of $315, I can't complain. The green sequins shift to a rich purple at an angle, and it's both surprisingly comfortable and utterly ridiculous. I don't think running away to join the circus would be a sensible career pivot, but with this on it feels not only possible, but glamorous and alluring.
Also, I look crazy hot in it. No pic.
RØDE SM6 shock mount ($0, FB Marketplace)
Many times last year I was shocked by the generosity of relative—or in this case, complete—strangers. The previous owner had accidentally doubled up when acquiring a replacement mic, and happily gave it away for free. I'm a step closer to a more convenient setup and reaching my most irritating form (podcast host). Now I just need the actual boom arm...
Kikki K 365 diary ($4, Vinnies Leichhardt)
In June I visited Sydney for the first time (I know!) primarily to listen to Hideo Kojima and his bestie George Miller yak it up at Sydney Film Fest (I know...). On my way to check out GF bakery Sébastien Sans Gluten* I passed a Vinnies so gave it a quick squiz. Astonished by Sydney's famously high prices—CDs were four dollars!!—I was about to leave when I spotted probably my single best op-shop find all year. Finding this pristine, still sealed diary felt like a miracle.
Kikki K rudely discontinued this style of diary in 2020 even though they were my favourite. The wider-than-A5 format makes them perfect for scrapbooking, while the generous page count leaves room for writing. I've tried alternatives; nothing else works. I have alerts set up on eBay and FB Marketplace. I have half a dozen of these stashed away for future years, by which time I'll hopefully have worked through my need for an extremely specific style of journal.
*Decadent and delicious btw! Thoroughly recommended even if your digestive system is normal.
More workwear than I, currently unemployed, can reasonably justify (from top: $20, Savers; $35, Depop; $7, Vinnies)
Workwear has been a bit of a trend amongst Narrm's LGBT+ gardening enthusiasts and women in their post-Gorman sartorial era. That I've been able to pick these pieces up cheaply secondhand means that trend is probably over, or at least on the way out. I don't know about the future of fashion, but my future looks sturdy, sensible, and ready to take on small-to-medium home DIY. Thanks, Depop user "gayhotchippiefund69".
Waterfall shelf painted a loud and aggressive shade of red ($0, on the side of the road)
A delightfully old-school find, both in style and the fact that it had a bit of paper stuck to it that said "FREE". While I find the bold colour compelling, at some point I'll probably strip it back. Otherwise why even have all that workwear?
Big Girl's Blouse DVD ($3, Vinnies) and Napoleon VHS ($2.49, Savers)
I have a solid collection of Australian TV comedy DVDs, but hadn't added Big Girl's Blouse to my collection as copies go on eBay for around $60. Happily Vinnies provided; 🙏 may they never start checking online physical media prices 🙏. The original broadcast of this Kath & Kim sketch precursor was before my time, so I'm keen to fill in this particular cultural blind spot.
Alongside Babe and The Little Mermaid, Napoleon was one of my favourite movies I had on tape as a little kid. It's the perfect mix of cute and scary, catchy songs and silly story. There's an action sequence involving the Sydney monorail (RIP)! It's basically a perfect movie and the humble videotape is its ideal viewing format.
Wooden carved Tin Tin and Snowy figurine ($10, Sacred Heart)
He's just cute!
David Byrne's American Utopia and Soul Coughing – Ruby Vroom (~$8, Savers)
Sometimes when I'm digging around in an op shop I wonder if certain items were donated by the same person. While David Byrne needs no introduction, jazz/punk group Soul Coughing are a bit more obscure—both are purveyors of off-kilter lyrics paired with unconventional, genre-defying instrumentation. You may have heard the 1996 hit Super Bon Bon, which hit me in the way only songs you haven't heard in almost 30 years can. This album, their 1994 debut, opens with lyrics eerily close to predicting 9/11:
A man / drives a plane / into the / Chrysler building
and only gets more unsettling from there. And it rules!
St. Oddity shoulder bag ($27, Savers)
I'm not super into green, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to label myself like one of those bougie dogs. I got extra letters from AliExpress, pushing the total investment to around $60 but vastly increasing my options (the bag originally said "NANA"). Walking around with the name of my blog in massive letters feels super duper cringe tho—I can't quite commit to such a visible act of self-branding. I'm open to any and all suggestions of more fashionable words.
Vintage c. 1992 ABC Kids wall hooks ($0, on the side of the road)
These were in the background of a FB Marketplace listing for some free display cases. Someone else had made off with the shelves before I arrived, but kindly left the actual treasure behind.
Vintage X Files T-shirt ($15, Wayside Chapel Op-Shop Bondi)
Another Sydney find, I couldn't dream of something better to wear to Callum Preston's Videoland at the Immigration Museum (extended until Feb 1!) Stepping into this meticulous faux video rental store, hunting for my favourite films amongst hundreds of VHS tapes, and having a chat to Callum himself was a real treat.
I enjoy The X Files as much as any other 90's kid/TV sci-fi enthusiast, but what really made this shirt a must-buy was what was on the back. Just as it evokes the precarity of local media, it boldly states its belief in the ultimate triumph of logic and facts. An expression of hope, dedication, and what can be achieved through 24-episode-a-season television.
That's enough time travelling for now. Here's to 2026!
