It\u2019s no surprise the second-hand market is booming. Spending in clothing stores fell 9 per cent in May, while in second-hand stores it surged 197 per cent year-on-year, according to AIB<\/a> customer data. <\/p>\n As household budgets remain under pressure, more people are discovering that buying preloved items can save hundreds, sometimes thousands of euro. It may even get you something unique too. <\/p>\n Bargain paint<\/p>\n Sinead Smartt wouldn\u2019t dream of paying full price for paint when she can get it second-hand at a fraction of the cost. Her Donaghmede home is the second she has made over using recycled paint. <\/p>\n \u201cWe moved in here five years ago, and we painted the whole house with recycled paint,\u201d says Smartt. \u201cI did my previous house too.\u201d<\/p>\n She heard about recycled paint at her local recycling centre in Malahide, which accepts old paint. <\/p>\n \u201cMy Mam and Dad would have had a load of paint in the shed from over the years. I gathered it up and brought it there.\u201d<\/p>\n Rediscover Paint, located at the Rediscovery Centre, the national centre for the circular economy located in Ballymun, collects high-quality, water-based paint from recycling centres and recycles it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe paint is screened and mixed by trained staff to bring the highest quality paint to customers,\u201d says Eileen O\u2019Sullivan, Rediscover Paint programme manager.<\/p>\n Recycling saves some of the thousands of tonnes of paint that get exported for incineration every year, says O\u2019Sullivan. <\/p>\n Smartt picked the shades she wanted from a high-street paint brand\u2019s colour chart and Rediscover Paint colour matched them. <\/p>\n \u201cThey help you pick different shades for the different rooms too,\u201d says Smartt. \u201cIt takes about a week for them to make up the paint. They ring you when it\u2019s ready to collect.\u201d<\/p>\n Rediscover Paint is part of the Paint Reuse Network<\/a>, a social enterprise which has locations including Cork, Waterford and Limerick.<\/p>\n \u201cBy buying recycled paint, you are supporting positive social impact through training and employment opportunities for people distanced from the workplace,\u201d says O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n Savings for householders are significant. Rediscover Paint charges \u20ac12.50 for 5.6 litres of paint in its basic range of colours, and \u20ac18 for bespoke colours, says O\u2019Sullivan. <\/p>\n This compares to branded paint priced between \u20ac70 for a 5 litre tin of a mid-range brand up to \u20ac137 for high-end brands, she says. <\/p>\n A 5 litre tin of paint from one well-known brand costs \u20ac90, and \u20ac60 for 2.5 litres.<\/p>\n To paint the interior of an average three-bedroom house, excluding woodwork, you would need about 35 to 50 litres of wall paint and 15 to 20 litres of ceiling paint, assuming you are applying the standard two coats. <\/p>\n Buying 70 litres of the high street brand will cost you \u20ac1,260.<\/p>\n Buying the equivalent amount of recycled paint comes in at \u20ac156 for the basic shades and \u20ac225 for colour-matched shades. <\/p>\n That\u2019s an 82 per cent to an 88 per cent saving.<\/p>\n \u201cOur customers are paying for our work, sourcing, screening and remixing paint \u2013 not the materials themselves. As a not-for-profit enterprise, we are able to keep costs low and pass on the savings to consumers,\u201d says O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n \u201cCustomers are getting massive cost savings and very high-quality paint.<\/p>\n \u201cMost members in the Paint Reuse Network offer a standard range of colours to choose from \u2013 whites, greys, creams, magnolias, and your personality picks \u2013 greens, blues and oranges. If you want a specific colour, we can make it up for you,\u201d says O\u2019Sullivan. <\/p>\n Shortt is a convert to second-hand and now her neighbours are using it too. <\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t go back to buying new paint. You are doing your bit for the environment, it\u2019s cheaper, and you are creating employment as well,\u201d says Smartt. <\/p>\n Tech savvy<\/p>\n When Sarah O\u2019Brien struggled with the pace of notetaking in lectures during her University College Cork degree, she knew some tech was required. <\/p>\n As a cost-conscious student, she needed value. A friend who had found a cheap replacement for a phone lost on a night out recommended Refurbed.ie<\/a>. It\u2019s a marketplace for refurbished electronics, claiming to offer items at up to 40 per cent less than new. <\/p>\n Products are sold on the site in four conditions \u2013 from \u201cpremium\u201d, which looks identical to new and works like new, to \u201cgood\u201d, which works like new and will have some signs of wear.<\/p>\n All have a 12-month warranty and 30-day free trial, are restored to factory settings with a valid software licence and are data-cleansed and unlocked for use with all networks, the site says. <\/p>\n Sites like Currys.ie and Vinted also sell refurbished tech. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my classmates had iPads. I knew I didn\u2019t want anything top of the range. I found an iPad 4 on Refurbed.ie<\/a> for around \u20ac150. It was very, very cheap,\u201d says O\u2019Brien. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d been putting off buying one, but when I saw the price it seemed worth it. I\u2019m still using it two years later.\u201d <\/p>\n The latest iPad 11 costs between \u20ac389 and \u20ac809. Newer models may have greater functionality, but her second-hand one does what she needs it to do. <\/p>\n Now in employment and earning while completing a master\u2019s, O\u2019Brien has become a convert to second-hand tech. Her latest purchase from the site is Apple AirPods.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are AirPod 4 and they were \u20ac99. They came in a white box and looked brand new. If you didn\u2019t know, you would think they were brand new,\u201d says O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n This model retails for around \u20ac150 new. <\/p>\n For her brother\u2019s birthday, she and her Mum clubbed together to buy him a preloved iPhone. <\/p>\n \u201cWe got him an iPhone 13, so it\u2019s a new-ish model. It was about \u20ac300,\u201d says O\u2019Brien. \u201cIt came in a box with a charger, as if it was new.\u201d<\/p>\n A new iPhone 16 costs from \u20ac879, while an iPhone 17 retails from \u20ac1,339.<\/p>\n Is buying full price a waste of money when near-new tech is such great value?<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely think so but, that being said, I don\u2019t care to have the newest version of things,\u201d says O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n \u201cOther people might get more enjoyment out of having top-of-the-range technology but, for me, it would be silly to pay for brand new when it feels just the same as using something second-hand. It\u2019s not worth it to me.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople might be slow to do it, thinking if you are spending money, you might as well spend extra and get it new, but I can\u2019t say there is any difference in the feeling of newness, and things like the battery have been great,\u201d says O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n Rather than opting out of tech upgrades entirely, consumers are reshaping how they upgrade, according to a spokesman for Refurbed.ie<\/a>.<\/p>\n Its sales in Ireland grew by 46 per cent in December, with phones, laptops, tablets and smartwatches the strongest categories. Sales of second-hand printers and scanners have grown by 84 per cent year on year, he says. <\/p>\n \u201cTrends show a rising uptake of new batteries in older devices, suggesting consumers still want better technology, but increasingly want it to last longer and cost less,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Recent prices on the site include a refurbished iPhone 14 (128GB) in premium condition, with a new battery for \u20ac394.99, or 20 per cent less than the \u20ac494.30 new retail price.<\/p>\n An Apple MacBook Air 2020 13.3 inch costs \u20ac1,057 new while a model on Refurbed.ie<\/a> with a new battery costs \u20ac550, close to half the retail price. <\/p>\n Apple AirPods 3 cost \u20ac112.97 new and \u20ac84.33 on Refurbed.ie<\/a>, more than 25 per cent less. <\/p>\n Whether buying new or second-hand, consumers are asked to recycle their old tech. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery old and broken phone, hairdryer or game controller tucked away at home contains critical raw materials that the EU desperately needs to be less reliant on China,\u201d Leo Donovan, chief executive of WEEE Ireland, which works to help producers comply with recycling rules, has said. <\/p>\n Our old gadgets contain critical raw materials like aluminium, copper, lithium and nickel. The materials, unused and forgotten in drawers in our homes, are essential for making new heat pumps, wind turbines, EV chargers, servers, smartphones and defence equipment. <\/p>\n Europe\u2019s e-waste mountain is now being called \u201cthe new oil\u201d, Donovan has said. <\/p>\n![\"Eileen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/X2ILNDJNE5CLVF36TYYS6XAM6Q.jpg\")
Eileen O’Sullivan, programme manager at Rediscover Paint <\/p>\n