Consignment shopping, once thought of as embarrassing and shameful, has now become the chic and fashionable way to shop. No longer do we have to hide and sneak our used purchases from our friends and family. We can now hold our heads up high and proudly exclaim to all the great bargains we have just acquired. Back in the day, consignment shops were dingy little stores with low lighting and dusty merchandise. The tightening of the purse strings has led to an evolution of the consignment business. Many of the new resale stores are more like boutiques. These places usually accept only new or very gently used items that are up-to-date and trendy. Items are usually priced at one-third of the original cost. You can get a lot more bang for your buck. Getting a bargain is only part of the appeal of the consignment store. Not only do we save money and get great things, we can also make money by taking in our clothing and furniture and other items that we no longer use. Most resale shops give you 30-60% of the selling price once your items sell. That's a lot of cash just for getting rid of things that you no longer want! To stretch that bargain even further, you can then turn around and buy things that you DO want from the same consignment store for a discounted price. In addition to the bargains and the money, another huge appeal is its impact on the environment. The state of the environment is on everyone's minds these days. Everywhere you turn you hear about reducing your carbon footprint and how to make things more 'green'. When you buy and sell on consignment, you are doing your part to try to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills. Why throw away a perfectly good sofa or pair of jeans that you just purchased last year and are either sick of, or they just don't fit anymore? More than hundred thousand tons of unwanted goods and gadgets get thrown away each year. Recycling your unwanted items and buying others' diminishes these numbers vastly. Most importantly, consignment shopping is fun and exciting! It's like going on a treasure hunt. You aren't looking through rows and rows of the same boring stuff that you would find in the malls. Most are organized by size, color, or style. Each item that you look at is different from the last. These stores often receive items that were originally purchased from all parts of the world and somehow landed in your neighborhood. You could be the only person on your block to own one of these jewels. There is no other place you can shop, earn money, be green, and have fun at the same time! You can find your local consignment shops by going online or looking in your area yellow pages. They are so popular these days, most cities and towns have them, and new ones are cropping up every day.