That hand-me-down jacket already survived one kid’s winter. It comes pre-loaded with somebody’s care.

A jacket that has already made it through one winter is proof of two things: it was built well enough to last, and someone looked after it well enough to keep. Secondhand gets treated as a downgrade, when often it is the opposite. New tells you nothing about whether a thing can hold up. Wear is evidence.

Take one item you own that came from somebody else and find out where it came from. Knowing whose it was changes how you treat it, and it costs you a single question to a parent or a cousin.