In this fun and humorous piece for The Atlantic, we get to ride shotgun with Caity Weaver as she visits yard sales, thrift stores, and, estate sales (the most coveted of all second-hand opportunities) to indulge her fondness for buying needful things at bargain prices.

“Perhaps you think you don’t need any more Christmas decorations. You do; imagining that you possess a sufficient quantity of Christmas decorations evinces a dullness of spirit that lets me know that any Christmas extravaganza you think you’re pulling off is anemic at best, and not even worthy of the term. Perhaps you will protest that you do not observe Christmas. That’s absolutely no reason not to decorate for it.”

More picks from The Atlantic

The Boeing 747 Begins Its Final Descent

Ian Bogost | The Atlantic | June 12, 2026 | 4,690 words

“The jet was perhaps the pinnacle of American engineering excellence. Its retirement signals an end to an era of American culture—and ambition.”

Why Can’t Americans Sleep?

Jennifer Senior | The Atlantic | June 30, 2025 | 8,926 words

“Insomnia has become a public-health emergency.”

I Never Called Her Momma

Jenisha Watts | The Atlantic | September 13, 2023 | 11,129 words

“I always saw crack as the source of my family’s problems. But I learned that addiction went back in our family long before the crack epidemic—as did poverty and neglect.”