Thrifting is always best IMO. The selection depends on your location; I’ve noticed smaller, more rural areas tend to have better selections than suburban areas or cities. There’s also online thrifting through sites like thredup and vinted - obviously, your mileage may vary. I use FB marketplace to get home goods but I’m sure it’s good for getting local used clothes, too.

The area where I’m struggling is the fact that, to my knowledge, Lomi doesn’t actually make the organic matter “decompose” - which means, presumably, it would still decompose when disposed of, right?

I got mine when I moved (used as well - only 150 bucks!) because it became way less feasible to drop off my organic waste in my new city. It definitely drastically reduced the amount of trash I had to take out (as compared to just… throwing everything out), and reduced smelliness in the trash. If it does actually reduce methane emissions, then I would say it’s a great option. If it doesn’t… then, well, it probably cuts down on trash loads and things like that, but I’m not sure that it would otherwise be worth it.

I’ve seen some people unhappy with the end product in terms of using it in place of regular compost; I know their “lomi pods” are pretty much required if you want to use it for plants - so you’ll need to buy those (as well as filter replacements - although I’m pretty sure you can just use regular activated carbon pellets) - and it’s possible some people weren’t using those. Just something to keep in mind!