The other day I was downtown here in the smallish town where I live and I had some time to kill before an appointment so I popped into the Salvation Army store so I could check out the kids’ clothing section. I had already been to the consignment store in town that sells baby stuff and had managed to find a few things there that I liked for our baby boy.
I found a bunch of really cute things at the Salvation Army…six almost-new onesies, with no stains or tears, just that musty, bargain basement smell I know so well. I also found a cute little pair of running shoes that could only have been worn once or twice. The price? The onesies were fifty cents each and the shoes were a buck. I’m not great at doing math but if my calculations are correct, that pile of clothes was four dollars. Graham was impressed.
At a family get-together recently my sister-in-law offered to give us some things that were her son’s. “Oh, you guys probably want everything new, though, right?” she asked.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
While Graham and I have been given a lot of things like baby seats, a baby bath tub and a beautiful bassinet, all hand-me-downs, for clothing we’ve been depending a lot on hitting local yard sales and consignment shops (or shops like the Salvation Army). And I have absolutely NO problem with that.
When I go into stores that sell baby gear and look at the price tags, I have to pick my chin up off the floor. It’s not that I’m cheap…I’ll spend money where it’s warranted. But babies wear their clothes for approximately five minutes before they grow out of them, if I’m not mistaken. That onesie that cost me fifty cents was likely ten dollars or more, mere weeks ago! It just doesn’t add up. My dad and step-mom bought us an awesome pack ‘n play, like new, exactly what we wanted, for just fifty dollars. They appreciate a bargain, too. I’d much rather buy used and give our son lots of things that he’ll be able to use and enjoy than sit on my high horse and demand everything be new.
Who are these women that insist on this, who have the disposable income (or credit limit) these days, in this economy, to insist on buying every single thing for their child brand spanking new? Those crazy women from the pregnancy message boards, that’s who.
Being a bargain hunter is one of the great joys in life, right up there with finding money or hearing your name read out on the radio. That joy is something else we’re passing along to our little guy. (At least that’s what I keep telling myself.)
I know a few people that have gone the “all new” route and it seems to be for a couple different reasons.
1) You think people are judging your kid for what s/he wears. Even I will feel the occasional pang of jealousy when I see a perfectly turned out child in a beautiful outfit. Then I remember how pissed I’ll be if the kid ruins it. I consider bargain shopping the first step to preventing child abuse.
2) Everyone you know is doing it. Still a super-powerful driving force in a lot of lives. Being able to brag about the most expensive pack and play gets some people through the day.
3) Being raised that way, whether or not they are doing as well as their parents were when they had kids.
I’m proud of my thriftiness. But my friends don’t judge me because even though they love their “new” stuff they also think I’m a rock star for being able to budget. We all have mutual respect.
Loved this post!
I say go for it, although I’d reccommend going “new” for carseats, just because you want to be sure it’s not been in an accident and you’d want to be able to be contacted by the manufacturer if there was a recall.
Amen, my sister! AMEN!
I have been visiting the baby clothes bins at the local Goodwill stores for months. We have nearly an entire dresser of good-as-new onesies and sleepers that cost us about 50 cents apiece. Everything we have in the closet that was bought new was bought on deep clearance…I just can’t justify spending $16.99 on a cute little onesie. I don’t like to spend more than $10 on a shirt for myself!
I just think of all the books we can buy for the kid with the money we aren’t spending on clothes. And the bills we can pay to keep a roof over his / her head
@jennidecki, that’s so great that you’ve found a way to have mutual respect among your circle of friends. I’ve found that a lot of people just don’t know where to look for good deals so they are super-impressed when they hear about them.
@jenni, we did end up with a used car seat but it is only a year old, and it is a Graco seat so we can watch for recalls.
@velocibadgergirl, wow, nearly an entire dresser-full? Now I want to go shopping! Graham always says he’d rather pay for our child’s education than for a bunch of new clothes, and I have to agree with him.
Normally I’m not big on the used clothing/vintage etc. but I completely understand for babies. They grow so quickly that there’s no point in spending all that money when a month later it’s not going to fit.
My boyfriend’s sister is kind of a clothes horse and when she was pregnant (1st kid) she expected to deck her little girl out in Juicy Couture. I’m embarrassed we actually bought her the bibs.
@Cass Juicy Couture for babies, huh? I jump for joy when I find something used that has a GAP tag still on it! Don’t be embarrassed about those bibs…if you can’t indulge them when they’re babies, when can you?
rock the thriftiness although tshirts tend to be a little harder to do what with the food stains. worst offender would be bananas can’t get that out with anything.
I ended up doing some sewing for the funkier stuff
Good for you!
Hm. I’ve never bought anything second hand for Munchkin, but anytime anyone offers me a bag of hand me downs, I’m ALL OVER IT. In fact, probably about 80% of her clothes this summer are hand-me-downs.
I’m appalled how fast she grows out of things: I’m very eager to get all that nearly-new stuff out of my attic and into the homes of friends with girl-babies, to spread the love around and justify the expense.
I do buy most of her clothes new, and I really enjoy doing that: that said, I only ever really get her stuff at Bonnie Togs and sometimes Zellers. The prices at Gap and Old Navy, for example, are TRULY RIDICULOUS and I would be completely freaked out to have her wearing clothes that expensive. Luckily, I get some of that stuff in the hand-me-downs
@mimi Zellers seems to have decent prices for new things, and I noticed that Old Navy had a good sale section, too, but you’re right, other than that finding the brand name stuff in the hand-me-downs or consignment is the way to go.
Heh.
We got almost all of our clothing secondhand, mostly from family, though.
I’ve been to a few thrift stores, although their prices aren’t as good in my town as yours!
The only clothing I’ve purchased brand new was when we absolutely needed to buy more of a type of outfit. (The good thing about hand-me-downs is they are free, bad is they may not be season appropriate when they fit.)
A large majority of the furniture, we bought brand new, for the recall and safety reasons.
@Blaine some of the thrift stores around here are better than others. Value Village seems expensive compared to the Salvation Army.
Our crib will be brand new.
Also, yard sales. I have a friend who is the yard sale queen, and she found a yard sale on Craigslist put on by two moms with triplets. She picked me up an electric Fisher Price rainforest swing, a Bumpo seat, a huge Tiny Love play mat, a doorway bouncer, a bunting for the carseat, a little head support thing for the carseat, and a bath seat … all for $98 and basically brand new!
We found our crib and first stroller (the big one for the newborn, the umbrella one came later) from Once Upon a Child, so we managed to get what I was hoping for and still spend about $200 for both of them together, rather than about $800 were they new!
I’m also loving craigslist for this, and finding some stuff for both kids that way lately. There are good sales at the ends of seasons at lots of places, too, (Old Navy, The Bay, Zellers, H&M, Winners, even Gap if you shop with a limit in mind) so since I know how Pumpkinpie grows, I buy ahead a year for her. It’s harder to do for the Bun, as I havent’ figured out what size he’ll be next summer yet, but I get some stuff that way.
We went pretty much all new on clothes for Pumpkinpie, because we knew NO ONE with kids, and a lot of the consignment places had closed, but I foudn what I could at one nearby thrift store I found, and bought the rest at Winners or on major sale. I didn’t know about craigslist back then, either! It’s a godsend for kids stuff, seriously. I just got a bag of stuff for Pumpkinpie at about a buck a piece.
@velocibadgergirl we got some cute things at a yard sale just up the street, including our stroller.
@kittenpie you know what else is great? Don’t laugh, but Freecycle! People give baby stuff away once in awhile there, so it’s free. Kijiji.ca is also a good place to get stuff…I bought some maternity clothes from someone there earlier on in my pregnancy. Buying a year ahead is a great idea, thanks for sharing that!
I bought a used bassinette, a used crib, used diaper change table, inherited used clothing, etc, etc.
It’s all used by the time you have a second child too, especially of the same gender.
The only think I insisted be new were the breast pump and bottles.
I think consignment shops, thrift stores and yard sales are the way to go for the majority of baby/kid items. This summer has been the BEST for stocking up on clothes and toys. I have BINS of clothes up to 5T and my son is only 2, just from yard sales in the past few months. And I’ve spent a FRACTION of what I would have if I bought them all new. And toys? Oh hell yah! Cars, trucks, a Leap Frog story pad for 5 bucks. Heck, just this morning I called my mom to let her know about TWO yard sales I passed on my way to work so she could go check them out for me.
I did buy my breast pump used on eBay (I sterilized it and made sure all the parts were replaced if needed) and with my next baby I’ll probably get everything I can except a car seat at yard sales and thrift stores to save money.
Plus, not only is it economical, it’s environmentally friendly. It’s the best way to recycle!
Good luck treasure hunting!
@mandy, that’s a good point, it IS all used if you reuse if for your second child!
@Lesha, that’s one of the things that is important to Graham and I, the fact that we are saving a lot of stuff from ending up in a landfill site.
I LOVE this post! Baby stuff in Value Village or any used clothing store is the best bargain in the universe! Most people have only 1 or 2 babies, and especially the newborn stuff, they wear an outfit once and pass it along. I often find baby stuff at VV still with tags.
Even if you buy all-new, your kid is wearing USED clothes the second you toss them in the wash and put them on him the second time.
Carseats are different, and with other equipment, you should definitely check for recalls (most baby-stuff recalls just involve calling an 800 number to get a free “repair” part).
IMO, there is no reason to buy new and if parents who can afford it start buying used, using Freecycle etc., there will somehow, someday, be less plastic junk floating in our oceans.
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