How Do You Feel About Hand Me Downs?

Ever since I have been little I have had hand me downs from others. Thankfully, instead of being repulsed by it as I grew into a teenage, I expanded my love of a 'deal' by shopping at garage sales (aka yard and or tag sales) and then as an adult resale or consignment shops began to be the big thing. Now I travel to different countries and have found that most have a great 2nd hand market. One woman recently said to me as an announcement was made over intercom that a new shipment of 2nd hand clothes had just arrived, 'We don't have new clothes like you do in America, so we have to shop for the 2nd hand.' I enjoyed telling her what Goodwill meant. While I sometimes shutter at a high price for a Target piece of clothing. I get the same amount of satisfaction when I can get an expensive name brand for less. So my feeling about hand me downs is they are great! (Except underwear, I draw the line at those.

 

I used to give away a lot of clothes that I no longer needed or never got around to wearing, and sometimes friends would give me clothes they never wore too. I don't usually take things, but I will take accessories because they can be useful, or a jacket if someone does a clear out. I have friends who only wear hand me downs, and they prefer it, because it saves money and they don't care what other people think.

As you get older, you realize it's not that important and eventually all your clothes will be given away one day.

 

Hand me downs are ok as long as they still look decent, I remember my uniforms in grade school were from my mom's friends that went to the same school. I think accepting them is a good way to save money. I also love to shop in thrift stores.

 

I have older siblings so I am used to getting hand me downs. I don't mind it for the most part but I admit I have an aversion towards using items that were already used by someone else especially when they are going to be used close to my body such as clothing or even phones which I would need to use everyday. I'm much less squeamish when the item is from a family member though for some reason. I guess it's because I'm familiar enough with their skin that I don't mind using their items, but for total strangers I am not that willing.

 

I love hand me downs from clothes to furniture. My Aunt who was very kind always gave us hand me downs. She was on the well to do side so she bought rather good expensive quality, so her hand me downs are very good quality. My other Aunt too had very good quality clothes she gave us which was also of very expensive quality that we loved. They are both gone now. But when they were alive they were kind people as you can tell and we miss them for so many reasons. I go shopping at thrift stores too and got very good quality jeans that were so cheap too! Got some very inexpensive curtains too at the thrift stores. Love hand me downs.

 

I am the youngest in the family with my 3 sisters and 8 brothers. So that makes me the so called sediment in the family who is the most probable recipient of hand me downs. When I was a girl, I didn't like it but when I grew up, I began to appreciate having extra shoes although not brand new and extra clothes that I could wear to parties. But now, I try to buy brand new items for the kids, my nephews and nieces because they may not appreciate hand-me-downs like I did.

 

Hand me downs can help parents save a lot of money. If you have lots of relatives and friends who have kids who are older than yours then I believe even if the clothes aren't offered, you could ask. Most people normally are more than eager to give away such clothes if they feel they'll never need them again and since kids grow pretty fast this would save you the need to buy clothes which will be worn only for a few months.

 

I'm the same, @Jasmine2015. I don't mind hand me downs, but as the eldest of five, I never really had any passed onto me. I always seem to be the one passing on some of my clothes that I don't need anymore. But like you, I'd never give away anything I'd written off, stuff I wouldn't be seen anywhere dead wearing. It's usually barely worn or even brand new stuff that doesn't quite work on me. I either pass them onto my sisters or charity shops.

 

I love hand me downs! I think buying clothes brand new is so expensive, but at thrifts or rummage sales you can find them for a super affordable price. I've been doing well selling my kids clothes, but mine I tend to give away for free.

 

I have received hand me down clothing items for as long as I can remember. I also offer any clothing items that I intend to get rid of to family members first, and anything they do not want I donate to Goodwill or Salvation Army.

By donating these items to others who may use them, you are potentially helping others in need, as well as doing a service for the environment by keeping usable items and reusing them instead of buying new and throwing out the old, and by donating items you can earn a tax credit for the donations you make, simply by asking for a receipt when you drop off donated items to places like Goodwill.

 

Usually, I give my hand me downs to a cousin or to charities. For me, I receive some hand me downs from my mom or sister and it doesn't bother me at all. If they are tired of a clothing item or it doesn't fit them anymore, I'm glad to take it. After all, it's free clothing and I'm quite sure of the hygiene of the previous owners at least. Another plus is that, I love their clothing and fashion styles as well so that is also why I openly accept their hand me downs, lol.

 

I hated hand me downs as a kid. My older brother is 7 years older than me, so all the hand me downs my mom tried to get me to wear as a kid were way out of style by the time I was old enough to wear them. Imagine being forced to wear some hideous suit and dress shirt from the 70's in the 80's - butterfly collars and bell bottoms were not in style in the 80's, I looked like a total idiot. Same goes for those cheesy gym shorts from the 70's, my mom kept trying to get me to wear them to gym classes in the 80's when Jam's were then in style. I used to fight with my folks about that all the time growing up.

Though as I've gotten older, it's the other way around. My dad will wear a lot of my dress shirts that I no longer want, since we're about the same size these days.

One rather awkward incident I had several years ago though happened when my dad was going through some old t-shirts I left behind when I moved out. I had a stack of t-shirts I had been given from various gay bars in the area, during various parties they were having - such as anniversary parties, annual gay pride celebrations and such. I wasn't really "out" to my parents or extended family at the time. My dad called me one day and asked if he could give away those old T-shirts I left there, and I said sure, not realizing I had left those ones in particular behind. It turns out he gave them to one of my uncle's, who is straight, and more of a "biker" type person. The shirts themselves weren't overtly "gay" looking, as in rainbows and stuff on them, but they featured the names and logos of several popular gay bars around here. One of them in particular was from the "Leather Stallion Saloon", which caters to more of an older, fetish/leather gay crowd, lol.

A few weeks later I went to a family reunion and noticed my uncle walking around in a Leather Stallion t-shirt, and was kind of surprised at first. Then he came over to me and was like "hey, thanks for those t-shirts your dad dropped off with me". I was freaking out, lol, because I am sure he had no idea where they were from. I was just imagining him being out in public somewhere, and perhaps some other guy who spotted that shirt on him, might think he was gay too and start hitting on him, lmao. Thankfully as far as I know, that never happened. But I could just picture him calling up my dad and yelling at him like, "what in the hell?!"