Used and re-used clothes

Discussion in Toys, Kids & Baby Stuff started by Gelsemium • May 19, 2014.

  1. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    The clothes that my kids wear, a good part of it, has come from their cousins. Also, from my kids is going back to the cousins because we have a large family and a kid is always being born lol. Do you also have this tradition of passing the clothes to the family/friends or what do you do with it?
     
  2. prettycolors

    prettycolorsActive Member

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    Yup, my parents did this when I grew up. The clothes were re-used between me, my older sister and our cousins. Kids tend to out grow their clothes pretty fast so you find yourself with a bunch of clothes that are in good shape but too small - why not gift them and save some money for someone? Yes, most people tend to buy new for their precious little kids, but me? I'd have nothing against dressing them in used clothing, in the house at least :D
     
  3. Strykstar

    StrykstarActive Member

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    In my family we also share kids' clothes as well, I think this must be common in every family, with baby clothes especially it's essential.
    It's hard to justify buying new clothes when your baby is going to outgrow it in a couple of months.
     
  4. Denis Hard

    Denis HardWell-Known Member

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    Exchanging/sharing doesn't need to be done exclusively within the family. If you have good neighbors whose kids are small and you have some kids clothes lying around the house, if they are willing to accept them as a gift, it would save them a lot of money buying new clothes. In fact, most kids clothes, by the time they outgrow them are almost as good as new.
     
  5. Peninha

    PeninhaWell-Known Member

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    That's true, I think it's pretty common for people to share their clothes with family or friends because kids and babies most of the times just wear the clothes for a few months and they stay as good as new, so it's a waste to leave them sitting in a box, it's better to share.
     
  6. Francy

    FrancyMember

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    Absolutely! We share clothes throughout our family and friends. Right now I have quite a few baby boy clothes and I'm just waiting for someone to get pregnant with a boy! :) My little one has grown out of quite a few clothes already. We have friends that pass their kids clothes down to us. I've found since I was pregnant and had my little one, people are so giving! We are very thankful and friends and family are very kind!
     
  7. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    I think it is a world wide tradition and in fact it's good that it happens. I think that people are usually more generous in sharing in what concerns baby stuff, maybe because we are talking about pure love and we don't mind sharing. Just a few months ago I gave my baby trolley to a colleague at work that asked me, I wasn't giving it any use really, but I could have sold it for example... :)
     
  8. dorann

    dorannMember

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    My kiddos are both the oldest female in the family and the only male in the family so I never had the pleasure with them of getting hand me downs. However, when my daughter outgrows things I will save them and give them to either my nieces or my best friend who has daughters. With my son's things I will donate them to charity unless they are ruined. I think it is a huge waste to throw things away just because they don't fit any more.
     
  9. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    Donating to charity is nice from you, better than have them stuck away in a place where they serve for no one. Also, I noticed that my kids used to get a lot more clothes when they were smaller, meaning, older kids destroy clothes way more than babies, also because they use them more time possibly.
     
  10. 003

    003Well-Known Member

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    Yes, we have. It's very practical way of saving money. Besides, if those clothes were not passed and used, then what for are they still going to be? To be displayed? Good thing that we are not that sentimental in our family to think give so much importance to those clothes to the point that we revere them. Money is very important, and though one might have an excess of it, I don't see any reason why one should spend lavishly, which I see wasting of money.
     
  11. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    Women are more sentimental than men in this particular, I would give everything away, but exactly like my mother did with my baby clothes, also my wife wants to keep this piece or that shoe because they are so beautiful or remind her or anything lol. :) Either cases, I think it's a great habit to re-use baby clothes, in fact it would be a great waste because those pieces are used a very limited number of times by each baby.
     
  12. Dora M

    Dora MWell-Known Member

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    When I was a kid I was really delighted to receive bags full of clothes that my cousins had grown out of. My parents didn´t have much money and couldn´t afford a lot of things, so these ¨hand-me-downs¨were always very welcome.
    These days the quality of clothes has gone down a lot and the fabrics don´t tend to last as long as they used to. So I find it cheaper to buy new or hardly used clothes at charity stores or discount shops.
     
  13. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    Yeah, I know that feeling Dora because my kids also receive those bags and they just some of the clothes they receive. I think that the fact that the clothes are from their cousins make it more special because as it belonged to them, it makes the clothes more important lol, kids are like that... :) It's a huge saving that is true, I can't even imagine how much I've been saving by receiving these offers.
     
  14. Pat

    PatWell-Known Member

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    Kids grow so fast, faster than they out grow the clothes they receive. We have pasted clothes from family to family and have purchased from the goodwill if we see something at a good price that may not fit into the budget or to extend the wardrobe of one of the kids growing too fast. My 15 yr. old grand daughter is 5'7 and wears a size 10 shoe. Her mom had lots of fun watching her out grow her clothes with no one to give them to, the other kids are boys.
     
  15. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    I think that up from 3 or 4 things start to be a little different because their clothes already last for one year at least, but before that it's just a couple of months. Also, jeans for example don't pass from one kid to the other because they destroy them completely, they are always playing on the ground and in a matter of weeks they open holes in the knees...
     
  16. Dolson910

    Dolson910Member

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    My daughter receives hand me downs from her older cousin. I then pass my daughter's clothes on to my friend's daughter. Unfortunately, we have no one who is able to pass clothes down for my son. But I do save his clothes for another friend and his boys. It is so nice to get hand me downs as kids grow out of their clothes so quickly! We also love getting toys and then passing those on to others as well.
     
  17. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    That is true, just this weekend my older kid was using a "new" T-shirt from his cousin and it was a really pretty one, still well preserved. :) One thing is to go to the shop and pay 5 or 10€ for a T-shirt, kids need them, we have too. Other thing is to receive a supermarket plastic bag filled with free T-shirts ahah, it can't get much better than that. :)
     
  18. Verity Darkwaters

    Verity DarkwatersActive Member

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    Nothing is wrong with that. My mother had 4 girls and we were dirt poor. We all used hand-me-downs, except my older sister. Well, the clothes were generally not new anyway, they were many times thrift store finds, or given to us from my mom's friends whose kids out grew them. I don't find anything wrong with them as long as they are clean, no holes, and no stains. You do what you can when you're broke. Can't afford to go running out buying $20-$30 dollar jeans when one kid grows out of them.
     
  19. Gelsemium

    GelsemiumWell-Known Member

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    Yes, that happens to many people, but luckily clothes are cheaper and cheaper by the day, I mean, we have super expensive clothes available as well, but if we can't afford them there are always the cheaper models. Better than cheap is free though and if we are fortunate enough to know people that had kids a little older than ours we save a lot of money.