It is a “constant” cycle in our household; buy new toys and new clothes, grow out of clothes and bored of toys, buy more! I got into the habit of selling items second hand and buying them second hand when Noah was little and it is such a good way of saving money.
When Noah was a baby we got given so many lovely and wonderful gifts that we didn’t need to buy anything for him for a good few months, but when we did have to start buying things it soon escalated. Vests, tops, trousers, socks and sleepwear – the list was never ending and once you have stocked up in one size, it was time to get the next loot ready. It was expensive.
When I realised there were websites out there that allow you to sell goodies and buy them locally off of other like minded people, who are just a stage ahead or behind, it saved a lot of money and stress. I use websites like localmart as it lets me write adverts for bundles of clothes and people can contact me if they are interested in viewing them. The baby and kids section always seems to be busy and a lot of stuff goes on and gets sold quickly. We even sold our pushchair this way, it was a great way of making sure it went to a good home and that the customer could check it out before purchase.
Now we have two children who are both under the age of 4, it is really easy to spend lots of money quickly as they grow just as quick as you buy them clothes. I do buy special little bits from new, but otherwise I sell off batches and bundles of clothes, like vests altogether and we buy bundles of them too.
We also have a little cycle with friends, one friend who has an older girl, donates the old clothes to Isla and then when Isla is finished with them I donate them onto another friend who has a younger girl. It works out really well.
The only problem with this process is that I keep staring at everything and contemplate what I can sell… one day the children will come home to no clothes and toys!
