{My favorite outfit for B last summer. He still wears this American Apparel cardi.}
Kids
clothes - I can not think of a more perfect thing to reuse, however you
may get them, passed down from friends or family, snagged at a second
hand shop or haggled for at a local yard sale. I mean, in that first
year, they wear them for like 3 months and are grown out of them in no
time, sometimes even before a second wear. Holiday outfits, I'm talking
to you.
We
have been very fortunate to be on the receiving end of some serious
clothing and toy purges from our family and friends. Being the oldest
child of not only my immediate family, but my extended, I had
not experienced the awesomeness that are hand-me-downs. I love when our
friends and family with older kids clean out their closets! Now that I'm
thinking of it, my children may not always share my enthusiasm for
this, but I still have a good few years of personal excitement while
going through a new bag of used clothes.
Alas,
the hand-me-downs don't fill every need and can be sporadic (also part
of the fun, you never know when they're coming.) As summer approaches,
we need some 3T essentials for Becks and as our due date approaches we
need some little girl clothes. That's a lot of clothes to pick out at
the local Once Upon A Child.
I mean, have you ever tried to purchase clothing there? I love the
concept, but it's like shopping at the local Good Will, also a place I'm
glad exists, but just don't have the patience to rummage through the
over packed racks for a few pairs of toddler shorts. (In my youth, I
used to do this all the time, but have lost my taste for it over the
years.)
This
made me wish I could buy an assorted mix of kids clothes in a bundle,
like the grab bag option at American Apparel. Which is, incidentally, my
favorite place to buy kids clothes new. Solid color basics, made of
natural fibers here in the U.S. (fair and safe working conditions -
hello Bangladesh). Have you ever tried to find a t-shirt at Target or
Babies R Us that doesn't say "Daddy's Little Girl" or "Mommy's Little
Monster." It's hard and, just, gag.
Enter
my new obsession: buying children's clothes by the lot. You get a bunch
of clothes all at once and can search by any size. There are actually a
lot of options out there. I was surprised. Okay, so I haven't actually
purchased anything yet, but I have my eye on a few very colorful and
floral pattern heavy collections of baby girl clothes on eBay. I started searching Craigslist,
which I can see the upside being more instant gratification because you
can generally pick them up locally, same day.
However, people who use
Craigslist are kind of incapable of focusing a camera and I didn't want
to waste the gas to find out all of the clothes were stained or smelled
like cigarettes. The eBay users are pretty good with a camera, for the
most part, and know the benefit of multiple photos.
So
who has been doing this forever? Tips? I'm clearly a newbie, but am in
love with the idea of getting a bunch of new-to-us stuff all at once
while saving the Earth and our money.
