I'm a big proponent of buying secondhand baby gear, toys, and clothes. I don't understand why people insist on buying everything brand spanking new, when it's ridiculously overpriced and will only be used for a short period of time. I regularly scour Craigslist and yard sales for clothes and toys. We've gotten some great deals - brand new (with tags!) baby clothes from Gap, Old Navy, The Children's Place, etc. for 50 cents each! I scored a Fisher Price Laugh N' Learn Chair for $10. A Leapfrog Learning Table for $15. I have no problem putting in 20 minutes of cleaning and sanitizing to pay less than 25% of retail value.
Charlie doesn't usually have a problem with it, until yesterday when I went to the neighbor's garage sale. I scored 3 pairs of like-new shoes for Baby C, including a very cute pair of Adidas sneakers, for $1 each. I also sorted out some pants for the fall, also at $1 each. All name brand, all in like-new condition. Now he feels weird about it, because it's the neighbors. I guess it just doesn't bother me that much. They have twin boys a few years older, so why not take advantage of cheap but quality clothes?
I felt completely vindicated when I came across this article on The Consumerist from last week's New York Times, talking about how parents of all income levels are going the secondhand route for their baby gear.
Not only does it save cash, but it might even have a small impact on the amount of waste ending up in landfills. Communities like Freepeats (mostly baby stuff), Craigslist, and Freecycle make it even easier to shrink your consumer footprint. You can always sell it to someone else when you're done :)
Yay for used baby stuff!! I visit OUAC once a week to scope out the clothes and my mom and I frequent garage sales. You would not believe the amazing toys we have bought him. I'll have to do a blog post someday. He can't play with the toys just yet, a lot of them are for next summer but they were in such great shape and so cheap how could I not buy them. I love used clothing, they grow so fast at this age it seems almost silly to buy new unless you hit a great clearance rack.
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