Buy used children’s clothing: there is no point in buying new clothes

My husband Tom shook his head at the pile of superhero figurines, matching cars, and other “accessories” for kids.

“Where are you going to put this?” asked my father with a smile. Good question.

I sold my flat in London but still didn’t have the keys to my new house in Gateshead. My two sons, Tom, and I moved up north to an Airbnb near my parents with nothing but backpacks and suitcases.

The rest was sent to storage when we moved into our two-bedroom house in seven weeks, meaning the location is not accessible.

So buying three giant bags of Batman, Robin, Iron Man, and Spider-Man might not have been the smartest choice on my part.

The problem was that I couldn’t resist the offer, and when I saw the huge package of Imagineext toys that sellers were willing to ship on Facebook Marketplace, I almost said no.

Well, my husband said exactly what I had to say.

The problem, however, was that the package turned out to be big enough to split my future four-year-old son Theo’s birthday and Christmas (and it turned out to be a bribe over the weekend. Too good teeth).

Not only are you delighted with the massive influx of toys, but it saves you a lot more money than buying new toys (in fact, we couldn’t afford that many new toys, so you couldn’t get them). The mother who sold them gave the twins the money to buy new computer games.

Oh, and no plastic went to landfills. Everybody was a winner, right?

Recently, I am addicted to buying old clothes and toys. When we were children, we had no relatives to give us clothes, so my sister Laura and I were always lucky to get new clothes.

And in sixth grade, I got my first job two weeks after I turned 16, so I always had money to buy my own clothes. When I started clubbing, I wore new clothes every week.

The idea of ​​going to a charity shop and looking for things never occurred to me. Looking back, he was probably a bit of a snob. Why buy second hand when you can buy new?

But when I had Theo, my sister was delighted.

It wasn’t until I had my own child that I realized why I was so happy. t. Save as many as you need.

Well, my sister is one of those who went to the next sale at 5 am and came out with a bag full of clothes for the children.

This meant that I received a full wardrobe of clothing, all still in excellent condition as it had hardly been worn. Even if I gave them pounds it would still have saved me a lot of money.

It was the first time that I glimpsed the charm of a garment that I used to love, and I was hooked or found an animal.

Every two days another package would arrive and Tom would frown.

“I’m not on maternity leave to play with my two kids while I’m home,” I whispered.

And I think the current popular term pre-rubber indicates that I am not the only one experiencing this change in perception. The community as a whole seems to be more open to the idea of ​​buying second hand, second hand, second hand.

The growth of online stores like eBay, Vinted and Music Magpie shows just how popular second-hand items are.

I mainly buy clothes for my two children (I currently have two large packages I bought on eBay for £20 each for my little girl, ready to open in my spare room), others are buying all sorts of things. stuff.

I know people who look in charity shops and find designer clothes with labels, the only condition was to find them in

I’m in a Facebook group that sells used Mulberry bags for hundreds of pounds. And just this week, a colleague was so excited to find a £30 sofa that he tried to call a stranger on the bus to talk about finding him.

It became such a phenomenon that Oxfam jumped on it and created Second Hand September by encouraging only second-hand purchases for 30 days.

With the cost of living, energy prices rising and a recession looming, it’s unlikely that charity shopping campaigns will become more popular this year. And less going to landfill is better for the environment.

The only person this might worry about is Tom when he sees how much thrift I can do.

All in the name of charity, of course.