Children grow so fast.  The need for bigger clothes is never ending.  Growing up, I always wore lots of hand me downs and thrift shop bought clothes.  I didn’t really pay attention to it until I got older – when it just wasn’t cool anymore to wear used stuff.

It is kinda funny though because now that I have my own kids, I take all the hand me downs I can get.  I think hand me downs and thrift shops are God’s gift to us moms with multiple children living on a tight budget.   Since my kids were babies, I have hardly had to buy anything for them except shoes.

God always shows up through that big bag of clothes.  They come from everywhere – friends, family, church members, even strangers.  I love to look through them.  I don’t always use everything, especially anything that is stained, stretched out, or raggedy looking.  But most everything does get put to good use.

And thrift shops are great too.  My mom has always been a big thrift shopper.  As a matter of fact she actually called me a few minutes ago from a huge thrift shop in NJ asking me if I needed anything for the kids.  So what if the clothes are used.  Wash them!   Think about how much money you are saving!

The fact that I now have 3 boys is nice too.  I will be saving all their clothes to pass down to the next one and so on.

How do you feel about hand me downs and thrift shops?  For or against?  I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.