Thrift Shops and Hand Me Downs

By Painter Mommy on January 17, 2010

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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.

used clothing

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.

sat0146l

gwh0046l

10 responses to “Thrift Shops and Hand Me Downs”

jallwood
January 17, 2010 at 2:26 pm | Permalink

We do hand me downs. I’m not a big clothes thrifter. But I get tons of clothes for the kids at garage sales! Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
.-= jallwood´s last blog ..Sneek peek at a new island finish =-.

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Mary Lutz
January 18, 2010 at 7:42 am | Permalink

I did hand me downs for all of my kids and I do thrift stores and garage sales for my grandkids. I think it’s a fabulous way to save money and recycle clothes. Now that my kids are almost all adults (ACK!) they are discovering that they can find some real treasures in thrift stores and at garage sales as well. We did go through the time though when they would never even consider wearing used clothes.

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Connie
January 18, 2010 at 11:30 am | Permalink

I wore hand me downs from my big sister. There wasn’t much of that with my kids since they were boy and girl, but shopped thrift shops. My daughter has 3 boys and, like you, it makes it nice to have plenty of clothes to hand down! I shop for them at a consignment shop, getting clothes that look like new at a fraction of the cost. Cute cartoons!
.-= Connie´s last blog ..The Gift of Each Day =-.

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clenna in NH
January 18, 2010 at 11:43 am | Permalink

I LOVE thrift shops. I have so much fun shopping at them. I will go our of my way to go to a thrift shop.

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Karen
January 19, 2010 at 10:50 am | Permalink

Thrift stores are great! Thought you might also be interested in an online version of thrift that’s incredibly easy and will provide a huge selection.

thredUP kids, a kids clothing exchange community. The service allows moms to exchange clothes that no longer fit their kids for stylish ones that will. It’s all done online through pre-paid mail and home delivery (think: the convenience of netflix meets the affordability of consignment shopping). Beats trying to coordinate a clothing swap or spending serious $$ at Baby Gap. Sign-up to become a founding member here: http://www.thredup.com/kids

Thanks!
Karen
karen@thredup.com

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Night Owl Mama
January 22, 2010 at 1:07 pm | Permalink

Hand me downs, good will, 2nd hand stores, garage sales, Freecycle I do it all. IT’s so fair to share and be humble. Clothing can be used over and over again and many time children barely wear things for more than just 1 or 2 wears then they grow out of it.

Saving money by using those place above can pull you out of debt and have your children dressed in a different outfit every day.

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Leslie @La Mama Naturale
January 29, 2010 at 1:09 am | Permalink

My mom was a huge thrift shopper too! I heart second hand! Huge savings. Plus, lots of neat treasures to be found.
.-= Leslie @La Mama Naturale´s last blog ..Vlog: A Refillable Mug for Tea Drinkers! =-.

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Shynea @ Penny Pinching Diva
January 30, 2010 at 2:58 pm | Permalink

I have NO problem with using hand-me-downs or shopping at thrift store or yard sales. My mother has ALWAYS been a yard sale shopper and that is where we got some of our clothes when we were in middle school/high school. Back then it was thought that you were poor if you wore used clothes, now it’s called “vintage.” lol I have adopted that own thinking with my children because I have four children with one on the way and there is no way that I would be able to cloth all of them without yard sale shopping. My husband even bought my third son a like new crib at a yard sale for $50 and that is something that I have used for almost two years now.
.-= Shynea @ Penny Pinching Diva´s last blog ..MACY SUPPORTS GO RED FOR WOMEN: PLUS A GIVEAWAY =-.

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Krissi
February 6, 2010 at 6:25 pm | Permalink

My mother-in-law is always buying me things at thrift shops and consignment sales! We also graciously accept hand-me-downs from family and freinds. We don’t see any point in paying full price for lots of clothes when they may only wear them a handful of times before they outgrow them! It’s definitely the way to go when I have 3 under 3 and I have enough to spend on formula and diapers!!
.-= Krissi´s last blog ..Aloha Friday #4 =-.

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admin Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 5:45 am
I couldn’t agree with you more. We have 4 little ones under the age of 5 and we are always looking for ways to save.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting! I hope you will stop by again soon.

DAWN
@PainterMommy

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