Baby showers help to relieve the financial pressure of a new baby in the family, but usually they only have you covered for about 6 months. There are ways of making these helpful gifts stretch for you.
If you are tight financially do not give your child’s things away. There may be other needy people out there, but sometimes you need to focus on the needs of your own family. When your child outgrows a piece of furniture take it to a high end second hand store or post it on a free classifieds website like Kijiji or Craig’s list. You will potentially get more for your gently used items by using free classifieds but it is a bit of a hassle. Stores like Once Upon a Child will give you half of what they intend to sell it for up front.
Regarding clothing, high end second hand clothing stores only accept a limited number of brands so make sure to call or visit their website first. Yes, they are extremely picky but keep in mind that they are trying to maintain their status of being a “high end gently used clothing store.” Preparing all of your childs things, by making sure everything is in good condition and folded nicely, only for them to take a few things can be frustrating - but pack it away in this condition and consider it work done for a future sale or swap. When they tell you how many items they are going to take and what they would like to offer take the money and run! Do not use the money there. Use the money you get from selling clothes at salvation army and other more affordable thrift stores.
If your child has been given a lot of nice things, once they outgrow them, stow them away and save them for spring or summer. Your best bet is to find a Mom’s to Mom’s sale where people will pay a little more for things. Otherwise, advertise a yard sale in the newspaper and be sure to mention that there will be gently used children’s items.
Use the money from your yardsale or Mom’s to Mom’s sales to buy what your child needs now and down the road at yard sales and second hand stores. It’s a good idea not to quit yard saling early because although things do get picked over people will offer better deals at the end of the day like fill a bag for 2 or 5 dollars. In the end most people want to get rid of everything so they do not have to store it any longer.
If you have friends or family that have a child younger than yours and older than yours set up a clothing swap. Just do it garbage bag for garbage bag. Its best not to swap item for item because some people feel like it isn’t a fair trade. Just swap bags and throw away or donate clothes you do not want depending on their condition.
Sometimes individuals feel that buyig second hand items is a hit to their pride but seriously after a week your child will have it looking like second hand clothing anyway. When your child does destroy their clothes, if you purchased them second hand then it is less painful.
