Liz and her husband Nate, a software engineer, got freebies from friends, family and local parents’ and buy-nothing groups — these groups allow members to trade all kinds of goods — to get everything they needed for little Estelle other than things she can consume like food and medicine. “When people are done having kids, done with the stuff, they want it out of their house,” she says. “I offer to pick it up and I offer to take everything. I sift through it, donate what I don’t use … It’s taking the burden off the person gifting you.”
Yup. Though some people do want money for their clothes… Hardly news really.
We rarely ever bought our kids toys and most clothes are from garage sales, but I do give them an allowance which has translated into an obscene amount of LEGOs new in the box. Of course, most LEGO sets that are already used are missing pieces.
I haven’t bought a pair of new pants in about 27 years.
Flea markets, garage sales, anywhere I found them for a buck, brand new or not, I bought them.
My kids swing sets and whatnot, were bought used too. I just cleaned them and used them, and then resold them or donated them. They don’t last that long in their possession, so, why wasting your money?
Most of my kids clothes and toys are hand me downs - from relatives and friends. Of course they are washed well before we use them. My kids are not old enough to ask for an allowance to buy things yet
