Hand-me-downs and other stuff

MATH

I never buy things with the school logo on IMO they are a rip-off and I'm not convinced that teachers up and down the country arn't creaming a percentage off to fund extravagant living during their long summer holls. heheheh (put a laugh in there so teachers don't post back quivering with righteous anger and picking holes in me spellin)

I bought some school jumpers from Poundstretcher for £1 each expecting them to last a couple of terms. They are now on the third child and still going strong. Isn't Acrylic a wonderful fabric, it lives longer than you do! A begger in landfill though, I bet

Prudent

MATH wrote:

I never buy things with the school logo on IMO they are a rip-off and I'm not convinced that teachers up and down the country arn't creaming a percentage off to fund extravagant living during their long summer holls. heheheh (put a laugh in there so teachers don't post back quivering with righteous anger and picking holes in me spellin)

I bought some school jumpers from Poundstretcher for £1 each expecting them to last a couple of terms. They are now on the third child and still going strong. Isn't Acrylic a wonderful fabric, it lives longer than you do! A begger in landfill though, I bet

LOL. I wish I could do extravagant living during my holidays. As a teacher and single parent extravagant living is just a day dream to me! Actually its often the other way round. I am always struggling for resources at school and end up buying a lot myself. I go into charity shops to buy games for the classroom and end up buying my clothes as well as I haven't left enough left to buy them elsewhere after buying things for school.

MATH

Prudent wrote:

LOL. I wish I could do extravagant living during my holidays. As a teacher and single parent extravagant living is just a day dream to me! Actually its often the other way round. I am always struggling for resources at school and end up buying a lot myself. I go into charity shops to buy games for the classroom and end up buying my clothes as well as I haven't left enough left to buy them elsewhere after buying things for school.

I know this is off topic (stone me if you have to...) but shouldn't your school PTA be providing that kind of stuff. Games for class I mean, not your clothes. You could ask them for clothes but have you seen the amount of nasty knitwear one playground holds? You probably wouldn't want their cast-ons let along their cast-offs.

I've got a number of friends who are teachers/lecturers etc so part-time hours and long holliday jokes abound. I wish they would stop cracking them they should take their proffession more seriously. heheheheh

furrypig

Another great'new' thread (to me anyway).

I always had 2nd hand clothes as a kid and at times it could be very embarrassing if other school friends found out. I went through a phase as a student of going to 2nd hand shops again but once I had more money didn't bother.

When I was pregnant with 1st child different friends and family offered me 2nd hand clothes, pram, cot etc etc but I was adamant that my baby would only have new things. I did shop wisely and get lots in sales but once the baby was born I realised how many outfits they puke on I was running out of clothes so I got back in touch and said any second hand clothes would be welcomed. I also started looking for kids clothes in charity shops which are often in excellent condition especially for under 2 year olds. I looking for me too as the money was tighter with me not working!

Since then I have gratefully received any hand me downs for the children (or myself if anyone wants to !!) some are very poor one particular person used to give me very worn socks and underwear that I would not use for dusting let alone putting on the kids! Othertimes I have been very lucky!

Generally I think Jumble sales are the cheapest place, then boot sales, then charity shops (our local one has a 50p bin which I regularly go through, though its 'full price' clothes are several pounds) then ebay which I also use.
The school does a uniform sale once a year which is great and I hope I can help out with the next one so I can get some goodies (I usually miss out!).

I give all my kids clothes to charity, cousins daughter, friends daughter and sometimes sell on ebay. I don't have a boy to donate clothes to and noone seems to donate clothes to my daughter!!

I have changed my mind over the years about hand me downs and will accept them but also bear in mind that there are some excellent sales that can be cheaper than 2nd hand (got kids £1 tops and trousers from M & S and hubby too!)

Thanks everyone for an interesting thread!!

Bargain-Babe_5

I toatlly agree with you furrypig, my children's clothes are nearly all second hand, from car boots and charity shops.

I was very lucky that my sister in law had her children very close to mine, she had a girl first then a boy and as mine were the other way round we have been able to swap clothes. My nephew is now nearly the same size as my son despite 2 years difference so I will probably sell it on ebay instead. Luckily my neice is very tall for her age so my daughter should be alright for hand me downs.

I send my girls clothes to my friend whose daughter is nearly one and the really nice stuff that I could have sold on Ebay she buys off me at mates rates. This just helps for when I need to buy the next lot of clothes.

I managed to convert most of my friends that there is nothing wrong with children wearing hand me downs. It's not like in years gone by when clothes were generally worn out when they were finished with. My kids look smart and trendy for a fraction of the cost.