Would you buy nearly new goods for your baby?

andycarmi

Carmina_Piranha wrote:

i would definitely use a shop like this if we had one. i look in the sales ads in the paper for a stairgate every week and probably won't get one until the NCT sale. they always sell as soon as the paper goes out. same with fireguards.

Is there a Surestart centre near you they sell both for £8.

roversbabe

My 7 month old son has loads of 2nd hand clothes, toys & his cotbed was 2nd hand too. The only things that I insisted on having new are mattresses and car seats - there is no way on earth that I would buy a second hand car seat or mattress. The re-usable nappies that I used were from ebay too. (Tight, me lol)

I've been thinking about starting a similar thing round here (Lancashire) but I'm not certain that there'd be the demand for it or if I could make a living from it. If you opened your shop around here, I'd be a regular.

Eels - I didn't do the nursery thing either, I got a few strange looks when people asked about it. I don't see the point of decorating the room specially when the baby won't care. I'll decorate his room when he's of an age to let me know what he likes & he can have a new bedroom carpet when the current one is stained beyond repair.

Good luck OP and I hope that it works out for you.

Allie x

roversbabe

Carmina_Piranha wrote:

i second that. the brand i bought didn't suit my chubby baby but would have been good for a skinny one. i bought a lot of different brands to try but had bought a whole set of the bambino mio ones (and in newborn too - what a waste! wouldn't fit when we came out of hospital! there's someone who does a trial pack of different types for £30 which is coincidentally the refund many councils seem to give to mums who use washables.

Lancashire give £45 - get claiming if you live in lancashire

Carmina_Piranha_3

surestart centres sell equipment? there is one yes, but it's new and when i ask them what they do they say it's all just for people on benefits or under social services (or their special needs nursery) at the moment and the only thing they do that's for the whole community is the toy library.

i'll ask them and post back on here if anyone else is interested.

Carmina_Piranha_3

regarding decorating a nursery - when we had our 2nd hand shop my sister got matching bedding etc. really cheap and then found similar (farm animals) roll of border paper for about a fiver in B and Q. she cut out the animals from the border and glued them onto the existing wallpaper in the baby's room. cheap nursery nowadays i don't suppose she'd buy it because the quilt is not supposed to be used for under 12 months old babies but the bumper is only for babies under 6 months so they can't use it to climb out - or not at all because it can trap heat.

my baby is 18 months old and he has started to point to the stars etc. on the wallpaper (it's space paper - my inlaws decorated the room for my son when he was 7) but he is just as interested in posters on the wall.

andycarmi

Carmina_Piranha wrote:

surestart centres sell equipment? there is one yes, but it's new and when i ask them what they do they say it's all just for people on benefits or under social services (or their special needs nursery) at the moment and the only thing they do that's for the whole community is the toy library.

i'll ask them and post back on here if anyone else is interested.

CP the Surestart centre near me is 6 miles away but in the same borough. We are not any benefits or under socail services. The do limet you to 2 gates and one fire gaurd. Guess thats to stop you selling them on!

shirlgirl2004

I must be in the minority. I'm on my 4th child and baby due in 3 weeks will have all new things. Ok it's not reusing but the new things have to coeme from somewhere. If everyone reused there wouldn't be enough clothes to go around. Well that's how I justify to myself. Most of my stuff is given to charity shops or sold at the local NCT sale if I can be bothered.

Just for the record we aren't on benefits not even child tax credit so we don't get the £500 grant. We have the money and I choose what to spend it on. In some areas I can be quite tight but when it comes to giving my children what I percieve to be the best then there's no contest.

I applaud all of you that will reuse but it's just not for me. I have to admit in my fairly affluent area I am in the minority though. Most people do use 2nd hand clothes. My sister gives them to me and then I have to take them to the charity shop because I don't have the heart to tell her I won't use them.

Rachie_B

shirlgirl2004 wrote:

I must be in the minority. I'm on my 4th child and baby due in 3 weeks will have all new things. Ok it's not reusing but the new things have to coeme from somewhere. If everyone reused there wouldn't be enough clothes to go around. Well that's how I justify to myself. Most of my stuff is given to charity shops or sold at the local NCT sale if I can be bothered.

lol i dont think it would ever come to that ! myself and most other parents i Know always "over buy" clothes esp when baby is little and outgrows them quickly !

Carmina_Piranha_3

maybe if everyone reused baby clothes they'd get more expensive as there would be higher demand?

my sis insists that i pass everything on to her but of the things she's had off me in the past (everything!) her baby will wear maybe one item in fifty - the other 49 get put under the bed and she buys new for her baby. i wish she would just admit that she doesn't want anything that has been worn more than once, and let me pass the rest onto people who will use them. i know plenty of people who are grateful for anything, even if just for playing in the garden.

bylromarha

shirlgirl2004 wrote:

I must be in the minority. I'm on my 4th child and baby due in 3 weeks will have all new things. Ok it's not reusing but the new things have to coeme from somewhere. If everyone reused there wouldn't be enough clothes to go around. Well that's how I justify to myself. Most of my stuff is given to charity shops or sold at the local NCT sale if I can be bothered.

Just for the record we aren't on benefits not even child tax credit so we don't get the £500 grant. We have the money and I choose what to spend it on. In some areas I can be quite tight but when it comes to giving my children what I percieve to be the best then there's no contest.

I applaud all of you that will reuse but it's just not for me. I have to admit in my fairly affluent area I am in the minority though. Most people do use 2nd hand clothes. My sister gives them to me and then I have to take them to the charity shop because I don't have the heart to tell her I won't use them.

I need people like you to sell their old stuff through my shop:rotfl:

we all have areas of life we don't compromise on cost wise...which is why we use this site to find best value ways in some areas so we can spend more money on the areas we love spending in:j