Saturday, June 27, 2020

FWOTW: buying used clothing

Our growing kids change sizes so often and so quickly that they always need new clothes.  While some families see this as a new opportunity to go shopping, we try to approach the situation from a frugal mindset.  Buying new clothing is expensive, even if it’s on sale.  My wife does a great job scouring online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, LetGo and 5Miles looking for deals on used clothing.  We are also thankful to have friends with kids just a little bit older than ours that are happy to donate their used clothing to our kids. 
This week, my wife scored 2 great deals on used clothing for our kids.  My wife picked up 88 pieces of clothing total for $140!  This comes out to be about $1.60 per item of clothing.  She purchased all this clothing from sellers on Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp.  The clothing is in great condition and many items are unworn with tags!  The sellers mentioned that since their kids have grown so fast, they never had the opportunity to start wearing their new clothes.
My wife always tries to buy our kids clothing second-hand and always kindly accepts hand-me-down clothing – it’s such a huge money saver.  The monetary value of clothing depreciates extremely quickly.  Children (unlike adults) may end up only wearing an outfit a handful of times before they grow out of those clothes.  My wife will often look to buy clothing for our kids the next size up so we won’t be scrambling for more clothes as they grow.  Even if these clothes don’t end up getting worn, purchasing used still saves far more money than buying new.  And we can pass on those items to another frugal family.    
Purchasing used clothing is great for the environment and reduces unnecessary waste.  Such waste can include fuel costs to pick up or deliver the items, packaging costs, manufacturing labor and pollution.  The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluting industries in the world; production and distribution of fashion materials contributes to water, air and soil pollution.  Buying new clothing is terrible for our environment. 
We buy used clothing and this has saved us thousands of dollars over time!

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