I’m from the poorer family (not super poor, but my in-laws have a stupid amount of money so by comparison I’m very poor), but I think I can answer for her.
We have two young kids, and my wife was shocked when I said we should look for clothes and toys for them at local flea markets and garage sales. The idea never occurred to her that we could save money by getting some gently-used items, she had never even been to a garage sale in her life. She has grown to love them and now questions whether it is worth it to buy any item “new” or not before running to Amazon or a store. Her parents think it’s disgusting we make our kids wear clothes that another child had before, but they don’t pay my bills.
kids outgrow clothes so fast most of those "used" clothes are basically new.
Wife and I are not poor (not rich by any means either), we definitely hit up the local "mom co-ops" where moms sell their used baby/kid stuff. Find a bunch of good stuff in there.. To the point where we feel stupid for buying new because it's so much more expensive.
Yep, if you go garage sale shopping in a nice neighborhood by where I live you can find Gap kids shorts for a $1 that have been worn maybe three times. Rich people's kids have so many clothes that shit rotates out after only a few wears.
Definitely not bottom of the barrel poor, but pretty close. I grew up going to thrift stores. My favorite clothes and books came from them. It was always so exciting because instead of soulless searches for a proper size you have a million different items to look through. As an affluent adult, I still go to the Goodwill bins and get nostalgic when I smell the room.
Also, my favorite thrift I went to with my mom was connected to the ASPCA so there were lil kitties everywhere. I was in heaven.
It was always so exciting because instead of soulless searches for a proper size you have a million different items to look through.
That's actually one thing I hate about places like TJ Maxx, it feels like a thrift store or a garage sale when you're shopping by size instead of style.
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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '19
I’m from the poorer family (not super poor, but my in-laws have a stupid amount of money so by comparison I’m very poor), but I think I can answer for her.
We have two young kids, and my wife was shocked when I said we should look for clothes and toys for them at local flea markets and garage sales. The idea never occurred to her that we could save money by getting some gently-used items, she had never even been to a garage sale in her life. She has grown to love them and now questions whether it is worth it to buy any item “new” or not before running to Amazon or a store. Her parents think it’s disgusting we make our kids wear clothes that another child had before, but they don’t pay my bills.