Now I'm not suggesting that you have to take everyone else's garbage. I've got more sense than that, and so do you. What I AM saying, is if someone offers to give you a sack full of clothes or toys, take them! "Eeew", some folks say, "I'm not putting my kids in second-hand clothes!" My question is, WHY NOT? First of all, how fast do your kids outgrow clothes? Especially if they are younger than a year old? The answer to that question is often "before I even realize they've grown into them!" Uh-huh ... and how many times to you think the prior person's bundle of joy wore them? Probably not more than about 6. So the clothes are practically new, and you are perfectly capable of washing them just like you wash your own clothes. "Yeah," you say, "but they belonged to someone else!" I'm sorry, but I have to laugh. Don't try to tell me that you NEVER in your life borrowed clothes from your parent, sibling, cousin, friend or someone you knew. EVERYONE in their life has worn someone else's clothes at some point. What's the difference? Personally, I get more than half of my kids' clothes from outside sources. Some of it is given to me, and some of it I get at Goodwill or garage sales. And since I have three boys, it gets a lot of use. A year or two back my sister-in-law brought some things over that were given to her by a co-worker. The lady must have had a son about a year older than my middle child. I probably got 8-10 sacks (and I'm talking 30-gallon trash bags, mind you) stuffed full of stuff. About 2 of them were toys, and the rest were clothes. I sorted through the toys immediately, one night after my kids went to bed, and kept about 2 or 3 things. Most of it was stuff they already had or stuff I wasn't interested in letting them have. I packed all of the rest of it right back into the sacks and took it to the nearest Goodwill store the next day. The clothes were amazing! I don't know anything about the nice lady who donated the stuff, but I know that she primarily shopped places like Gap Kids and The Children's Place, and she had enough clothes to keep triplets well dressed. I've now got about 6 big totes full of size 3T clothes ... my middle son never did even get a chance to wear them all, and now they are waiting for my younger son. Brand name clothes to fill a closet, and it was all FREE!
Long story short, I guess my point is this. if people give you something, smile and say thank you. It makes them feel good to be helping and to get stuff out of their hair, and it doesn't take long for you to go through it and decide if it's something you can use or not. If it is, great! If not, pack it right back up and donate it to someone else, or put it in that yard sale you're planning. Generosity, whatever the source, is a good thing!
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