Hellobee

I have become an increasing fan of buying things used. I used to primarily buy new items, generally on sale due to them being marked down in anticipation of a new season or model. After we had kids, I started to buy more and more used items, both for the kids and ourselves, for a number of reasons.

Cost. A huge reason why we buy used is because of the cost savings. Particularly for items that have a short shelf life, like the incredibly pricey Mamaroo, we didn’t want to shell out a lot of cash. Craigslist was great for big ticket items like the Mamaroo and a double stroller. It was also great for what I consider to be over-priced items, like Thomas the Tank Engine; we got a huge lot with probably close to 100 trains, lots of tracks, a roundhouse and accessories for a fraction of the new price. It was definitely the deal of a lifetime and when the kids outgrow them, we can resell without worrying about the investment we put in. Many of our reasons listed below are also related to cost. There’s much better bang for our buck, generally.

The kids outgrow things quickly. Baby items like swings and jumparoos have such a short shelf life. It pains me to pay full price for items that the kids will use for just a few months. Although the kids are finally at an age where they’ve stopped needing new clothes every 3 months, they still outgrow clothing and shoes quickly. New shirts from Old Navy can cost anywhere between $5 and $15; pants between $10 and $20. At our local kids’ consignment store, the clothes are always in very good shape and we can get plain shirts for $2 or branded/character shirts for $4. We usually pay $3 or $4 for pants. And don’t even get me started on shoes. We recently picked up these exact shoes from the kids’ consignment store for $10; regularly priced at Nordstrom, they’re $50. I can’t imagine paying $50 for shoes that my child will outgrow in six months.

The kids go through things quickly. When they’re not outgrowing clothes, shoes and toys, they seem to wear them down, particularly shoes (why must it always be the shoes?!). At our current daycare, the kids have the luxury of tons of bikes and scooters. While I love that they are developing and learning these skills, what I don’t love is that they wear holes in the toes of their shoes whenever they use the scooter (they seem to use their toes to stop or slow themselves). Lion has developed two actual holes that I can stick my fingers into in two separate pairs of shoes since starting at his new school in May. Panda has worn another pair of shoes down almost completely, though there is no actual hole yet. Again, I don’t want to spend a lot of money if those shoes that they outgrow every six months don’t even last two or three months!

Environmental consciousness. Having kids made me realize just how much we waste. We used disposable diapers and it generated a huge amount of garbage. Kids toys’ come packaged in tons of cardboard and plastic. I really dislike how much trash we’re contributing, not to mention the carbon footprint of shipping items and the environmental costs of creating new items. With used items, I feel that we’re trying to be at least somewhat more environmentally conscious.

Teaching our kids to value used items. I also want our kids to know that things don’t have to come in bright shiny new packages. Lion already understands that we donate or sell a lot of his old toys and knows that some kids aren’t as fortunate as he is.

Where We Buy From

The primary places we get used items from are Craigslist, eBay, a kids’ consignment store and Amazon Warehouse Deals. They each have their benefits and we tend to buy different items from each place. I love Craigslist because I can set alerts for specific keywords. eBay is great for lots or when I’m looking for a very specific or hard to find item. The kids’ consignment store is our go to place for clothes and shoes, but is also a good place to check out for books, puzzles and toys. Amazon Warehouse Deals has been great for new items at reduced prices; they are usually open box items or items with damaged packaging and I always check there if a particular item is still being sold in stores.

What We Buy Used

Books: We recently got a huge lot (35 books) of Magic Tree House books. Lion has fallen in love with them after we checked some out from the library. These books cost $3.99 for the paperback, $11 for the hardcover versions. The total cost of our lot plus shipping worked out to $1.24 per book from eBay. I’ve found that buying books in lots can be really cheap on eBay, particularly for series books.

Clothes: We generally get used clothes from the kids’ consignment store. We already know that the store is fairly picky about their items, so the clothes are almost always in good condition. The prices usually top out at $4 for a shirt, $6 for a hooded sweatshirt, and $5 for pants. We’ve seen shoes and sandals ranging from $6 to $15.  We’ve found some great character items like Superman and Ninja Turtles, as well as graphic tees and plain shirts. It has also been a great place to pick up dressier clothes, like collared shirts, nice pants and ties at dirt cheap prices. I’ve also looked at some lots on eBay and while the prices are definitely cheaper than new items, they’re much higher than our consignment store. About once a year, for charity, our store does a deal where you can pay $15 for a large shopping bag and take out anything that fits in the bag. These items are ones that were donated to the store when the store passed on buying them, either because the graphic print was a little faded, there was a stain somewhere, the tag was marked, or there was some other imperfection. We got almost all of Lion’s long-sleeved shirts for this winter from that sale!

Toys: I buy toys on Craigslist, eBay and the consignment store. I love that on Craigslist you can set an alert for items you are looking for and swoop in when you see a good deal. I got a huge lot of Thomas trains, tracks and the deluxe roundhouse for $50 right before Lion’s first birthday because I was the first person who emailed the seller about it. Our consignment store has all sorts of fun toys, but it’s obviously hit or miss depending on what has come in recently. We’ve seen great prices on Duplos and Hot Wheels cars, but less good prices on action figures and regular Legos, so it’s good to know what are good deals. The consignment store was selling the same action figures that we own for a higher price than we paid on sale at Target; the Lego prices were three times higher than prices for similar sets on eBay and sometimes even higher than sale prices for new sets at Target or Amazon. eBay is good for used items that are hard to find and for lots. Again, it’s good to know what typical prices are. We also always check out Amazon Warehouse Deals if there’s a particular item the kids want that is still actively being in stores. Examples of toy deals we’ve scored on Amazon Warehouse include Pixar cars, Toob animals, and monster trucks.

Baby/Toddler Gear: We have purchased baby carriers, swings, and strollers used. We got our City Mini Double stroller for $120 on Craigslist; while the kids don’t use it that often, I don’t mind because we didn’t pay full price for it. We purchased our Mamaroo for $100 and sold it for $80. I recently picked up the Ride Safer Vest in an open box format on Amazon Warehouse Deals for 40% off. Craigslist and Amazon Warehouse Deals are our primary places to look for baby/toddler gear. We’ve found that gear is generally too big to be shipped at a reasonable cost, making eBay less useful. Our consignment store’s prices on gear is usually higher than what we can find on Craigslist.

Furniture: This one applies to the entire Dolphin household. When Mr. Dolphin and I first moved in together, we largely had cheap Ikea furniture. For some reason, we kept buying cheap Ikea furniture until our last move when we finally gave up and started buying “real” furniture. We ended up purchasing a gorgeous vintage dresser with dovetailed drawers for less than the cost of our old Ikea dresser and after repainting it, I was hooked. Pretty much all of our furniture, with the exceptions of a futon that we still own (Ikea), the coffee table/train table (made by me!) and our couches (World Market), is vintage, well-crafted, and sturdy items we got off Craigslist. We own two dressers for ourselves, one for the kids, an antique buffet, hope chest and claw foot dining table all at very cheap prices off Craigslist. I really enjoy painting and refinishing them. The kids also have Ikea Trofast units in their room that were purchased off Craigslist, but I don’t mind having these Ikea items in our house since they’re not the typical pressboard furniture we used to buy, but are super sturdy and very useful.