Opinions r.e second hand clothes

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When I had my dd, I spent an absolute fortune buying everything brand new (didn't end up using half of it). I am expecting ds1 in December and reluctant to make the same mistake again.

I was just wondering, what are your experiences/opinions of buying second hand?

Tia x

Most of my stuff is second hand. It's my first baby and I have managed to get a couple of newborn and 0-3 month bundles from ebay, all really good stuff.

british heart foundation has a children stuff only charity shop whre i am (devon) its amazing, everything is grouped in colour themes in size order. i go to newton abbott especially to shop there.

also my local childrens centre has occasioanl table top sales for baby things. i got a huge pile of newborn clothes for dd at one which were near mint condition

We went to boot sales and got bags of really nice stuff that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford new.
All Next, Gap, Mothercare etc etc, all very good quality, all hardly worn and most of it we are keeping for ds2.

Generally we have found that if we take a bag and give owner £10 they let us fill the bag. It's been really good - you obviously don't take anything you don't like/want and we have done this all the way up so far (ds1 now 2years). It's amazing what you find.
We have found some really nice bits this way. We supplement with extras from George (cheap and good quality) if needed.

We have a really good 2nd hand baby clothes shop near us & I get most of what I need from there.

I would recommend finding one near you & having a look. Whenever I go I always have a good rummage though the next size up rail too - I have a "too big" drawer which has come in very handy after growth spurts!

Haven't read whole thread but try freecycle or freeeagle.

I get round this problem by always giving birth at the same time of year and ensuring I have children of the same gender. Works for me

I've bought new and second hand. IME ebay's 'bundles' are just people's items they knew they couldn't sell separately and are probably worth avoiding. Charity shops do sometimes do good things but as others have said, it's quite time consuming to find decent stuff.
However, I have found car boot sales are really good. You get people just getting rid of tonnes of things in one go and they sell them so cheap because they just want rid.
Second hand big items (like pushchairs, changing tables etc) are worth buying. They're usually well looked after and you save loads. I bought a pram on ebay for £30 that's £300 in m&p.
For newborn basics you can buy cheap ones from matalan, primark etc so I wouldn't bother buying that sort of thing second hand. They don't need to be quality as they'll only be worn a few times anyway.

I have found freecycle very dispappointing - nearly everything on there is 'wanted' rather than 'offered' very little that people are giving away and couldn't find any baby stuff. I had some stuff that I was thinking about putting on there - then thought - 'greedy peeps' I will give it to charity shop instead!

Sam there wasn't much been given away on freecycle so you decided not to give your stuff away on there?

I guess it varys from place to place. It's one of those things that is what you make it.

Hi
Does anyone know where i can get a pram for new born twins, i have viewed various web sites and there are coming out really expensive
thanks

DS2 using 2nd hand stuff from DD and DS1, so haven't bought anything.

Kept everything, cot, pram, car seat, baby gym etc etc.

DS2 wearing DS1's old clothes, plus handme downs from his boy cousins.

DD wore clothes from her girl cousins.

We pack everything up in boxes by size/sex and pass onto the next person to have a baby. I also was forward thinking with DD and didn't buy any pink grobags/vests/babygros.

Not sure why you'd buy stuff you wouldn't use - I only buy stuff as I need it.

sammy1010 Boots.com have a Baby Jogger City Twin pram at half price in their sale online at the moment

ebay isn't the only option! If your lucky you might have a secondhand baby shop local to you so you get a good look at the items before buying or try one of the independent second hand websites like www.handmedowns-online.co.uk which are usually run as family businesses and of course you only have to pay one postage charge.

I'm a big fan of 2nd hand clothes. I buy lots of Ebay & NCT sales, get stuff from friends etc. No only does it save money, but shops bore me to tears these days - I have so many other things I'd rather do than look through shops for stuff. I just spend a few minutes on ebay & it's delivered.

Fara also have some baby clothes/children sencond hand shops (few in London anyway). Great idea.