Getting on the secondhand bandwagon

Last week I got smart.

I'd never asked before, but at my son's playgroup, I casually raised the issue of outgrown clothes.

All the mothers then started talking about how they were advertising their kids' outgrown stuff on eBay, and how they had garbage bags full of great stuff gathering dust in their garages.

I then said (casually, although this had been my plan all along), "Well, if anyone has any good stuff for girls that they're interested in selling that I could buy for Dawnie, that would be great!"

Next thing I knew, I was inundated with offers for great secondhand babywear! Go me!

It now looks like I'll never have to buy new again for my little girl. And the other Mums in the playgroup are now doing swaps and sales between us, saving even more new stuff from being bought!

Of course, this is what mothers used to do in the "old days" - before eBay. It just took a little incentive on my part to get the ball rolling again.

I'll be buying secondhand items for a quarter to half the price that they would cost new. The mothers who sell them to me will clear out their old stuff, saving themselves the hassle of advertising on eBay, and earning some useful cash for their families. Everyone wins.

Our society needs to lose the silly idea that buying secondhand is somehow shameful. I think buying secondhand is clever. Instead of wasting our money on clothes, we can save our money for something far more important, such as our kids' education, or helping them to buy a home of their own in years to come - long after any clothes are gone in the dustbin.