When my son was born, I haven't much money on me so my relatives visited and gave me a lot of baby clothes that used to belong to my nephews. Those were carefully stored in their homes so all of them are generally pretty decent and some still looked new. I didn't start buying my son new clothes until he was three years because the hand-me-downs kept coming and the bigger ones are practically new. It did save me so much money because kids today are growing up so fast, those clothes had to be used while they are still in good conditions. When my son outgrew those clothes, I donated them later on to families with babies that had lost so much from natural disasters in our country.
When my kids were little I bought them some new clothes, but a lot of them were hand me downs given to me by my relatives. Sometimes I would even hit yard sales to buy their clothes because you can get great deals on gently used baby clothes like that. Now that my son is grown, I only have my teenage daughter to buy for. I try to get her a certain amount of new clothes every year when school starts and I might also get her an outfit or two for her birthday. But, as long as the clothes still fit, she will continue to wear them until they are worn out.
It's better to find a balance between the two. Buy your child some clothes and also ask relatives and friends who may have kid clothes to give them to you. That way you won't spend too much money on new clothes and won't have to depend on others for all your baby's clothes.
I don't have a problem wearing or buying new or used clothing for myself or family members. As long as the clothing is in good condition, I appreciate it. I've purchased both new and used clothing for others, and some people are pickier than others. My mother abhors used clothing, because all she had when she was growing up was hand me downs. I had quite a few hand me downs from my older sister, but also got some new items to mix in with them. I understand when you have a new baby you want some new clothing, but I see nothing wrong with mixing in some second hand items, especially taking into account how quickly children grow. I don't think there's a need to buy everything brand new, because to me, it's a waste of money, unless you're saving some money by shopping at a discount store, or find a really good sale.
I experienced a bit of both. My mom bought me some new clothing, and I got to use the old clothes of my older brother as well. We should always recycle baby clothes, because they get outgrown fast with little wear and tear, so they are always ready to be re-used again by other kids.
I think a mix of both is the best but I only ever started spending a lot when the kids were at the age where they can start noticing what they were getting and they would actually remember and appreciate it. When they were young I'd just buy any cheap item and settle for hand me downs because I preferred to just save that money for when they can appreciate it. Not that I splurge on them too much now though since I am also saving money in preparation for when they are much older and could use even bigger gifts that they would need like maybe a car or trips or events for their occasions.
I found it a waste of money and time trying to buy each child born new items. Hand me downs do exactly the same thing, that is of course if they kept in a usable condition. The advise I always give to new parents is not to waste money, especially if it is not available, to buy new things because at the end of the day, it makes no difference at all to the child or how you raise the child, that only becomes a problem if one lives in circles where reputation and showing off is prevalent.
For my oldest we always bought new stuff and I put everything away for when I had another child. Luckily we had another boy so I could reuse all of our oldest's clothes, shoes, jackets etc. We have saved so much money doing this. As long as the clothes are in good condition I have no problems with hand me downs. My best friend will often give me clothes her son has out grown. We even do this with toys that are in good condition too. My son is perfectly happy to wear clothes that his brother has worn before too.
If we have hand-me-downs, yes we use them as long as they are in good condition. If we are running out of clothes that fit properly, then I will go out and buy new. I have no issue with hand-me-downs, hey.. it saves us money and my kids like wearing stuff that came from family (they are only 4&5) lol
I am the oldest child so I never really had to wear hand-me-downs but my older cousin would give me clothes that she had never worn before or wore only a handful of times and kind of just forgot about them. I don't think there is anything wrong with giving away clothes that we no longer need or can fit, especially baby clothes. Taking care of a baby is very expensive so this could save parents a lot of money.
This is one of those topics that literally drives me up the wall when I'm talking to some people. Growing up, me and y brothers used to have to share everything and we basically lived off hand-me-downs that had been given to our parents, or things that our parents passed down to us from the other siblings and it never did us any harm. These days though, having spoken to quite a few parents it's as if they HAVE to buy new everything and hand-me-downs aren't good enough for their child and it just seems like a total waste of money, and the parent being pretentious. The child doesn't care where the item as come from as long as it does what it's supposed to do, so parents who walk around and brag that they have always bought everything brand new are simply wasting money and looking like fools in my opinion.
When I was pregnant with my first child, I haven't get any hand me downs from friends or relatives, hence I bought some new clothes and toys for him, and also some accessories. Slowly, I received many used clothes, toys and other baby stuff from others, and I seldom buy any new clothes and toys anymore for my second and third child. It's really helping me to save a lot of money, and we can now just concentrate on buying school supplies. I do get some school supplies from friends as well.
Even though I did buy my daughter baby clothes most of the clothing she had were hand me downs from my little sister as they are only a few months apart. I also got some clothes from one of my neices who is a year and a half older than my little one. Most clothes she received were almost new as kids grow up so fast they use it too little time.
I think mine was a mixture of hand-me-downs and brand new ones. My lone sibling was a guy, so some gender specific items needed to be bought for me.
I would always settle for a good hand me down as long as it means I can save a good amount. Of course something new is probably preferred but it would be used anyways one day after you had it, so you can justify it if you need.
I am in mix of both. It all depends on the condition I am into. And I decide how to handle such type of the stuff. Some of the time it works out just fine. But if you consider the time when there is absolutely need for the new stuff. It can be surely be adding more work to me though in some cases. I guess we have to see if it's possible some of the time.
Sometimes I go for second hand ones when I want to ave money. As long as they are still in good condition, I have no problem purchasing second hand ones. But, if I feel I am okay and have some good amount of cash, I then settle on new ones.
My mother always buy secondhand toys for my little sister. This is because my little sister has this habit that after a few days or even hours of playing with a certain toy, she wants a new one. She buys secondhand toys because they are affordable and she saves a lot of money by buying this one.
