Thursday 28 July 2011

Mummy Saving Tip - Buy (and sell) Preloved...


So on Sunday I was up at 5.30, gave 'Missy' her morning feed and put her back to bed with Daddy while myself and 'Nanna' packed up the car and drove it round to the local park for a 'car boot sale'. Now the main idea of doing this was to clear out some space as we have a small house and it was being taken over by baby clothes, toys and equipment, lots of which we no longer used or needed. However I did want to make some pennies too...

After a very long but successful morning, where I met some lovely Mummies, we packed the car back up. Although it had been a success and most of the toys and equipment had sold, lots of the lovely baby clothes and maternity wear had not, which I was quite surprised about, so i'll be bundling them up and putting them on ebay!

If you have a lot of baby equipment to get rid of then a car boot sale can really be worth it if you have the time, they usually cost £10 - £15 per car, it's advisable to take a decorating table and some old sheets to display your items on and if you have a clothes rail even better (although these can be more of a hindrance than a help sometimes... as it was very windy we spend half our time holding on to the rail so it didn't blow over!)

If you have lots of baby clothes, and you have the time I would advise separating them out into boy/girl/unisex and then separating them again into different sizes, then displaying them all in to labelled plastic boxes for people to route through! If you have lots of basics (such as vest, babygrows, socks...) it can be a good idea to bundle them together in clear bags and label them, for example 3 boys baby grows with 3 vests or 5 pairs of girls socks....

So that was our day of selling, but don't forget about buying preloved! Everything you buy for your family can be so expensive if it's all purchased new so it's often worth looking for second hand items. Of course there are a few things that are best to always be bought new for safety reasons, such as mattresses for cots, cribs and moses baskets, and car seats. But that doesn't mean you can't buy they cot, crib, basket or travel system pre-loved and then just buy a new mattress or car seat to go with it!

Many Mummies (including me!) are a bit clothes mad and can go crazy when it comes to clothes shopping for their little ones, but it's worth remembering that maternity and baby clothes only fit for a very short time so are often in almost new condition when they are no longer needed so are the perfect things to buy at bargain prices pre-loved! Both my children have a selection of designer clothes that were bought in great preloved condition for no more than a couple of pounds each!

Carboot sales are great for bargains but you do have to get down on your hands and knees and route through! Another great place is charity shops and as well as getting bargain, you know your money is helping a good cause! If you prefer to shop online then there are still plenty of options to buy preloved, from ebay which most people are aware of, to other sites such as Baby swap or shop, www.preloved.co.uk, gum-tree and the sale pages/ groups on facebook (just search 'pre loved' or 'for sale' and 'your local area' and you should get quite a few coming up) not forgetting the fantastic freecycle where people offer their unwanted goods to you for FREE if you're willing to collect them!

There's just a few ideas for you, please feel free to share any tips you have below and thank you to everyone who has shared their best bargain buys in our competitions, I will be sharing the best of them with you all very soon...

4 comments:

  1. Hi

    Made For Mums website have a local neighbourhood and you can advertise your baby items there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks!

    How could I have forgotton?? The fabulous http://www.madeformums.com/local is a great resource for buying/selling pre-loved items not only can you list items wanted or for sale or free on the local discussions section, there will also be listings for your local nearly new sales / car boots, and if you know of any that aren't listed, then you can add them too!

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    read. I would like to add my favorite source where I swap or buy pre-loved cloths for my child. It always comes in handy to help people getting rid of unwanted things. It's a win win situation.

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