This blog entry starts a new category called Advice. The good thing about pieces of advice is that it’s great to hear them but you can ignore them if you want. At the end of the day, what has worked for me or what I have found useful may not necessarily work for you, but it’s always good to hear other perspectives and points of view.
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When we told family and friends that we were having twins, everybody showered us with lots of clothes. Either brand new or hand me downs. Suddenly we had bags and bags of baby clothes to go through and sort.
It was heaven sent, because let me tell you, buying for two babies ain’t cheap… and since I am -let’s call it- thrifty, for me it was fantastic not having to buy anything. However, let me tell you my experience and hopefully you’ll learn something from it.
Accept all the clothes that you are offered. However, do not hesitate to go through them and pick your favourite stuff and give the rest back, or give it to charity, or sell it on ebay. Whatever. Because, trust me, there is NO WAY that you’ll be able to actually use all of it.
We were very lucky to have friends who had had boy/girl twins only one year before and they passed on so much. Not only bags and boxes of clothes, but also moses basket, baby bath, blankets, toys, etc.
And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely appreciated not having to buy any of that stuff and save the money instead. But it comes a time when you have to realise that other people are also buying you new items, which you kind of “save” because it’s so new, and the kids grow so quickly anyway… So, yeah, what has happened to me is that I was so inundated with hand-me-downs that I completely forgot some of the new clothes that we were also given, and now….. yes, you guessed right, now the babies are too big for those!
I wish I had spent more time going through those items and been really selective with the items that I really liked, and given the rest back, or passed on to someone else. I finally found the time to really go through those bags the other day and found so many clothes that are now too small! And by going through this process, I also found brand new clothes that we had been given and are still in their original packaging! Horrible bad planning on my part… but, hey, listen.. when the kids arrive you find no time to do this kind of stuff.
Depending on how small (or big) babies are at birth, you’ll go through tiny baby/early baby/premature baby clothes, then newborn, then normal 0-3month. Eric and Elisa are now on 3-6month clothes and I still have sooo many smaller clothes that I haven’t even touched! It’s such a waste, really.
So yeah, now I know better and if I was to go through the same again, I would feel no shame in picking my favourite stuff and giving the rest back. I am sure the person who is giving you the clothes DOES understand and would not feel offended in the slightest. And also, all those clothes that you’re not using are taking up a lot of space in your house! No brainer: take your pick and rid of the rest.
We’ve started boxing small clothes already as well!
