These are the clothes that Timmy has outgrown in his short 18 months here on Earth. Just the clothes. I also have stored in our garage his infant swing and bouncer, exerSaucer, Baby Einstein floor gym, bumbo seat, boppy, and pack 'n play. There are things that I would love to store if I had plenty of space because we never use them anymore, like the giant glider and ottoman in his room or some more old toys or one of my two giant strollers, or his high chair when he moves on to a booster seat soon.
Everything I'm saving is something that I will probably want to use again whenever we have another baby. I also am saving a few things just for Timmy, keepsakes like his baptismal outfit and hospital blanket. I'm definitely starting to feel like the stuff I own owns me, but I can't bring myself to get rid of any of it. Then I start to wonder how long it will take to reach the point where it's cheaper to buy new stuff for the next baby than to pay to store our old stuff.
Ahh the joys of Apartment living!
7 comments:
Let some of that stuff go. Lend it to someone with a new baby and ask to get it back, or craigslist it (especially stuff like the ExerSaucer and baby gym) -- chances are you can buy an equivalent used item when you need it for the same or less money. I ended up basically getting most of my baby gear for free because I bought it used on craigslist and then sold it for the same price when I was done with it. Baby clothes are also easily acquired from craigslist, friends, and relatives. Keep the ones you have a sentimental attachment to, and some of the ones that are unisex and in good condition, and get rid of the rest. There is no reason to hang on to something like a floor gym. People are always trying to get rid of this stuff, and it's often in excellent or even brand new condition (I can't tell you how many clothes with tags still on I've given away).
I'm assuming here that you're okay with lightly used stuff. If not, remember that that's exactly what you have now! It doesn't really matter whether the baby who spat up all over it was your offspring or somebody else's. Give it a good wipe and it's fine.
Hmm, I didn't realize I felt so strongly about this -- I guess I just have a thing about both clutter and reuse.
I wonder ALL THE TIME if it's worth it for DH and I to store all of our furniture from the good ol' days when we were actually living in the house that we're still paying for. So far, I vote yes. :)
Mmmmm getting rid of stuff. Greatest. Feeling. Ever. I wouldn't keep baby gear. Half the time it has expired or been recalled by the time you get around to using it. You only have a 50/50 chance that you'll be able to use baby clothes again, plus they grow out of things so quickly you don't want to own too much as they won't ever wear it, so rebuying isn't really that expensive in the end. I made a baby quilt out of my favorite outfits and got rid of the rest. Liberating!
When I'm doing spring cleaning, I always do the "1 year" rule..."have I worn these shoes within the last year?" Then I give myself one exception (because those blue satin ones WILL be worn some day, I PROMISE). SO, I guess what you have to ask yourself is...are you going to get pregnant again within the next year? ; )
I have the same problem! I have boxes of old Jacob clothes. I see everyone say we should just give them away or sell them- it does make sense, I guess. But getting rid of stuff is so hard for me, especially when it comes to Jacob's babyhood.
I might go through my boxes one more time to see what I HAVE to keep and what I can probably give away..... it's so hard though.
Isn't it amazing how much "stuff" babies collect and how much room they take up- incredible!
We are definitely keeping all our baby gear. Although it is so much easier now we are out of an apartment and into a house with copious storage space and a garage for anything that won't fit in the house. I use to be a hug believer in the whole buy things of craigslist and then resell and then re-buy. In fact when we moved out east we sold everything and re-bought. However, although I still adore CL, I have somewhat switched camps. although it is cheap and easy enough to rebuy things (especially baby things) I find it just takes so much time. time to browse for things, time to communicate with sellers, time to drive over there and picks things up. In short too much time I just don't have.
We purposefully didn't find out the gender of our kid so that most of our baby stuff would be as gender neutral as possible and we've kept up with that, so most of it should be sure of reuse.
Anyway in shot, I say if you are planning on a new addition in the next couple of years I think its worth hanging on to stuff. It'll save you time and be cute to see your second one in all the same clothes, and playing with the same toys.
For the clothes, if you don't have a sentimental attachment to it I'd definitely say get rid of it through donation or sale. I saved all of Landon's thinking our second baby would wear them, and I even got them all back out to hang in Claire's closet, but it turns out that you get so many new clothes from people (especially with baby #2 because everyone assumes you have all the gear already) that Claire hasn't worn a single thing of Landon's. I don't even think she's going to be able to wear all her new clothes!
We kept all the gear and are glad we did, but the clothes... I should have parted with most of them before we left Chicago.
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