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Cheap Second-Hand Baby Clothes

Posted on May 12, 2009 with

So you want to save some money on baby clothes by buying second-hand? You can stand to save a lot of money using this method, but there are one or two pitfalls to watch out for.

Sometimes, buying second-hand baby clothes such as vests from a charity shop can be more expensive than buying new vests from a large supermarket chain or baby clothes retailer. Ethically you’re doing the right thing buying from the charity shop, but be prepared to pay more for your clear conscience. We should stress that this isn’t always the case, but it always pays to shop around first.

The other thing to watch out for when buying second-hand baby clothes is signs of wear and tear, and staining. Stains will be more likely on things like vests, baby bibs, babygrows etc especially if the previous owner was a particularly ’sicky’ baby. Wear and tear is possible if the clothes are third or fourth-hand (they may have been passed down through a family before being sold to you), but generally speaking babies don’t wear clothes for long enough that wear and tear becomes a factor - they simply grow too quickly!

With these caveats in mind, buying cheap second hand baby clothes can save you lots of money. Parents who may have paid £20 for a brand new fashionable babygrow from one of the top baby retailers could be prepared to part with it for much less than they paid, especially if they aren’t planning on having any more children or they’ve decided that the pink babygrow they bought for their newborn daughter a few years ago won’t suit their newborn son.

Check out your local car boot sales - you can pick up a real bargain from here. Often people will want to sell you more than just an individual item of baby clothing - maybe they will sell you a bag of outgrown nearly new baby clothes for a very cheap price. Try not to pay more than 50 pence for an item of baby clothing at a car boot unless the quality is excellent. The added bonus of a car boot sale is that the vendor is going to be more receptive to haggling than, let’s say, a Tesco checkout assistant.

Ebay, Freecycle and Gumtree are other places to buy cheap second hand baby clothes online. By buying your baby clothes second hand you are also doing your bit for the environment - recycling is good for the planet and it saves you money.

Most parents like to buy a mixture of new and second-hand baby clothes. If you decide to buy new, read our guide to buying cheap new baby clothes.