So for some strange reason that I have yet to understand, I decided to hold on to every piece of clothing both kids ever wore and most of their toys. Jenna is almost 8 and Jacob is almost 3. That equals a TON of clothes. Like I mean bins and bins and bins. Last week I sold the last bit of clothes that I had for sale, and I did feel relief. It wasn't just out of the blue one day that I decided I wanted to get rid of it all either. I did think through it and I did contemplate the possibility of having another baby, but It's just not something I can foresee in our future. So make sure you have thought thoroughly about selling or donating your kids clothes. I realized the clothes were losing their value and could become outdated sitting down in our dingy basement. I had everything in Rubbermaid totes, but our basement is unfinished with a stone wall and it's damp. I was worried that eventually they would be ruined. Plus my constant need to de-clutter was on my mind.
What easier way to sell it all then to have a sale at our
home and have people come to me? There was no way I was going to haul it bin by
bin to a second hand kid clothing store and have them pick through only what
they wanted, and have to bring most of
it home again (I'll explain more on that later). I knew I wanted each bin of a
certain size to be sold all at once. Social media is a wonderful way to get
other parent's thoughts about things, so I posted the question on Facebook if
anyone would be interested in buying bins of clothes for around $30 each. I
received a lot of positive response. And that's how it all started.
So I picked a day and time for a one-day sale, created a
Facebook Event page and started sorting through clothes. This was the simplest
way to get the information for the sale to the public. And it was easy to just post
a photo of each bin of clothes or each item with the appropriate information
(size, price, etc,) to the event page, and then share the event link to the buy/sell
Facebook groups. A good picture means a lot too - make sure you have good lighting. Lay items out on the
floor and get a shot from above. If you aren't a member of a local Facebook buy/sell
group, I suggest you try searching for some in the search bar at the top of the
Facebook home page. It's a great way to purchase gently used items and to
connect with other moms. But buyer/seller beware. You have to be careful how
you do your business because there are scammers and inconsiderate people out
there. I also created posters to match the Facebook Event profile picture (to
be consistent and recognizable), and put them in areas frequented by parents,
like our local Early Years Centre and Arena. Just make sure you ask for
permission before doing this.
It took a month to sort and clean clothes and toys. Be
prepared to invest a lot of time into doing this if you've held on to as much
clothes and toys as I have. And if you do decide to keep everything your kids
have ever worn or played with, be organized. At one point I had all the unisex
clothes in one bin, but when I found out I was pregnant with Jacob (we didn't
find out the gender), I dug them all out and then put them away with the boy
clothes that didn't fit him anymore. They should have gone into their own
separate bin. And keep outfits together. Even if the pants fit for a longer
period of time, put them back with the shirt of the outfit when you put them in
storage. I also recommend having a bin of just shoes, hats, socks, etc. where
you can just throw those items that don't fit. Fill it with a starting and
ending size and label it. I was finding so much of these items mixed in with
the clothing and it was more time consuming to sort it all out.
I brought up bins from the basement four to five at a time
and literally dumped each one out and started categorizing by size and gender.
Baby sizes were sorted into groups by month sizes (0-3 months, 3 months, 3-6
months and so on). I labelled each bin as I went, or used Post-it notes on the
floor if I was sorting a variety of sizes. Sizes 1-7 each had their own
separate bin. I ended up with one full bin for each of these larger sizes.
There was a good mix of half winter and half summer clothing styles. Socks and shoes were also sorted by size and
gender and as were hats and bibs. Dresses, snowsuits and coats were grouped by
gender. And if you have a favourite outfit that you just can't give up, keep
it. I did keep two to three of my favourites for each kid.
I found clothes mixed in with bins of the wrong size. This
was because some clothes fit differently than others. So the size 12 month
shirt made by Gymboree fit Jacob an extra 3 months longer than the size 12
month shirt made by Old Navy. The shirt that fit for the longer time period got
put away with the next size up. So, just be mindful of the sizes when you put
them away. What fits your child at a certain age may not fit another at the
same age. It just helps make sorting more efficient if all sizes go together,
no matter how they actually fit.
So how do you price everything? Take a look through a local
second hand or gently used clothing store. Generally, thrift stores ask a
little less than a gently used store. The "big name" stores seem to
have the highest prices, but you are paying for better quality there. I had 68L
Rubbermaid totes priced by how full they were; half-full was $25, below the rim
was $30, and if it was crammed full it was $40. This was an excellent deal for
clothes in my opinion. Any of the larger items like my change table and Exersaucer,
I compared to the second hand store and also looked at the condition, quality
and how current the style of the item was. Be careful when selling items like
car seats or baby walkers; these items follow strict safety standards. Do your
research and make sure there are no recalls or legal ramifications to selling
these things. It's illegal in Canada to sell a baby walker, even at a garage
sale. Don't forget to check the expiry date on car seats.
If you decide to get rid of your kids' clothes and toys one
day, I wish you only success if you decide to do it the way I did. I do not recommend
it though. Sell or donate as you go if you can. Eventually I did donate quite a
few items that didn't sell at the big sale to my local thrift store because
there just wasn't any interest. Give yourself a timeline if there is something
that isn't showing interest in selling. I started with a month and then went
down to two weeks (I was still trying to sell items individually on the buy/sell
groups after the sale.) I also filled my car one day of bins of clothes that
didn't sell and took them to a gently used chain store - they buy clothes from
you at a certain percentage of what they would sell them for. And they were
extremely picky about what they took and I ended up filling my car full and
bringing most of it home (all this after shopping at Costco first - BIG
MISTAKE!) I'm not trying to make these businesses sound bad, because if you are
shopping there for your own kids, the quality of clothing is excellent. It's
just frustrating as a seller to be able to "get rid" of everything
you brought in.
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