I admit, I suck at clothes shopping or shopping in general. I don’t think I have ever bought a dress, top or bottom that I really, really liked. My sense of style is overshadowed by my mom’s since most of my clothes were given by her.
Now that I am a mother, my children’s clothes were also mostly gifts or hand-me-downs. I think I have gone shopping specifically for my daughter’s outfit only twice or thrice. Does that make me a bad mom?
The disadvantage of that is my style is not being developed because I lack practice in the shopping department, therefore, I look “baduy” and so not put-together. Even frumpy!
The advantage of getting free clothes is saving money, as I do not have the luxury to go on a shopping spree. Another is that I do not have to worry about going to the malls and going through racks and racks of clothing items, which I am not even sure if they’d look good on my kids. Or if they would fit, because the sizes might be all wrong, unless I drag them along and get tired of minding them while shopping (believe me, it’s hard!) Then I’d give up on the whole endeavor altogether and just go grab something to eat. Thus, I’d be unproductive!
Well, I guess time would come when the gifts would stop coming and I’d have to buy their clothing needs myself. Maybe after when the three children are older, that’ll happen. But for now, I am just thankful for the gifts and the hand-me-downs that are in great condition.
Hi, Cym!
We’ve got lots of hand-me-down clothes, too! I’d say about 50% of Vito’s clothes are hand-me-downs. My mom’s friend has grandkids, and they outgrow their clothes so fast! They’re just a few months older than Vito, so he often gets “new” clothes every other month! We’re grateful for them. Even so, we buy Vito stuff that we really like, too.
I believe in hand-me-downs and in re-using. It’s one way to reduce our waste, especially since the clothing industry is one of the biggest producers of textile waste: Did you know each person throws away around 68 pounds of clothing and textiles PER YEAR? Can you imagine how many billions of clothes end up as trash, filling up landfills and not being reused? It’s sad.
That’s why I like to sell pre-loved items, too. I think “what goes around comes around,” and I make sure that I only sell what is still good and useful.
Haba ng comment ko. Haha.
It sure is sad when they're not being reused, they could go to people who really need them instead. That's another advantage of having pre-loved items, avoiding wastage.
Hehe! I also appreciate long comments. 🙂
that’s why you have friends like me who love to shop. we’ll shop together! haha…
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Haha! Kaya pala nakilala kita… hehehe!