Contrary to popular belief, babies really don’t need that much – and what they do need can be thrifted!
Why thrift baby stuff? So many people donate baby goods (toys, gear, clothes) in great condition precisely because they either buy or receive so much baby accoutrement that they don’t end up using; their excess can be your gain! Plus, when you pay thrift prices, you can afford to experiment and see if your baby loves a bouncy swing/rock and play/swaddler/etc. without breaking the bank.
Tips for nabbing secondhand baby stuff
Where to look: Most thrift stores have kid/baby sections that will cover the bases. Baby/kid consignment stores are good for higher quality clothes and specialty items; the same applies to consignment events like Rhea Lana. Borrowing from friends or searching your local Freecycle/”Everything’s Free in [Insert Your Town Name Here]” group are also great options to try out gear with zero financial investment.
Don’t thrift too far ahead of time. It’s so tempting to stock up on everything baby-related that you “might need one day” and end up with your storage spaces spilling out with unused, bulky baby gear and clothes that just frustrate you on top of trying to soothe a crying baby while sleep deprived. The truth is, you just don’t know what your kid is going to want/need/like down the line because every baby is different. If you’re worrying you’ll never find a particular item in a thrift store again, I’d say don’t – because baby gear cycles through so quickly, it’s very, very likely you’ll see it again or be able to borrow from friends/find it secondhand.
I work particularly hard to avoid this with kids’ clothes so I don’t end up with a bunch of stuff that might not fit during the season it’s meant to be worn, might not be what the kid likes, might duplicate hand-me-downs/gifts we receive later on, etc. The exception with each of my kids so far has been one toddler shirt I just fell in love with when they were still babies/in utero – something that made me smile to think about what they would be like when they were old enough to wear it.
Cleaning: wash clothes, blankets etc. as you normally would before using. You can add white vinegar to the washing machine if you’re worried about sanitizing. Vinegar diluted with water is also a good way to wash baby furniture, toys, etc. made out of wood or plastic.
Here’s the baby gear we’ve thrifted – both for our first (now in preschool) and our current newborn:
Play mat
These are always hanging around the Goodwill. Just run the fabric bits through the washing machine and add on your own dangly toys (that’s Giardia on ours) to keep infants entertained. I find the over-arching arms a bit of a pain to store when not being used, though, so we might ditch this and just use one of the many blankets we’ve been given, since the current baby has a big sister to keep him entertained :)
Rocker
We borrowed something similar from a friend the first time around and found it super handy for times when we needed to put the baby somewhere secure to do things with two hands (like, say, eat dinner). When I was newly pregnant with #2 I nabbed this replacement for $10 at a local thrift store. The music/vibrate feature on it is broken, but since the Spouse and I hate toys that make electronic noise, we were perfectly happy with it as-is.
Changing Table
With baby #1 we used an inflatable changing pad from IKEA on top of a dresser as our changing station. That dresser is now in the guest room; we often have family and friends staying with us and didn’t want to run in to our guests’ space every time baby #2 needed a diaper change. Luckily a parishioner spotted this made-in-Italy changing table with drawers and buckle-in straps on his neighbor’s curb and brought it over in the back of his truck – so while not technically thrifted, it’s a total secondhand win. I wiped it down with vinegar spray, put the same inflatable changing pad on top, stocked the drawers with diapers/onesies/blankets, and called it good. PS Hi baby hand!
Bassinet
We co-slept with our first kiddo, but since she’s now a preschooler who still climbs into our bed some nights, it felt safer to give kiddo #2 his own space so he didn’t get stepped on. When I saw this SwaddleMe By Your Side Sleeper at the thrift store for $15, I knew it would be the perfect way to keep the baby right next to me for middle-of-the-night feedings but still safe from the midnight rompings of his older sister. (Both our mattress and the bassinet are on the floor.) PS: that blankie was made by my aunt for my sister and me decades ago – talk about hand-me-downs!
Bottle dryer
The spouse makes fun of me for this one because with our last kid, I scoffed at these artificial grass-like bottle dryers as space-wasting one-use inventions of the baby industry, designed to sucker bleary-eyed parents out of their money with promises of making life with a baby bearable. (Yes, I was dramatic about it.) But after multiple years of playing Jenga with our older kid’s bottles and pump parts on our regular dish drying rack, and after swapping said drying rack for a simple dishcloth on the counter, this time around I was willing to pay $3 to thrift a designated spot for the bub’s bottles. We’ll see whether it was worth the investment (and additional counter space) once I start pumping and bottle feeding.
Toys
Our preschooler bought this cute little elephant rattle at Goodwill with her birthday money as a gift for her soon-to-be-born baby sibling. (Awwww.) She likes to entertain him with the rattle sound, but we’ve found an even better use for it: the trunk is his favorite boob substitute, even moreso than the bink he inherited from his older sister. That accounts for the milky stains on the elephant’s face – time for a wash cycle!
Do the same with toys as with clothes – resist the urge to thrift alllll the toys/games/puzzles at the thrift store until you know what your kid likes and they are old enough to use it. There will always be more Melissa and Doug at the thrift store, I promise.
Clothes
Our baby clothes for #2 are a combination of items passed on from our older child and from friends, plus a few gifts. As he gets older, we’ll do what we did with his sister – thrift whatever we need to fill the holes in his hand-me-down wardrobe. This is the one “ahead of time” shirt I mentioned above; I spotted it in a Goodwill while I was pregnant and fell in love with the colors and (surprise surprise!) mix of visual patterns.
What have you thrifted or found secondhand for the small people in your life? Any tips to share?
When my kids were little, we lived near a fantastic children’s consignment shop and not far from a second. I bought nearly everything for both of them from those stores. Toys, clothes, equipment, bikes, you name it. And yes, for Christmas and birthdays too. (Also garage sales — great for toys). A child does not need new toys in boxes. Of course we bought some of those, especially dolls and action figures, but it’s amazing what you can buy when you start looking. And if you live near thrift or consignment stores from expensive neighborhoods, you can buy barely-used, very expensive clothes for next to nothing. Between those and end-of-season clearance bought a year ahead, I almost never bought anythign new and my children looked great and had nice things. But you have to be willing to go often and plan.
You are so right about toys. Our older kid does get new toys from family for holidays, birthdays etc. but pretty much everything we buy her is used :D Last week we found Chutes & Ladders with the wrapping still on for $3 at Goodwill and she’s had a blast playing it. We’ve gotten good at making sure all the pieces are in a game/puzzle before we buy :)
My mom very generously buys my preschooler new (retail) clothes, but she’s so hard on the pants that she wears the knees right through. It’s great to go to the thrift store for cheap replacements or to go to a consignment shop, as you point out, for higher quality stuff that will last longer.
Do you still have the wood rocker? And if so, when you are done with it, would you consider selling it to me? I don’t care about the music part not working. We had one that we gave away and now wish I hadn’t. My daughter and I both were so happy when she was in it., so I wish I’d kept it to give to her if she becomes a mom someday.
Hi Erica! I’m sorry to say we don’t have it anymore – we donated it after our second kid outgrew it. I’d strongly suggest looking on Facebook marketplace or a local “Everything Is Free” or Freecycle group to see if you can find one. If there are any local kids/baby consignment shops, those are worth a look, too.
You might also consider that some rockers (maybe not the wooden ones?) have had safety recalls, and that if your daughter someday becomes a mom these current ones might no longer be considered safe. Plus there’s the used space of storing it all those years and it might turn out her baby/babies don’t love it… just a thought in case you don’t find one and are trying to be at peace about it :)
Good luck!!
Would you be excited by exchanging links?