How to Recoup Your Money on Your Kids’ Outgrown Items
Moms know how to find deals. We know how to shop sales with babies on hips, tantruming toddlers in tow, and even sassy preteens who are tired of wearing those adorable bows still lining their dressers.
But sometimes as moms, we wonder how to make the best deals on our kids' outgrown or unused stuff. Maybe your kids got a gift from grandma that just isn’t going to work. Or maybe your newborn popped out wearing 3-6 month clothes!
What’s the best way to get a return on the things your family doesn’t need anymore?
You’ve got a few popular options. That, unfortunately, all starts with you cleaning out the closets. I’m ready for someone to invent a payable maid service for season swap out duty. But until then, I know it always falls to me: the mom.
1. Take them to Goodwill…
…after you’ve driven the garbage bags full of recycled goods in your trunk for at least 30 days. (Am I right?) This is what we grew up doing. On clean out day, stuff all the items no matter the condition into lawn leaf bags and that was that. I think they give you tax receipts for your donations…but I can never remember where I put those receipts on the next April 15.
It seems like you’re doing something easy for you, and dropping off the items for someone else to reuse.
Did you know that 95% of Goodwill donations eventually end up in landfills? Which means hardly anyone is reusing them. Plus that isn’t a way to recycle anything to help our world.
2. Post them to an online sale site.
When I lived in the South these were called online garage sales. The first person to comment “sold” was the lucky winner. Now that I live in the Northeast these are called online yard sales. You must comment “interested” to win. You have to play by the rules of the game for sure.
More than that you have to spend so many hours setting up the outfit in the right sunlit window, snapping the iPhone pic, assigning a filter to hide the stain, uploading it to the site, watching your messages, then meeting at the local Target. Unless of course PPU (does that mean porch pick up where you live?) but then you’ve spent the same time creeping the buyer on FB to know they’re safe to share your address with that you should’ve just waited in the parking lot to meet in a well-lit area.
I have bought and sold on these online marketplaces. Sure you can find some great deals. But I always quickly tire of the individual piece approach as a buyer and a seller. And let’s be honest: nobody is buying girls’ 3T winter lot already bagged up.
3. Sell your items at a consignment event.
If you have to do the work of cleaning out the closet and stacking by size anyway, you might as well get paid for it! The best way to recoup the cost of outgrown or unused items are consignment sales hands down. That’s because you do your cleanout and prep in a single weekend. Plus you get them all out of your door, and cash back into your pocket, in one fell swoop. I’m all about a one and done approach.
Some shoppers do regularly shop thrift stores and online sites, the money spent there is significantly less during a drop in trip than a mom who’s looking to fill their cart for the upcoming season. So consignment sales always have a better financial return for the seller. And much easier set up and valuable finds for the buyer.
I know the task is ahead of all of us moms. Whoa Wait Walmart just posted an adorable spring outfit on Instagram so the winter drawer purging is around the corner. Instead of bagging it up to send it to the landfill or busy yourself with who commented first, recycle your clothing at a Rhea Lana’s event happening nationwide this spring. Upcycling one used item reduces its carbon footprint by 82%.
Your Time is Priceless - Let Us Help!
Maybe you want to consign, but you just don’t have the time. Many of our Rhea Lana’s franchises offer VIP Programs. This means, someone else does the work and you still get the perks! Your VIP Processor will tag, price, enter, label and even deliver your items to the event. It’s the easiest way to make money while still clearing the clutter! You earn a portion of your sales (this percentage varies across franchises), and you still get a pass to shop early as a Consignor. It's a Win Win!
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