Typically, I’m not a hoarder. Except when it comes to kid’s clothes. In my garage, you will find nicely organized boxes labeled by size.  Girls 4, Girls 5, Girl’s 6-6X, all the way up to our oldest daughter’s tween clothes.  I’ve labeled them all “girls” because at this point, we only have girls, but I won’t rule out the possibility of a son or two before our youngest reaches those bigger sizes.

We buy almost all of the kids clothes second hand, but still, they typically grow out of their clothes before they are worn out.  We’re now seeing that our youngest is likely to have a very different body type than our oldest. So most of those boxes of tween clothes are slim and tall sizes that may not fit little sister who’s more average-sized.

I was thrilled to learn about a company called ThredUp from a friend of a friend at a Barbeque recently. As soon as her baby grows, she boxes up baby’s too-small sizes and swaps them for a larger size. It’s all done by mail and Web which makes it even better. (Thrift stores with the tykes in tow is just no fun!)

The premise behind ThredUp is this — Each box costs $15. You can buy boxes, or you can trade boxes (if your box is well-rated, your account will be credited). You search by the season you want, the size and gender. You can even trade books, toys, or mom-wear this way (for my friends on the hunt for maternity wear–this is a shoutout for you! There’s gobs of materinity clothes on ThredUP, and it’s always $15 for a full flat-rate box.

I’ll be experimenting a bit with this over the summer and will post my results.  Right now I’m not needing anything, but usually by mid-July the kids have gotten up and said “Mom, I can’t button my pants.” (Growth is a sudden experience around here).

The other thing I have done with great success is ordering “lots” from Ebay. I just search the size and gender and include the word “lot.”  I’ve ordered many, many of our youngest daughter’s clothes this way, and I’ve been very happy with the results, but I love that with ThredUp I can keep my costs lower by trading in what the kids have just grown out of.

Have you tried a formal clothes-swap like this? If so, what did you think? I’d love to get your feedback.

Jessica

My youngest in preparation for a Bollywood dance recital at the YMCA