Buying second-hand

When we found out that I was pregnant, The Grumpy Egyptian and I began planning what we were going to buy for our little one, but not once did the idea of buying second-hand come up. That was until we found out how much things for babies cost! It seems like shops take a cheap item, add the word baby to it and an extra couple of pounds. Where we were living in Oman, there was quite an active group on Facebook that allowed parents to sell baby/children items they no longer needed rather cheaply. However once we moved back to the UK I struggled to find a similar group in my hometown.

Some of my fave second-hand buys: (L-R) never used sleeping bag from Mama's & Papas, Stacking cubes and Animal Spinner

A Google search found me a group called Little Pickles Markets who organise markets for parents to sell their good-quality used items. I went along to one of these a couple of weeks ago in Winchester and despite only taking £17 ended up with numerous bags of toys, clothes, a musical mobile and books. To get across how good value this all was, I saw the same musical mobile for sale in a shop for £35… I paid £4 for this one and it looks as good as new. Aside from the usual stuff, people were also selling cots, pregnancy pillows, pushchairs, walkers and maternity clothes.

On my local NCT website, I found out about its Nearly New Sale that takes place twice a year so have put November 9 in my diary ready for that one.There are also a few websites I keep an eye out on and these include Preloved, Gumtree, Emmaus and Baby Swap or Shop.

Wooden Noah's Ark with a load of animals hidden away inside

I used to be a bit funny about going through charity shops as I remember them being musty places full of granny clothes, but that seems to have changed. A recent rumble through a couple landed me two Annabel Karmel baby recipe/weaning books, a Baby Gap coat for winter, a gorgeous puffball skirt that the Mini Grumpy Egyptian is going to look adorable in, as well as some sound books for 50p! I love wooden toys so much more than modern plastic ones so have snapped a few of those up as well for when MGE gets a bit bigger.

I am certainly going to be a lot less prudish about buying second-hand now and if anything quite enjoy searching through stuff for little hidden gems. What has been your best second-hand find? Any suggestions for other sites to keep an eye out for?

The Egyptian Mummy