Stuff
One thing many people have asked me about over the last few years is my willingness to get rid of baby stuff that we are done with. Apparently lots of people hold onto things sometimes for the possibility of a second child who will use them and sometimes for sentimental reasons.
Me, not so much. I hate clutter (except on my desk which is always a cluttered mess, no matter how hard I try to keep it clean).
After my mom and sister died, and having more then one battle with my brother over some of their stuff, I no longer hold any attachment to things, they just aren’t worth ruining family relationships over. I am a firm believer that items do not retain memories, and therefore stuff is just stuff. Mr. MPB supports this approach. So, with Little MPB’s stuff, we are very selective on sentimental things that we will keep.
Also, we decided from the very beginning to assume that we would only have 1 child. Which means, we are not keeping anything for the possibility of a second. (Our back-up plan for a miracle second child was to re-buy everything).
Given this, we only keep items that we truly think Little MPB may one day actually want or something that either Mr. MPB or I really want. So far we’ve kept the a little baby toy that was the first gift he was given by the first one of our friends who met him, the toy that was on the top of his first birth cake, a few pieces of clothing, and his first painting which sits in a frame by my desk. I should acknowledge that I know I’ll struggle to part with his books as he grows out of them, as I have never been able to get rid of books.
So, right away we started selling things that we didn’t use. For example, I sold our UppaBaby Diaper Pail. We found we just used our kitchen garbage and emptied it daily so it wasn’t a problem. And, I sold our bottle warmer right away too (A very wise doctor in the USA told us not to start using a bottle warmer because formula fed babies don’t know milk can be warmed up unless we start using the bottle warmer. So, they will happily drink milk straight from the fridge, which meant we were never tied to warm milk.)
And, the second we’ve stopped using items, I’ve also sold all the larger items. We’ve sold our mamaroo, bouncer, bottle cleaning stuff, glider chair, strollers, dresser, jolly-jumper, ride along toys that he’s outgrown, etc. And right now I am selling our pack ‘n play, a high chair and our hiking backpack/carrier. Anything we buy used (which was most larger things), I simply sell it for what we paid as I’m not doing this to make a profit and then we put the money straight to Little MPB’s education fund. As for clothing that Little MPB outgrows and the smaller toys, I initially donated almost everything to a local charity and now I send almost all of it to his younger sibling – I pay a small fortune to mail it, but it’s worth because I know it’s being well used and I love the idea of them sharing clothing and toys.
What do you do with all your baby stuff once your done with it?
If you like this post, please feel free to share and please click the follow button on the side or return to myperfectbreakdown.com to follow.
My Perfect Breakdown 
I ditch that stuff as fast as possible! We either sell it or pass it down to c’s baby cousin. I have a box in the closet of “keep” items, but everything else goes as soon as it’s not needed anymore!
LikeLiked by 1 person
ive sold most of the kiddie stuff. So far, we still have the diaper pail, since A refuses to potty train. We have sold off the pack and play, double stroller, outdoor swings/ slides , bouncers, baby carriers etc.
the only clothes of theirs I am keeping, is the winter clothes/blankets I knit for them, and their “home coming” outfits.
Toys, I am keeping all the die cast trains/ toys in small bins, in the hope they become vintage in a few years and we can sell them 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here’s what I learned over 13 years of parenting: there is always more stuff. Whether you like it or not, whether you need it or not, whether you want it or not. There will be more stuff. So, go ahead, purge!
I think I will follow my own advice! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m like you: got rid of everything as soon as we were done using it! (And even now, at age 6, I go through clothes and toys regularly and purge.)
I have sometimes in my life been sentimentally attached to objects, but not this time. And I got tired of our house looking like a poorly organized storage room in a children’s consignment shop! I kept one small box of items from the early baby days but got rid of everything else with no regrets.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know what I will do. He’s outgrown some of the first outfits he wore, but I haven’t thought to give them away yet. I probably will, except for the ones made especially for him. And I’m glad you said that about the books. I have the same feeling about books, too. And, his shelf actually contains books I had as a kid that I’m excited to read to/with him as he gets older.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with you – I ditch it. I bought a lot of things second hand for Holly and love the idea that I can sell them off and either break even or have the cost of us for the item be really low. It makes me feel much better about the high level consumerism involved!! I never heated formula for my babies either. The other things I refuse to do are peel apples and cut crusts off bread. If they don’t know it’s possible then they don’t expect it! Ha!
LikeLiked by 2 people
As soon as I buy something I think to myself- How long until I can get rid of this?? I am the worst!! I just haattteee clutter!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We will be having a second (universe willing) so will keep things until then. I will however, give away his bottles, but buy new teats, to the local women’s refuge. Once we are finished, I think most items will be donated to the women’s refuge as they are always on the lookout for stuff. There is also a small charity in my local area that collects stuff and they liaise with social workers to get it to people in need.
LikeLike
I’m like you. I have either sold things or have given them away. I still have an umbrella stroller for the very rare occasion he will actually sit for 5 minutes in a stroller and I think that is the only large item (besides his crib which he’s still in) that we have held on to. I am to the point where I’m stopping trying to sell his millions of clothes on Facebook buy and sell pages because it’s so time consuming going through them all, organizing them in size, posting them, then weeding through the many messages that come from interested buyers, or no interest at all in what I’ve posted. I just don’t have time for that. So I’m now putting aside the high quality, barely worn looking items for a friend who is pregnant with a boy right now and the other slightly more worn things I’m donating to the women’s shelter. Anything that is super worn gets turned into rags for various cleaning purposes. I have a small bag of my favourite things he has worn and I can’t bear to part with. But otherwise I’m being more ruthless with things and getting rid of them. I need to do a major overhaul on his toys as his closet is full of baby toys he doesn’t touch anymore. Those will all get donated for the same reason as above, I don’t have time to try to sell any of them. Books…I will likely hold on to for awhile because he has a younger cousin who will love to read them when she comes to visit. And I have way too many memories already of cuddling up in the chair in his room and reading book after book after book. I get asked by people too what will happen if we have another baby. IF that day ever comes, we will just buy new things and deal with it. I’m not holding on to things filling up my house just for the possibility that I one day may change my mind on the size I feel our family should be.
LikeLike
Awesome! I wish I was better at ditching stuff although I have a hubby who is better about it than I am so i don’t hoard too much. I’ve given away a ton to friends that I can likely get back if I ever need it.
Side note: we cleaned out my husbands grandparents house and they had so much stuff it was really an eye opener. I have been better about not keeping too much after that fiasco!
LikeLike
We saved everything the first time around hoping for #2. Now that #2 is here, I can’t get rid of the stuff soon enough! Babies collect SO much stuff and we don’t have the capacity to keep it all. I had a girlfriend that had a baby boy a few months after A was born, so I give her bins of A’s clothes as he grows out of them. The big stuff I sell at a used baby store.. it’s bittersweet
LikeLike