Proud to buy Secondhand

I like doing my part for the environment, even if I am not a consistently hardcore practitioner all the time, so the one thing I really like about UK is the strong sense of recycling here. In Milton Keynes, there is a complete recycling system at work - pink plastic bags for paper, aluminium and plastic containers (but not cling wrap), a little gray plastic bin for food waste, which is then emptied into the big green food waste trash bin outside the house, another big plastic trash bin for garden waste (and if you want to make your own food waste, you can buy a compost bin from the council's environment and waste disposal agency), a blue square bin for glass and tin and all other waste goes into black trash bags. Everything is collected once every week. 

I remember when we were in Switzerland last year how my friends and I would look forward to bulky item disposal day. This happens once every 3 to 4 months, where residents would just put out the unwanted bulky items on designated spots along the streets the evening before and the clearing team would come the next day in a truck to pick them up. On that evening, you can see people moving down the streets checking out the piles and taking whatever catches their fancy and fits their needs. Being part of an unpaid student's household for that year, we were all loathe to spend money unnecessarily, so this bulky item disposal day is a real bonus. And believe me, the Swiss throw out very good things indeed. I picked up a couple of outdoor chairs for our balcony, while a fren found a very decent side table and a quaint old cupboard. I thought it a pity that the Swiss do not seem to have a culture of buying and selling secondhand goods and have no community thrift shops, which could help in the recycling movement as well as poor students' pockets. And so was glad to find that people do pick up secondhand stuff to use from the streets; I just thought that there could be a better way of facilitating and encouraging recycling.

So, it goes without saying that I am delighted when we found out about the NCT (National Childbirth Trust) Nearly New Sale. Basically, the concept is that this is a secondhand sale for things that your child(ren) have outgrown - clothes, toys, books, bathing things, baby buggies/prams, Moses baskets, cotbeds, wardrobes etc.  I know not everyone would like the idea of buying secondhand stuff for their babies, so this is not for everyone. But Daddy Low and I thought it a brilliant idea, since children grow so quickly and outgrow everything so fast. And let's face it, baby purchases are not cheap. 

We have so far attended 2 such sales; add today and that would make it 3. And we have been mightily pleased with our spoils from every outing. The first time we went, we were inexperienced. We turned up too late, and so did not get to use our members' privilege of early entry. By the time we got into the venue, the big items were gone. Still, we were happy with our first experience looking around and we did manage to get some fairly new baby clothes. We spent a total of about 11 pounds for a total of about 10 items of clothing. And some were virtually new too - from which we learnt the lesson to let your baby wear everything at least once before he grows too big for the beautiful clothes you bought but forgot ('cos new parents tend to get carried away and keep on buying...)

The second outing, we made sure we started early and got in at the members' opening time. We had already discussed what we wanted - the big items, so we zeroed in on those. And we had a strategy to make sure that we see everything on our list, worked in consultation time to make sure we both like what we picked and get our items before they are snapped up. We left the second sale with a travel cot, a Moses basket and stand and some clothes. Very very happy with that one, 'cos normally a decent Moses basket would have caused anything from 40 pounds and above (and that's not including the stand). And we got ours (complete with the cloth hood, toys, bedding and coverlet) and a rocking stand for 20 pounds! We had heard that not all babies like Moses basket and they usually outgrow them in about 4-6 weeks, so getting a good secondhand one was simply perfect. The travel cot was a branded one too and was at less than half the price we saw in the shops.

By now, we truthfully do not need any specific item anymore, but going for these sales has become a great fun outing for us. And I guess, every Singaporean, no, actually, everyone, loves a good bargain.  So, once more, we set out in high spirits.  And this time, we brought the in-laws with us. We were not sure if they would approve, the older generation being a lot more superstitious about taking over secondhand stuff. But well, we figured it would be a different, eye-opening experience for them and frankly, we, the parents make the final decision about what our kid wears, don't we? :)

When we entered the premises, the place was already packed with parked cars and the early birds were leaving with their purchases. We saw a man lugging a Lindam baby gate and a lady with a huge NCT Nearly New Sale plastic bag with some bulky toys poking out of the bag. Hoping that we were not too late, we hurried on. 1 pound per pax for entry and we were each stamped with a red sunflower on our hand and given a big Ikea bag.  

And we were in the venue.

And by far, this seemed to be the biggest NCT sale we have ever walked into. There were boxes of books, boxes of puzzles and CDs and DVDs, toys piled onto a few tables in the centre and the bulky toys lining the sides. Clothes were organised neatly into rows according to age and colour-coded for gender (red signs for girls, blue signs for boys). Then, there was a section for prams, Moses baskets, bathing stuff, toilet training seats etc. The in-laws stood there overwhelmed; Henry and I split immediately to check out the various items, armed with a big Ikea bag each.

By the end of our session, we had a bagful of clothes ranging from 0 to 18 months, some books, a CD and a Maisy domino game. The damage came up to 31 pounds, which we thought was a very good deal indeed. The in-laws were converted and we were happy on the savings as well as the fact that we had helped in the recycling effort.

Daddy Low would call this an excuse, but this passing on of items through these secondhand sales makes me feel less guilty when we do buy new stuff. After all, at the end of the day, I know that, one day, I will be in these sales as a seller and I hope that someone out there will love and cherish these same items that we have picked up, either as a brand new item from a store or as a nearly new item from a secondhand sale!