Do You Let Your Kids Wear "Hand Me Down" Clothes?

Well, there are lots of stores selling hand-me-downs here in the Philippines. They are locally known as Ukay-ukay. They are a lot cheaper and people here like buying them because most of these items come from 1st-world countries and that would mean the items are of good quality. Kids from poor families can have clothes of good quality. The down side though is that it is exposed to more germs and you don't know who the first owner was or did he have any skin diseases. For those who are concerned with germs and all that, they would wash the items they buy before wearing them. The other downside is that most of the hand-me-down stores here do not have fitting rooms so when you're choosing the right clothes for you, what you do is estimate or have someone with you to get a second opinion. Ukay ukay is not only for clothes. There are also shoes, stuff toys, caps. Also there are shops similar to pawnshops where in they leave the clothes to this shop in exchange for quick cash...like regular pawnshops except that pawnshops deal with jewelries.

My daughter has a mixture of hand me downs and new clothes. I often pick up a bargain at charity second hand stores, especially for preschool, because the clothes quickly get wrecked anyway. I always soak them in disinfectant and then wash them before she wears them. Most charity stores wash the clothes as well before they sell them. Even if you buy new clothes, there is no way of knowing who has tried them on and who has touched them, so second hand really doesn't worry me. I have saved a fortune this way! When she grows out of the clothes, I either pass them on to friends/family, or give them back to the charity store. Even destroyed clothes can be resold as cleaning cloths.

I don't have anyone to give my kids hand me downs so I have to buy them myself. I take my kids clothes when they grow out of them to a consigment shop and resale them. Their clothes sell really nicely but their clothes are always clean with no holes or stains. We went into the salvation army once never again every piece of clotheing had rips, stains or tears I wouldn't put those clohtes on my doll!

My kid have always wore hand-me-downs. They get new clothes before school starts and for Christmas but for the most part they get clothes from realitives.

I dont have kids yet but yes..my mom bought us hand me downs (ukay - ukay version) clothes. She would boil the clothes, soak them in the water, dry them in the sun to kill any bacteria that may be residing in those clothes. We also wear hand me downs from cousins and other relative. There is no wrong with that..that is being practical. All the clothes that we have outgrown now we gave them to our younger cousins or gave them away to disaster victims or sometimes gave them to the street kids.

Between my eldest (girl) and the second (boy),no hand me downs,only the baby dresses.Between the boy and my youngest it is usually the undershirt which the youngest use as house clothes and t-shirts for night time.I don't see anything wrong with it.As you said children grows fast and impractical to buy them new ones when they will use only for a month or two.

My friends and all of us always wore "hand me downs", a lot of the time, we really had nothing to wear, so all we could wear is what we were given.

Our oldest didn't get many hand me downs because we didn't know many people who had girls. we found this great second hand store out in indiana when visiting a friend. she goes there all the time and knows the owner. we bought a lot of clothes out there. plus we hit yardsales for clothes. my kids had a mix of new and used clothes. then when we had our second daughter she got all her sisters clothes. now we have my son and he gets all the hand me downs from my sister's son and my best friends son. he has new stuff too though. i don't worry too much about them getting a disease from used clothes, i just wash them good after we get them.

I will only let my youngest son wear things from his brother if he chooses to and the items are still in good condition. Otherwise Iwii not make him wear them.

I have no problem with hand me downs. Kids grow faster than their clothes can wear out if the clothes are good quality. If people don't use them as hand me downs, they just go to waste. I also have no problems with clothing from thrift stores or garage sales. I always wash them well before they are used so there is no chance of anything being spread from the one family to the other once they have been washed good. I don't wash the new stuff but I know people who do because it might have been tried on by someone you don't want to have worn something you are going to wear. But hand me downs, or hand me overs (which is what I call it when someone gives me something and they are not in my family), garage sale, thrift store, second hand store, etc...I have no problem with at all. Washing them takes care of all that.

we are all raised by hand me down clothes!!!! from one to another.... but since my mom started fostering is that we have to buy new ones.... they are all boys and the age gap is too big... so.... yeah.... the only things we bought were underwear... but now.... we buy alot... as if we were trying to make up for lost time...

Considering how fast kids grow, hand me downs are a life saver. I make sure that the ones my son wears are not faded, stained, or torn. We buy him new clothes too, mainly for church, or if something is on sale. Kids grow way too fast to spend alot of money on clothes. I'm lucky though because I have a friend whose son is about 1 year older than my son, so she's always giving me bags of clothes. She actually buys brand name clothes and just gives them to me when they no longer fit her son. I have like 20 pairs of shoes for my son that she gave me. And like 2 boxes of clothes for him. He has more clothes than I do. LOL

i dont mind my kid using hand me down clothes, she likes that cause she cant find clothes in a shopping mall what the clothes she want. she actually finds it in 2nd hand store. all i have to do is to wash is properly and pour a boiling water after washing it. we do only buys jeans, shirts, blouses no undies. also shoes.

When I had my first 2 kids (now 22 and 18)I bought all new clothes for the oldest and then my younger daughter got some new clothes and then her sisters hand me downs. Now I have 2 younger children, a girl 5 and a boy 3. I have to buy all of my daughters clothes new since I don't have any hand me downs but then they go right to my niece who fortunately is the same age but a size smaller. With my son - I have a nephew that is a few years older then him and he gets all of his clothes. I also have a friend at work that gives me some of her sons clothes. I have bought very little for my son and many of the clothes he get are like new. I don't see anything wrong with passing clothes along or shopping at second hand stores or garage sales. Clothes are very expensive, they grow out of them very quickly and at least my kids have stained them. I don't want to freak out over their clothes everytime they are eating ice cream or playing outside. I think wearing hand me down clothes is just the smart thing to do and I am always happy to get them passed on to my children.

Until they become adults, there is no way I will allow my kids to dress the way thy want, I choose for them clothes and I will never tolerate any unusual dress code-once i took my 14 year old son shopping-I told him to choose some shoes-he came with something really nusty, but in his eyes, it was stylish, i politely asked him to pich a decent shoe!

What's wrong with hand-me-down clothes? My sister is 4 years older, and when she out-grew something, I'd get it, if the clothes were still good. If the clothes were worn out, we'd throw them out, but if they were still good, I would wear them. when I out-grew them, I'd pass them down to my cousin who was younger than I am.

I have 3 girls who are all pretty close in age, so hand-me-downs was a big money saver for us. My oldest had so many clothes that my middle one ended up wearing them as new clothes. Some of the clothes were still in such good shape that my youngest wore some of my oldest's clothes. As long as the clothes don't have holes or stains or look worn out, there is nothing wrong with hand-me-downs, especially if you want to save money.