5 Easy Ways to Shop Sustainably (For You + Babies!)
I was trained to shop at the local Goodwill in Olympia, WA. My mom and I loved sifting through the racks and finding treasures to take home. It’s a skill that’s served me well. I am not intimidated by stores that require a little more work to find the best deal (hi, Target Rack!), and I see shopping as a mission rather than a chore. In the past year, I’ve gotten really into the fun of finding deals. If you want to get quality at great prices, too, a few tips:
Embrace the gold mines that are Goodwill, Deseret Industries, and other local thrift shops/garage sale. Garage sale season is SO fun, and both our local Goodwill and DI are wonderfully organized and maintained. Whenever I was early for daycare pickup when I was pregnant, I would pop in to the DI that was on the way and use their bathroom. It was reliable, and I found a Hanna Anderssen coat for our son for $5 during one of my pee stops. Win.
Sign up for ThredUp. If in-person sifting isn’t your thing, sign up for the biggest online consignment store. I send stuff to them, too, so I usually have a little credit to use. When you favorite things, they email you about price drops and, if you’ve been watching my IG stories lately, you know I just scored some fab bibbed snow pants that will serve me well for many winters to come. If you want to try it, use my link and you’ll get $20 to shop!
Ask for and give hand-me-downs: Sometimes to our chagrin, our son’s favorite clothing items—shoes and PJs in particular—are hand-me-downs. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE hand-me-downs (they’re free shopping!), but when we have brand new Nikes for him and all he wants to wear is the same pair of red tennis shoes worn by two kids before him, it *sometimes* makes me a little irritable. Still, I will never ever turn them down.
Stalk your favorite bloggers: A small handful of my favorite local mommy bloggers have created re-selling Instagram accounts for kids clothes and I am HERE. FOR. IT. No, I will not provide their handles because I want first dibs, but it’s all fair game if you find them on your own :). Others sell on Poshmark and similar sites.
SHARE: In college, I don’t think I ever wore an outfit out that was all from my own closet. Unfortunately, my BFFs don’t all live close by anymore, but I’ll count sites like Rent The Runway as kinda sorta not really “sharing,” especially since you can see photos of what you’re eyeing to assess fit. That part is always so helpful, especially when you’re getting ready for a wedding or event.
Green fashion is pretty trendy right now, but I think it’s always been cool to recycle clothes. What are your favorite ways to shop sustainably?
