The woman spent only on food and diapers. And even gifts for the New Year and birthdays were used.
One evening, looking around her daughters’ rooms, 33-year-old Katie decided: that’s enough. From now on, and for the next year, her children, four-year-old Eliza and two-year-old Ariadne, will do without new things and toys. Because the house is already littered with junk to the very roof – how much money is spent on it! In addition, girls do not have time to use some things – they grow out of them, and they lose interest in others the very next day.
“I decided that I would not buy anything new for myself either. I have everything, why spend money on something else, ”- Katie shrugs.
Some parents, who are sure that children only need new and better things, twisted their fingers to their temples: they say, mummy with greetings. But Katie was determined to save money and curb her consumer appetites at the same time.
“I don’t think my girls noticed any difference. They wore things without whims that I bought from my hands, found in thrift stores or through advertisements. Friends and relatives brought something, ”says Katie.
Gifts for the New Year and birthdays, a ski suit and winter jackets – everything was given to both the children and the mother, who were no longer new, but at very reasonable prices. For example, she got a luxurious dollhouse half a room in size for only 800 rubles. And in a thrift store, in addition to clothes and shoes, Katie found wonderful books – and they were worth mere pennies. Katie only spent money on food. And I also bought diapers for my youngest daughter – you can’t buy used ones here. And one of the biggest expenses – socks as a gift to the mother-in-law.
“The shoes you can find in second-hand shops are practically new. A crib (Katy discovered in the midst of the experiment that she was pregnant with her third child) was given to us by friends, their child grew out of it. I bought a carrier and a car seat from my hands, ”says Katie.
The woman admits that this shopping practice can seem boring. After all, she had to fur ads, scour charity stores in search of goods of the right quality and size. And being pregnant is quite difficult to do.
“I had to put a little more effort into providing the family with everything necessary, yes. But the quality of our life has also improved. After all, I managed to save a lot of money. My husband and I even managed to dig in and go skiing with our daughters, ”says the thrifty mother.
And Katie also believes that the sellers of children’s things are hard to hammer into the heads of parents that they should spend as much on babies as possible, creating an artificial demand for their supply.
“Not all the things we buy for children are really so necessary. There are many useless goods that then simply stand idle. And the high cost of these goods is not always justified, ”she says.
Now Katie is a three-time mom. And she still doesn’t buy anything new for her children. This way of life has become a habit with her:
“And only now I realized how much it costs us to raise children. But we ourselves make it that way! “
Interview
What do you think, is it necessary to buy only new things for children?
I would disdain to dress the child in what someone else was wearing.
My children were wearing other people’s things, there is nothing wrong with that.
Sometimes hand-made things are of better quality than new ones.
The main thing is not to skimp on really important things. For health, for example.
If you can afford to buy everything new, then why not.