Consigning

I was blessed my many friends and family with beautiful clothes for Elaina. I received over 10 bags of clothes; some well loved and others never-before worn. Our basement is filled with bags and boxes.

I realized after 10 weeks of having a baby, they really don't need THAT MANY CLOTHES!
I had clothes for all ages (newborn-2T), except 3-6 months. I realized I had way too many clothes.

Elaina grew very slow in the first 7 weeks, and then BOOM gained 2 lbs. Even with Elaina growing as slow as she did I don't need 12 pairs of pants, 20 onsies or even 15 dress, and I love dresses!! Babies, I hear, grow fast and so I wanted to have nice, quality pieces and not have so much in my basement.

I initially wanted to give to friends,but I have no friends who were/are having girls; 10 boys have arrived or will be arriving in the year. So, I thought, I'll sell the clothes that I may not use and buy for the 3-6 months age that I need.

Here is what I learned when consigning.

Zip, Button, Tie: Make sure its easy look at. When things are not buttoned, zipped or tied its harder for the consignor to see the item, they get SO many people bringing stuff in that its not worth their time.

Light: Look at clothes in all different light. Sometimes a piece doesn't look stained, but in a darker or lighter room you can see a stain that may not have been there before.

Match it up: If the outfit has a few pieces, hat, diaper cover and dress put it all together. They dont want to have to (like above) piece it all together, they need to look through these bags quickly, and if you have a bag filled with item that are mis/matched but really have a pair they wont see this and will probably just give your bag back.

The other day I took a huge bag of clothes in, a few had stains I missed, a few had a bloomer or hat, but I didn't put them together and I didnt make them "ready to go".
I came back home, found the hat for one outfit, sunned a few items (getting stains out) and make them all complete, zipping, tying and buttoning. I went back and sold almost all the clothes.

Presentation is everything.

Now, you don't usually get very much for your clothes but if you learn the system you can negotiate. Some brands sell better so you can ask for a few bucks more. I was able to get $85.00 worth of clothes for $15.00 at a $1.00 clearance sale. I got Elaina her whole 3-6 month lot of clothes. I tried to pick pieces that will mix/match with other pieces....making more than one outfit out of what you buy.

Find a consignor near you, sign up for promo's/emails and watch the savings (earnings) begin!