If you (& spouse) made $160K/yr, would you force your kids to wear 2nd hand clothes?

[Nords]

i don't know about other sports, but in soccer (speaking from personal experience), shelling thousands of dollars to be on a "travel team" is ridiculous.

Yeah, well, welcome to Hawaii.

And if you have a world-class instructor, then it's totally worth it.

http://www.oahutaekwondo.com/

 

[KingB]

My second grandaughter is wearing a dress which was handed down to her by her older sister which was handed to them by their mother (my DD) who wore the dress 34 years ago.

 

[mh]

Yeah, well, welcome to Hawaii.

And if you have a world-class instructor, then it's totally worth it.

http://www.oahutaekwondo.com/

yeah, i can see how for individual sports you would get value out of
(expensive) instruction, and since there is not (as) much of a team concept, there's nobody that's interested in getting you to "join" their team and provide for your instruction in the process.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

I would like to say to various people....

Do NOT buy your kids used shoes... usually they have a wear pattern that is based on the previous users foot and that can cause problem for your kids...

The only way I would do it is if I could not see any sign of wear on the soles...

Which is why I mentioned buying my son new sneakers and shoes. Having run 7 marathons and many long distance trail races, I know how important good (meaning fitting YOUR foot) shoes are. (On the other hand, there are native american tribes in central america/mexico that run 70 mile runs with cut-up used tire pieces.)

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Even though my father made a great living as a physician, I grew up wearing second-hand clothes and stuff my mother bought (seemingly in bulk) on clearance from all sorts of stores. Some stuff was from JC Penny, while other stuff came from Bloomingdales and Dillards. Did I have a problem with it? Nope, unless she tried to make me wear stuff that was clearly out of style or was a shirt/pants combo that made me look like a dork.

These days, my wife and I do very well and could afford to shop at Nordstrom, Bloomindales, Brooks Brothers, etc... for clothes. We don't. For our daughter (who is 2), my wife goes to all the kids consignment/resale shops. Most stuff is brand name with some wearing, but plenty of life left. She outgrows the stuff so fast, it doesn't make sense to buy retail. The only things we do buy retail are quality shoes, but even then only when they're on sale.

 

[ziggy29]

We neither have kids nor earn $160K, but I'm sure we wouldn't force them. However, depending on the circumstances I might tell them if they wanted new clothing they could have it -- if they earned the money and bought it themselves...

 

[FUEGO]

I can see hand me down clothes but taking showers outside with a garden hose to save money is over the top.IMO

This may explain strange stares we get from the neighbors. I mean, heck, we are giving the kids a bath with the garden hose, not beatin em with it!

 

[Nords]

This may explain strange stares we get from the neighbors. I mean, heck, we are giving the kids a bath with the garden hose, not beatin em with it!

Depending on the surf forecast, there will be weeks when I shower more at the beach than I do at home.

 

[MBAustin]

With our kids, they had both used/hand me downs mixed with new. Given the rapid change in sizes during the growth years, I see nothing wrong with this.

+1

That's how we did it until the kids were in middle school, then we gave them a clothes budget and they could decide where to spend it. Daughter (just out of college) thinks Goodwill is too expensive so I guess it rubbed off.

 

[convergent]

I make about $160K a year, and my 4 kids, as well as my wife and I, wear mostly second had cloths. My wife loves garage sales and thrift stores, and she also goes to places like Plato's Closet. My kids learned that they can get a lot more cloths for their money this way. Much of what she finds, you can't tell that its ever been worn. Of my kids, 3 are girls and throughout their teen years they love finding bargains on a pair of jeans that someone paid over $100 for that they can get for $5.

Just because someone makes a lot of money doesn't need they have to waste it.

 

[tryan]

you can't tell that its ever been worn.

I get this ... we just donated a bunch of stuff ... some with PRICE TAGS on it.