21 weeks ~ NCT sales and 2nd hand stuff

NCT (National Childbirth Trust) sales are amazing!  They sell second hand baby and child things, everything from clothes and toys to equipment and you know it's going to be of a decent standard.  They have been a life saver for us as we just wouldn’t be able to afford everything brand new.  We even managed to get a carrycot for the pram which we had bought, it had been used about twice!

I know second hand stuff isn't for everyone, but I'm loving it.  Babies are expensive - fact.  If I can get some really nice clothes second hand I'll jump at the chance, one of my friends has given us 4 bags of clothes, there are some lovely things in there.  It's not that I'm against supermarket clothes... they have their place (although I do have a thery on supermarkets taking over the world and possibly moving into baby clothes is another step in that direction) but if I can get hand me down M&S, NEXT etc clothes second hand, I feel I'm helping the world by re-using things and getting some lovely clothes you wouldn't know were second hand anyway...

I always find it's worth having a look on gum tree, e-bay etc even freecycle before buying something new you wouldn't mind buying second hand.  Plus ask around, I've been lent lots of things by friends which they have finished with or they'll have back if/when they have another child.

Another thing which I had been thinking a lot about was our pram, many of the epilepsy books suggest buying a pram with dead brakes, but having looked around for one it became apparent that these don’t exist… when I contacted epilepsy action about where I could get one from they had given me the details of a charity who made adaptions to everyday things to allow disabled people to access them.  They were called remap.   I sent a request online and a few days later got a phone call from a lovely man who organised applications in our area, we organised for him to come over and have a look at the pram.  When he came over he explained that they just charge for the cost of materials as they gave their time for free.  He said he’d never adapted the breaks on a plan but was definitely up for the challenge.  He took the pram away with him to have a think.