Hand-Me-Downs

Our wonderful neighbor next door, Gabi, has two boys, fifteen and sixteen-years-old.  The fifteen-year-old, Marcus, is on the smaller side, so he wears a size in clothes that are just a bit bigger than Zac wears.  For the past 18 months or so, Gabi has been bringing over bags of Marcus' outgrown clothing to pass on to my boys.

This summer, when we were on our way home from Washington, I received an email from the fantastic mother of one of Zac's teammates, Brigitte.  She is the one who has helped us the past two seasons, quite frankly saving us last season from having to be in two places at one time, by picking Zac up and taking him to soccer practice at least once a week, because, she says, "It's on [her] way anyway."  She was a blessing to us!  So she had pretty much helped us more than enough.  But the email this time wasn't about practices for the fall, it was to ask if we were interested in some of Jake's outgrown clothes, two years of them.  Jake, her only child, is Zac's age, but about 16 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Zac is.  She brought over tons of clothing, winter-wear, really nice sports clothing (not the Target brand my kids usually get), a couple of pairs of barely used shoes, and backpacks.  The favorite colors were clear: red, white and blue.  Jake's dad is on deployment in Afghanistan. 

We aren't destitute, but outfitting 5 boys obviously gets expensive and I am grateful for the money saved.  A lot of hand-me-downs never make it to the younger two before needing replacement.  And Josh and Ben practically wear the same size because they are built differently-- taller but lean vs. shorter but stockier, so I need a lot of clothing in the size they are in (I see the same thing happening with Luke and Tommy as Tommy gets older).  Most of the clothes handed down we've kept, we will certainly use them.  Just a bit of it is passed on to Goodwill or other neighbors, like if the style is not something my boys will wear or like Jake's 12 pairs of khaki shorts for his TCA uniform that we don't need.

Between these two wonderful women I am not in need of any clothes shopping for Zac this fall.  He is set with all these hand-me-downs and the things I had collected on sale here and there in his next size up over the past months.   And my needs for the next two sizes have grown much smaller as well!  Now I already have four pairs of jeans waiting for Zac when he grows out of the size he's in!  I was tempted to supplement the red, white and blue with a few other colors, until the most recent bag from Gabi arrived on my porch, which held all the extra color we needed!  And all these things can be passed down to the other boys as well.  They have saved me hundreds of dollars, these two thoughtful women!

I am so grateful!