Monday, May 11, 2009

Etiquette Lesson

As a mom of four, there are some things that are necessary for us to do to get by and not go broke. Using hand-me-down clothes for the kids is one of those things. The twins wear Meg's old clothes, Meg wore a friend's daughter's clothes until she got taller than the child, and Drew sometimes gets some from other friends. I gave my neighbor all of the twins 0-6 month clothes when she had boy-girl twins and I'm pretty sure she never needed to WASH a single onesie, ever. I am not too picky with hand-me-downs; I appreciate them and if it saves me money, my kids tend to wear them. Well, I appreciate them to a point.

On Friday one of Doug's coworkers dropped off a giant bag of clothes for Drew. We were thrilled, because the poor boy is currently wearing high-water pants since he grew over the winter and all his pants are too short. I'm not about to spend money on pants since he'll grow over the summer, again. I'll just wait until fall. I digress. In going through the bag though, we were disappointed. The clothes were either MUCH too small (size 6-9 months doesn't fit ANY child in this house thanks) or three sizes too big. Argh.

I can understand if you want to share clothes and I appreciate the thoughtfulness. But don't just dump stuff on me that I have to go through and then get rid of MYSELF. That's disrespectful. Ask me what size my child is wearing before you load up a bag of junk for me that I can't use. Now we have to find a home for almost an entire bag of clothes that we can't use. Like I don't have enough to do with my time.

Do I sound whiny and ungrateful? Maybe so, but I don't care. I have four kids, one income and lots to do. Be respectful of that.

5 comments:

Jill said...

That's just lame! Why would someone do that? I say make it easy on yourself and find the nearest Salvation Army or Goodwill drop off. Someone will use them!!

brooke b said...

I agree....one fast dump at the nearest goodwill. Total bummer. Any chance they thought you were 'trying for a 5th' and would need tiny clothes again? :)

Painless Mama said...

I feel your pain. When a friend of mine found out my second baby (who isn't even due until September, mind you) is going to be a boy, she said, "I've got clothes for you!"

Then proceeded to give me two ginormous bags of sizes 3T-5T...great I live in a tiny NYC apartment too...frenemy!

creative kerfuffle said...

i think i'd have to just give her the bag back and let her deal w/ it herself. that blows. and i am soooo not opposed to hand-me-downs or thrift store clothing.

Astarte said...

That's just rude. You shouldn't hand-down something that you wouldn't go to a store and buy for them. Sheesh!!! I would totally give them back, with a polite note thanking them for what they gave you, and indicating that you thought maybe they knew someone else that could use the thing that you couldn't.