In the "business" if anything disappeared, particularly equipment, we always said "It's been recycled" and that expression started thirty years ago.
i agree doghouse riley the best guitar i ever had was purchased second hand a number of years ago. the sound was fantastic with the maturing of the wood. whats the old saying"the older the fiddle the better the tune".:gnthb:
clueless1 - no way! Do not feel guilty at all. As you say, your son will not care or even remember (sorry to upset anyone, but at that age who can remember?). Also, you are doing good for the environment and, depending where you get the toys from, helping charities too - what on earth can be wrong with that? I can remember some presents I had, but from a much older age and even then, because of the circumstances, I didn't care that they were second hand. My son had quite a few new toys (bought in sales) but alot of second hand ones and that went for clothes too. Now it's a different story of course but he is 19!!! So save your money till then, ha ha, you won't get a choice soon! Bet the boxes are the most fun. The best thing about Christmas is watching your kids so you could wrap up nothing - just watch him tearing paper and being excited, lovely. I don't mean get him nothing at all, blimey I'm not Scrooge either cheers
Clueless - make the most of it while you can. 2nd hand anything at your sons age is just fine. He wont know the difference and the toy will 'play' just the same whether its brand new or not. At the age of my lot, brand names, designer tags and the most expensive shops on the high street are the only things they want!! Save your pennies now cause your certainly going to need them in the future
Thanks all. I know you're right, its just that I grew up in the 80s, when consumerism went mad and there were even TV programs telling us to chuck things away as soon as they were old. Kids that got second hand stuff were called nasty names because it was the height of 'uncool'. Despite knowing that that sort of attitude is out of date and was never right in the first place, it is a bit hard to shake off what you grew up with. Incidentally, as kids we used to regulary get second hand bikes at Christmas, and one year when my dad had just been made redundant and the outlook was bleak, he walked about 20 miles round trip to buy me the Astro-wars game I really wanted. He'd found one advertised in the paper, and he literally had just enough spare cash to buy it, but not even enough for bus fare to go and get it, so he walked it. That made it all the more special, and I told him months later when I found out that if I'd known he was that skint, I'd have settled for nothing at all at Christmas. But back to the point, the wife and I found a couple of toys that our son will like in a charity shop today, so they will be getting cleaned up and wrapped up for Christmas. I'll be keeping a lookout for more of the next couple of weeks too.
Clue - being on 'the net', do you have a 'freecycle' group near you? I have and it's marvellous for getting things you want/getting rid of things you don't want. It saves stuff going to the tip and although I've received some stuff that is yuk!, some are brilliant and I've given away things that normally would be taken to the tip too. As far as I know freecycle is available all over the place so I'm sure you would have one. I use the one through Yahoo! but there are others. Just think about all the stuff that's bought and never really used, you can only keep so much 'for one day', lol. Usually it goes in the bin or tip and this group stops it happening - even more for the good of the world! Seriously, try it. I'm glad you have found some stuff for your son, he will love it! We give just about everything now, whether it be on freecycle (or freegle I think its called on yahoo?) or to charity shops. And we buy/get for free there too, so it's a complete circle isn't it? I know posting pics of kids isn't well thought of now, but let us know how your Christmas goes. I'm sure you will enjoy it all the more cos of your son. cheers
There are two freecycle groups round here, or there were when I last looked ages ago. The only thing that stopped me signing up is that where I live, we straddle the boundary between two groups, so I didn't know which to sign up for. Maybe its changed now, but when I looked ages ago you could only sign up to one group. Maybe I'll have another look. I do think its a good initiative.
passing a charity shop one day,looked in the window and they had a cd/radio player in the window. i had one in the garden hut ,but the cd player was broken. i thought i would pop in,ask how much they wanted for the player.the women said"give me a fiver" sold i said. took the player home plugged it into the hut,the cd player was broken on that one also!!. i now have two broken cd players!!!!:( i,m off to comet to buy a new one :( anyone want some spare parts music.
purchased a new cd/radio player from Asda today ,cost £15 ,as cheap as chips. purchased a cd cost £10 !!!!! its crazy.?
There a Heart Foundation charity shop not for from us that sales electrical goods and furniture. You can get an excellent VHS recorder for ten quid or less. I was looking for an old fashioned cassette tape recorder with microphone.
The things parents do for their kids eh? You know what though - your dad still would've made the walk, he wanted to see that smile on your face When we first moved to the UK I couldn't believe what a throwaway society it really is. I know quite a few people who have the latest this and that in terms of technology, furnishings etc., but they freak if the kid spills a drink (um, don't get the 'best' stuff till the kids are older!), they're having to pay interest only on their mortgages, they're up to their necks in credit card debt.....or worse, can't afford to be in their own home anymore. My three little guys all just got new bikes (birthdays) - one was a used BMX from Ebay that sells for in the region of £400 new, it needed new brakes, but we got it for £40 (Yes, I checked the serial number with police to ensure it wasn't stolen!) The other two got great bikes at half price sale at the bike shop in town. to be honest, the £40 used one is the best bike of the lot, and his bike is the talk of the street - NONE of the kids in my home or their friends have commented on it being used, it's just a really cool bike as far as they are concerned - and at £400 he certainly wouldn't have gotten it. There is alot of good used goods out there - and you will be smiling in your heart on Christmas day when you see the look on your little ones face with all his new pressies - and be able to sleep well that night too not dreading the bills coming in the following month
Generally the FREEGLE groups have set up when the volunteer moderators of the freecycle groups have upset members (at least that was the case in my area) so FREEGLE becomes a splinter group. Many areas therefore have both. I've not gained anything that way but have certainly given stuff away that way - much better than dumping it AND someone comes and take sit away so saves you time and petrol as well.
I thought I'd run a little update. Christmas time was my busiest ever, with last minute shopping etc. Christmas eve was so busy I was was quite worn out by the time I finished preparation at about midnight. Because we were staying at my mum's over Christmas, my son was extra active (he always is when there is a change of scenery) so we didn't get him to bed until nearly 10PM. That means I couldn't start assembling and wrapping his present until then. Most stuff was easy, but there was a garage and a walker that needed to be built. No problem, ten minutes I thought. How wrong was I. I had to get my toolbox out of the car because I needed more than the standard one screwdriver. Nearly two hours later, the living room is full of loosely wrapped parcels, his stocking, which I'd let him play with for five minutes at bed time to prove it was empty, now had some little toys in it that mysteriously appeared through the night, and I could finally go to bed. Christmas morning I made a great show of being excited and shocked that suddenly his stocking had something it so Santa must have been. We took him downstairs and made another great show of being surprised that some presents had appeared. Naturally, being just short of a year old he didn't really understand what was happening, but was clearly excited about the activity that the mysterious overnight arrival of loads of paper He spent about half an hour studying one of the parcels before I 'accidentally' ripped a bit of the wrapping paper so he could see that something was hidden inside. After that, in no time at all he'd ripped all the paper from that one parcel (I wrapped it all very loosely so he could do it). It was a little activity table with lots of buttons and flashy lights and things that I'd bought from the car boot sale. That was it, he loved it so much it was a good couple of hours before he even briefly considered seeing what the other parcels held. Christmas dinner was had at my sister's. Yet another different house for him to explore, and the added bonus of two new dogs he'd never met. One of them, a staffy, loved him and even stood guard over him when he spent half an hour in his play pen (much to the confusion of the dogs, I think they thought he was trapped in jail or something), while we had our dinner (don't worry, he didn't get left out, his was mashed up and cooling off). I won't bore you all with the full detail, but suffice to say that he was so excited that he kept missing his naps, forcing himself to stay awake in case anything else new happened. All in all a great success, but very tiring. Oh, and he took his first solo steps over Christmas too
