Reply #103: There is no shame in buying used clothing. Try it. You'll like it.

[Honeycombe8]

You have to sift through tons of junk, but the gems are there. Cool, high quality, useful clothing...costing a tiny fraction of what they had cost new.

Kids grow out of clothing so fast, it makes sense to buy used.

Where I come from, it's common for young families to shop garage sales and thrift stores for kids' clothing. It's not considered shameful at all.

Maybe some people who grew up only buying new, or in big cities, find this odd. I don't. It makes sense. It doesn't really matter where you buy something. What matters, if you're like me and many others, is that you get a great deal! And of course, when the foster kid grows out of it, give it away (again) to a charity thrift store, for it to be recycled again.

Recycle, recycle, recycle. It's a learning opportunity for the child, to learn what's important, and about recycling. And if he minds that much, maybe it'll spur him on to get good grades in school, get a higher education, and make $$$ when he grows up, so he can afford to buy new things. In the meantime, just don't tell the other kids you got those great new cool jeans at a thrift store. They'll never know.