One of my favorite things about this time of year is spring cleaning. And by “spring cleaning” I don’t mean actually dusting my baseboards or washing my windows (yeah right), I mean ridding my house of all the crap I’ve been forced to stare at while stuck inside for three months. If you recall, I’m not big on “stuff.” However, despite that fact, my house somehow always looks like a daycare center. A makeshift changing area set up on the toy box; walkers, bouncers, and baby seats everywhere; a play kitchen taking up a third of my living room.
So, now that GB is transforming from baby to toddler and I feel like I’m good on infants (for now, anyway), it seems like the time to get rid of some of this stuff. Clothes, car seats, Bumbos, swings, travel “beds” that never actually worked... you name it; it was in my basement. So I gathered it up, went through it and made piles for donating, keeping, and consigning. You don’t have to go home, enormous infant stroller, but you can’t stay here. Now... where to take it?
Donate
I’m a big supporter of local businesses and organizations in my professional and personal life, so I try to be in my philanthropic life as well. I’ve heard horror stories about some those donation bins you see around town not actually helping local charities or charities at all, really so it’s important to know where your stuff is going. I found this post to be helpful when selecting recipients of my donations, and generally choose to take my used clothes, toys, and household items to my local Goodwill. Plus, ya know, tax deduction. Woo!
Consigning
I have some Facebook friends who swear by those big consignment events that happen a few times a year, like Weeusables. At these events you can generally get a higher price for your items, as well as a higher commission. My only issue with going that route is that you have to price, tag, hang, and deliver your items and, well, ain’t nobody got time for that (I don’t, anyway). I didn’t choose to go with the consignment event, but in case you’re interested, Weeusables Lancaster is March 26-28; Weeusables York is April 16-18.
Instead, I hauled my crap to the good ol’ consignment store. Based on my research, most of the kids’ consignment stores in York generally offer the same consignment rate: 50 percent. I ended up choosing Kids Klothes in York Township because it’s the largest kids’ consignment shop in the area and I figured I’d have the best shot at getting my stuff sold there. Plus I could basically just dump off a crapton of boxes there and let them deal with it, which sounded awesome to me.
At Kids Klothes, they begin accepting spring/summer stuff on January 1 and fall/winter stuff on June 1. Merchandise is commissioned for ninety days and you receive a check at the end of that period... or you can come in and shop at any point during those ninety days and use the credit you’ve earned to date. I went through the consignment process in the fall and found it to be quick and painless. After three months, getting a check in the mail for all the crap I forgot I didn’t have anymore was like a mini Christmas.
If you’re looking to consign, here are some of the more notable kids’ consignment shops in the York area:
● Kids Klothes (1756 S. Queen St., York)
● Kid to Kid (180 Leader Heights Rd., York)
● The Little Green Owl (2500 Carlisle Rd., York)
● Mommy’s Lil’ Rascals (4350 N. George St. Ext., Manchester)
Happy purging!
Follow us over on oh, bother blog or on Instagram (@nomiddlenamemeg) to see our spring adventures.
