One thing we all know is that kids are expensive little angels. They also need lots of THINGS. Gadgets for travel - car seats, prams, camp cots, booster seats, carriers and nappy bags. Leaving your home to pop to the shops becomes an expedition only second to climbing a large mountain. The problem with kids is that as soon as you have everything you need, they outgrow it all and move on to the next set of gadgets: Push buggies, booster seats, walking rings, bikes, scooters, tricycles and bicycles with bells and baskets. Some of these things amount to a fortune and most of the items won't even be used for more than a year. I love buying second hand things on Gumtree. A quick wash or disinfectant and it's brand new. At these prices, you can spend that extra money on the things that really matter. View the kids section here.
For feeding, babies start with sterilizers and breast pumps to bumbo seats, high chairs, food processors, steamers, blenders and clip-on seats. One second you're nuking bottles in the microwave and then you're elbow-deep in butternut puree. Your little baba will grow faster than you could ever imagine and as she does, she (you) will need even more things. Things, things, things. You can find a beautiful, sometimes vintage feeding chair from R150 on Gumtree.
Our family was very generous and gave us many necessities like a pram, baby seat and compactum. The rest, we mostly scoured on Gumtree and looked for bargains. As the boys outgrew things we swapped out. Put the walking ring on for sale, and bought a feeding chair. Sold the compactum and bought a bookshelf. Put the cot on and bought bunk beds. Looking around our home right now, at least half our furniture is sourced from Gumtree. Our couches, chairs, my dressing table, hallway table, the washing machine and the boys' bunk beds. We have found great deals, bargains, rare finds, antique pieces and great fix-er-uppers. Like many South Africans, Gumtree is a great online resource.
Over the past two weeks we've been shuffling some furniture around. We sold an old cabinet to a really sweet lady that needed it for her daughter's room. Graeme re-homed our weed-eater ( I mean we have a paved garden. I cursed him every time I tried to find room in the boys' cupboard) (WHY do we even have a weed-eater!!?) and right now we're finding a home for an antique table that we don't have space for. You can post free ads on Gumtree. It's super quick and easy. You don't have to give out your personal details - folks can just reply to ads and you get notification mails. Very secure.
Of course, as in real life you also need to be conscious of security online. Have someone at home with you if something is being collected. Be wary of transport costs, shop in your area and accept cash where possible. Ensure that transfers reflect in your available balance before handing anything to it's new owner. Over the past five years or so, we've only dealt with super nice people, but always keep your bases covered nonetheless.
I can easily spend hours on Gumtree and have a knack of finding things that we don't even need. I'll be looking for a coffee table and two minutes later I'm looking at cars, swimming lessons and puppies. You can either search an item by name and your area, or you can look at all the goodies on offer per category. It's like this big online garage sale, and who doesn't like a good bargain? Here are some really cool car beds I found for the boys tonight that we absolutely must have.
Over the next few months I'll be sharing a lot more of my finds and adding links to things I think you'd like. In the meantime: find what you're looking for on Gumtree and have fun!
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