Strollerderby

I totally agree.  If I wouldn't put it on my kid, I'm not going to hand it down to someone else's kid.  It's just common courtesy, I think.

I have a neighbor who keeps giving me bags of clothes for my son. Most of them are so stained or torn that the Salvation Army wouldn't even take them. The last bag she gave me was filled with used underwear and socks! Second hand toddler underwear, I'm sure you can guess what it looked like. It's insulting, but my husband keeps on taking the bags "to be polite". He won't even let me throw the bags out with the rest of the trash because he is afraid the neighbor will see. He drives all the clothes to the dump himself!

Yet another case where a little common sense is called for. I am finding that toddler boys pretty much destroy their clothes while they are wearing them, so I feel like even if I bought new, I'm getting my money's worth for all the wear they get.

I would look at this in the broader context of give away clothing in general.  People donate thousands of unwearable items to charity for resale every year.  I think it is offensive to donate something unwearable and think that someone would actually want to wear it again.  I'm sorry but even if it is Prada, if it has a stain, is ripped, coming apart, or anything else, please throw it away.  hand-me-downs are a wonderful tradition, but it can be insulting to receive someone's trash, please don't give it to your friends or Good Will.

You sound like you're being ungrateful. If there are things you can't use, then get rid of them (or keep them stored until you give ALL the clothes back). Based on your post, a few stained onsies are hardly worth getting snooty about. Seriously, onsies are usually warn UNDER clothes. But again, if you can't use it, then pass it along.  

In thinking about things people donate to charity--I had a friend in high school who made quilts with material she cut up from stained/gross clothes she found at the Salvation Army. I also read online once about a man who bought cheap, holey sweaters to line the bottom of boxes he used to rehabilitate squirrels and rabbits. So while the things that come in may not be "wearable" they may still be useable. In my opinion, it's best to let people decide what works for them rather than waste materials.

I think it depends on how "needy" you think the recipient is.  I have a friend who can afford all the clothes she wants for her daughter, but I do like to pass on things that are really special and in perfect condition.  I'd never pass on to her anything with the least stain, and the really stainy stuff I'd give to charity so nobody I know would have a clue at how bad I am at removing stainage.

Uh yeah, you're being an ungrateful crankpot to say the very least.  One person's garbage is another person's treasure.  Sure, the mold stains are garbage, but the rest?  Not necessarily.  Some stains can be removed, and if that's not your talent or something that's beneath you, pass them along. I would have donated them and taken the tax write off.  Better for you and better for the environment.

I agree with Barb - there are a lot of different ways people can use clothes, even those with holes or stains. I for one love going to Salvation Army and buying up clothes for art projects, felting, quilting, etc - much of which ends up as new clothes for my own kids. (This winter's project was felted hats made out of old sweaters - totally cute!)

I think especially in these times of both economic uncertainty as well as a growing 'green' awareness, we should really be doing a better job of using our resources.

"Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without"

I'm divided - in one way, I don't pass anything on to Goodwill that I wouldn't wear myself, and if clothing is stained or ripped or otherwise damaged, I will throw it away or use it as rags.

However, babies are messy and no baby or toddler clothes are ever pristine. I like to keep some stained, torn baby clothes around for particularly messy play or art times.  But if I had only some nice clothes, or nice-er clothes, I might appreciate a few junkier pieces that I could use for arts and play without worrying what else would happen to them. I would only do this between friends, but I could see it being useful.

I think it's a matter of preference. I don't mind stains on clothes as long as they're not horrific. A few spit up stains on infant clothing? No problem! I actually hit the craft store, buy a couple of cool iron-ons for a dollar, and cover them up. Voila! Instantly new again, personalized clothes. I think the stuff you would be embarassed for your child to be seen in? Make them into rags!

I have been accepting hand me down from my nephew, and then passing things along to my sister who just had a baby. I tended to weed out anything with bad stains and toss them, but after reading some of the posts here I will change that. I can used the stained clothes for rags or for messy play times, and I never looked at it that way. Thanks for the suggestions.

something no one ever mentions is you can dye the clothes another colour to hide the stains. it works great to do that!

I do take stained ones. My boy is a messy eater, so I am not putting anything nice on him before his breakfast. Also, he plays a lot in the dirt and in the grass, thus nothing nice for wet days either. No need to mention stomach-flu episodes, I guess.

I could see myself giving away stained clothes.  We're on the fence about having a second, but for now our first's clothing is all packed in boxes in our basement.  When I put them away, I didn't think about culling them for stained items, because it was all stuff I was comfortable with #1 wearing, and good enough for #2.  If we decide against #2, though, I'll start to give away clothes, and I'm not going to bother going through them before I give them away.

Jeanne,

I want banana bread!

:)

I've always been the two sets of clothes type of person.

My kids have always had the good stuff they go out in and the stuff I can't seem to get the stains out of or that clothes that have seen better days, or pants with holes in them that the boys play in....that way, I don't have to get all crazy when they ruin something.  And I'm not all Kate Gosselin about stains when they are doing a craft or digging up worms.