MIL garage sale shopping

[deepa100]

Hi all,
I mentioned in one my previous posting that I was upset for a while because no one threw me a baby shower. I have gotten over that since then. Now get this.

My DH and I bought stuff like crib, swing and a stroller on craigslist. We believe in reusing resources, not because we can't afford them. We bought a brand new cadillac car seat because it is important to have a solid one. One day I was walking near my house and my neighbor was doing a garage sale so I took a little swing and a bath tub from her. My MIL thinks that it is green signal for her to go and buy clothes for my baby in garage sales. I don't go around garage sale shopping. I have got better things to do with my time. I am upset now again because I am not really expecting any thing out of anyone else. My DH and I are perfectly capable of supporting our kid and buying stuff for him. I just don't want a whole bunch of old/used stuff (I do draw a line w/ used clothes esp. if they are from others) for my precious, long awaited one and only one baby!

I would've been happy if she just bought one new thing like an onesie. I also come froma family that looked down upon wearing/buying used clothes. How should I stop this garage sale shopping spree?

[wanttodiscuss]

I don't know what your relationship is with your MIL, but I would suggest having an honest conversation regarding your feeling about used clothes. My mother has a similar personality, she picked up a little table from a yard sale once which worked out well. I had to put an end to it after that as she wanted to start picking up lots of stuff. Similar things have happened with clothes and toys. She picked up a few cute things and I reimbursed her. Since then every time she shows up she has a stack of clothes from Walmart. I am now making her return them everytime as keeping some was just encouraging her and I have gone overboard shopping for my 2 year old so I don't think she needs any new clothes for the next 2 years. (She has detergent sensitivities so she hasn't come up with any used clothes.)

Your MIL probably has no idea as alot of people do use hand-me-down baby clothes and think nothing about it. I have used a few from friends.

[deepa100]

No problems with MIL. We get along fine.

[Jovigal]

deepa, I would be estatic if my mother even took the time to look and shop at yardsales for my little one. That would make me at least feel that she was thinking about me or the baby. With my first daughter, all I got was a pack of cloth diapers, that was it, for 9 months! So, you could be in a worse situation.

[deepa100]

jovigal,
Like I mentioned before, I think MIL is pretty nice. It's just that I am not used to hand-me-downs. I wrote to her, thanked her and said that I have been buying some new stuff over here so she should wait till the baby comes out before she buys any more. I think I handled it well.

[wannababynow]

I personally don't think there is anything wrong with hand me downs. There are many people who raise their family with them who can afford new things. I work for a large company and the owners wife LOVES garage sales and they are very well off finacially. I know that I try and save money when ever I can, I would rather put that extra money back into our 529s(college funds).

I also think it is great that she thinks of you. I have lots of friends that got nothing but greif from their inlaws.

Jessica