Since we're in the process of clearing out some stuff from our house, I started checking the Moms (and dads) Of The Hill (MOTH) group this week to get an idea of what kinds of baby items I could get used from there. It's hosted on this weird groups.io website and has kind of a strange interface so I had been signed up for a while but wasn't looking at it. I guess I finally got the inspiration this week because I was able to pick up probably close to $1000 worth of items for a whopping $0. I've given a bunch of stuff away on Craigslist for free recently but no where close to what parents are giving away on here...
The group is based on location and our address barely makes the cut- if we were 200 feet north, technically we wouldn't be allowed in the group. I think the aim of that is to make the group more of a neighborly kind of thing. The site is also used for getting advice from other parents, and in non-covid times, also a social planning tool. But right now it seems like it's mainly just things for free/sale and it's a superior alternative to Craigslist for these niche items.
The nice thing about getting stuff from this group vs Craigslist is that most stuff is either a walk or a bike ride away, so I picked up a lot of things during lunch this week. This was good because it got me outside and off my butt. Also since you're dealing with neighbors who are all in this parenting business together, the email/text coordination is very friendly. Everything I picked up was with 'contactless pickup' where I would coordinate with the person when I was coming and they would put it outside for me on their porch shortly beforehand. This is probably mainly a covid measure but it actually kind of makes things easier for both parties.
I only ran into one issue at a condo-like complex where the directions to their patio area were a little vague, and I realized I entered the wrong gate and was wandering around other people's connected patios/yards trying to find the hidden package. You better believe I was happy to be a white girl doing that. I got out of there stat and found the right place.
The biggest score for this week was the Babyletto Hudson crib and Pottery Barn mattress, which I've seen on all the crib 'best ofs'. We weren't initially planning on buying a used crib because there are some warnings against that, but we felt okay about this for a few reasons- we were probably going to get this same crib, it's a highly recommended and known crib, it's not an older model crib, and we didn't get it at like a yard sale kind of thing. I learned that the mom is a lawyer and her husband works for the state department, and his job is bringing them to Paris (!). Because of covid this plan was on hold for a while, but once it got green lighted they had to get out fast, so I think they just needed to get rid of everything. The rest of the family is already in Paris and she is just closing up shop. Obviously once we put it together we'll make sure nothing seems amiss, but if all works out that was probably at least $600 worth of stuff with the mattress.
The hardest thing to carry home this week was a metal gate,which was also on all the gate 'best of' lists (I think everyone is just looking at these same lists). We aren't going to need a gate right away so I hesitated at first, but figured it would be good to get it and try it out while we have the time to make sure it's what we want for our narrow stairs, etc. If not, I'll pass it on to another MOTH. But I walked home with this gate for over a mile and it was heavier than anticipated (I thought most of these gates were lightweight plastic). I was swinging it around from arm to arm and definitely sweat through my shirt because it was sizzlin that day. I also carried a Boppy home on my bike one day with an unopened box of breast milk storage bags and some nice muslin swaddles, which was pretty awkward (mainly because of the giant Boppy). But it's all for Doglet so it's okay.
Anyhow, I'm sure we won't get everything for free but it's good to start getting this stuff so we can get a better idea of what we're going to need to purchase and get everything set up. After that I can stare at it for several months in anticipation of Doglet coming :)
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