Kid Exchange

When I first heard of the Kid Exchange in Raleigh I giggle and laughed about trading in Logan for a newer model, after The Wife shot me a look I soon found out that this is a giant event that happens twice a year and I hope I never have to go near it. If you don't feel like clicking on the link, Kid Exchange is a giant consignment sale of all things kids. It's a great way to get pretty decent clothes and toys without breaking the bank.

Since we are now in a smaller location (I know I need to write something about that, still too close to the issue I swear I'll get to it) we needed to get rid of some items and that's when we realized that Logan had what equals 7 of those Rubbermade tubs full of clothes that

we were not planning on keeping. We were trading clothes with other families but with Logan now wearing 18 month clothing when he is only 12 months we kind of caught up to our friends and have an excess of clothing. For two days The Wife went through the tubs and we ended up with two tubs of keepers, two tubs that would not sell and three tubs that we could actually sell at the Kid Exchange.

They have very strict rules on what type of clothes and what you have to do to each item and the hardest part was everything had to be in wire hangers. The guidelines mentioned going to local dry cleaners and asking for extras or recycled hangers. After driving to 6 different locations and being rejected a few times I finally found enough hangers. We also had to buy card stock paper, zip ties and safety pins. The next two days we spend hanging and pinning the cloths and attaching cards with the zip ties. I figured I spent 7 hours of my life doing this. While packing I did not realize how fast Logan actually grew. 75% of all the clothing was new born to 6 months with the bulk being the 3-6month style of clothing. After that it was a sparse selection because he grew so fast. We had only 9 outfits for that were labeled 9 months. he's finally settled down with the growth spurts but I fear how big this kid is going to be.

I get everything packed into those three tubs and head down to the State Fair grounds and see a wave op people entering into the TWO BUILDINGS carrying clothes and other baby items. As you can see from the

picture this place is huge and it is backed with nothing but toys and clothes. The other building are larger items like cribs, high chairs and bikes. I finally trek my way to the boy clothes and find the 50ft length of stand for new born. Most of the rack is already full and I have to spread my clothes out across the whole section. I noticed a theme with placing the clothes out. Most people wanted their clothes right at the beginning of the sections and as you went further along the less packed the clothes became. I'm guessing everyone wanted their clothes to be seen and picked the starting point. My philosophy became so many people are going to be going through these clothes that it did not matter.

As I keep hanging my sale items I see people bring what can only be described as a fork lift full of clothes and toys into the hanger like building. I thought we had a lot of excess but holy crap, these people made me feel like I only had a hand full of things. How can you get that much stuff and need to sell it. I understand if you have a lot of kids but at some point in time you had to think that your house was creaking and bowing at the seems from weeble wobbles, Legos and Barbies.

The size of this sale is maddening and you should see it when it is actually underway. The one time I went with The Wife the line to check out was all the way around the building and started to double back. It's just a sea of humanity within a see of clothes. It's almost sensory overload and I never ever want to go back. For The Wife it is almost heavenly but I do not wish to be involved.

Back to the original idea of this post, after I finished up tagging everything I figure we have about 150 items for sale and if we sell it all we can make over $400. If we sell half which is what I'm hoping it's about $140. If we do make that $140 we have to take out the $40 I spent on supplies and then the Kid Exchange takes $15 that means we have made we have a profit of $85. Then again The Wife is going twice, once as a seller the day before it opens and then again on Saturday. I'm just hoping to break even at that point. I've said it before, babies are a racket and I need to tap into it somehow.