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Kid & Family Friendly Sustainable Shopping — Childish Things — 5 Things We Love About Consigmnent!

We get it, buying online from a phone, with a company that charges NO shipping is easy. We can do it any time of day or night, we can check ✅ those undies, shoes, birthday gifts, craft supplies, etc off of our "to do" lists after the kids go to sleep from the comfort of our couches. And many small businesses, our own included, are adapting to add online sales systems as a result of this new expectation many have about shopping. 🛍 🛒

However, as we all get more serious about facing the realities of the climate crisis, we need to face the reality of the costs associated with buying new stuff and with constant convenience.

  • Increased convenience = less diversity in options as more and more small business close their doors because they can't compete. This means less money stays  in our communities, with the people who live here, invest in our schools, infrastructure, and who care about things like our air quality and quality of life, because, you know, they live here too.
  • Buying new stuff, from clothes to toys and furniture, means more natural resources used in the creation of those goods, plus more carbon dioxide in our air in all the steps along the way from extraction of raw materials to boxing, shipping, and delivery.
  • The fashion industry is a big contributor to carbon emissions, according to the World Economic Forum, it produces 10% of all humanity's carbon emissions.

Wait don't stop reading! It's not that kind of an article. We're here to remind you of the solutions we already have at our fingertips.

We hear the sentiment often lately that "we have to do something," and "we don't have much time." Well we agree, over here at Jeff and Paige, and that's why we're partnering with businesses, like Childish Things Consignment, (who does have online shopping BTW! And a live online shopping event coming this week!) to spread the word about all the solutions we have right here, right now, no waiting for impending doom required.

5 Things We LOVE About Childish Things Consignment

(and consignment in general if you are reading this from out of state-- find a consignment store near you!)

  1. Consignment, if you both buy and sell, is essentially a closed loop!

    The ecological ideal! The closed loop, no waste, a system in which the system reutilizes the available material, causing no waste.Here's the scoop: You buy a gently used onesie for your 6 month old, they wear it for one month, and you sell it back at the end of its use in your life. Yes, there are some caveats here, such as the bright red sharpie that your 4 year old got a hold of and used to ruin said onesie, but the theory and most of the practice is sound.Unlike a donations-based thrift store, which can be an essential dumping ground of goods in varying stages of disarray (and which is still a part of a sustainable lifestyle!!) Childish Things Consignment takes care and pride in every piece they offer for sale. AND if you are a consigner you get a return on your investment, a percentage of the sale when your item is sold.Childish Things encourages the reuse and resale of gently used clothing, toys, equipment and gear in the community. It's arguably one of  the most import R's. Reuse.


  2. Childish Things provide children, and their parents, with fashion and toys that are eco-friendly, kid-friendly and wallet-friendly.From baby carriers to shelving units for toys, from maternity clothes to your 5th graders back to school outfit, Childish Things carries it. And if you are making a trip into look for something, take a few minutes to go through your closets for some gently used items to consign while you are there. The items at the store are high quality and gently used. The staff take care to check for recalls and health risks on any of the equipment they sell. Especially for new parents, you could save hundreds of dollars and many pounds of carbon emissions by sending your relatives and friends baby shopping here at this small business.

  3. Childish Things helps prevent items from going to landfills, provides fun gift ideas, and allows parents to save money, and give back to the community through donations to local non-profit organizations. Back to that idea of the closed loop, if we buy used and sell back into that system we help extend the life of our "things." And extending the lives of those things saves money, gives back to the community by supporting a local business -- which essentially means supporting ourselves, because we need and want this service to continue--and that business because it is community focused also gives back into that same community.

  4. Childish Things serves as a support hub for those navigating the waters of parenting and sustainable living with kids. Community, it's what we've all been missing since the pandemic started, but let's be real, community had taken a hit decades before COVID crushed it entirely for a little while. Visiting a small store, speaking to a person, shopping with other members of your community in a place that cares about sustainability and IS A PART OF THE COMMUNITY is a precious experience not to be taken for granted.  From the casual advice we received about cloth diapering to the suggestions for how to keep our one year old entertained on his first plane ride, this human experience of shopping and community can never be replaced by an online low cost / convenience based version. If we don't use it, we lose it. There was a time when "love the local" and "shop small" movements seemed like they were solving the problems we face in an increasingly globalized world, but what these past few years has taught us at Jeff and Paige, is that we are all going to have to keep showing up over and over and over for the things that matter to us. The good news is, it's not hard. And through a partnership with Childish Things we are making it even esasier!

Paige will be a special guest host of a Facebook Live Shopping at Childish Things on April 13th at 7:30pm MST. Join the event for a chance to shop consignment from the comfort of your couch!


I'd like to end this article with a personal story:

It's ten pm, I'm about to stress order a new pair of sparkle shoes for our 2-year-old. The moments that led me here: She found her brother's too big pair of light up shoes in the basement storage and is insisting on wearing them despite the fact that they are 2 sizes too big. Any insistence from me that it be any other way will result in at least a ten minute delay any time we try in leaving the house, an ocean of tears if we try to convince her to wear something that fits and the inevitable giving into her will to wear what she wants even if it's totally inappropriate for her size or the weather. It feels so easy to just go online and get her the thing that will "fix" the problem--both for her and more so, for me. Instead, I take a big breath and reconnect with several things at once: 1) One of my most important parenting rules, "don't fear the fit." Feelings are waves of energy that pass and while they are important to feel thoroughly for a full release, the generally do not need to dictate actions. 2) Whenever possible we don't buy new, especially kids clothes. 3) By "fixing" this I am losing out on opportunity for a different kind of connection with my child.

So I don't buy the new shoes. I close the computer and decide to make some time to take my daughter shopping at a small store right down the road where she will be welcomed to explore the toys on the floor, enjoy seeing and meeting other adults and children, and choose her very own pair from the rack herself.

It might not be the exact pair that she originally wanted, or that  could be ordered at night and shipped to our front door a day and a half later, but it is so so so much better than that pair in so so many ways.

And if we can use these alternative and more efficient systems and teach our children about them and remind our children, and ourselves, that there are good reasons for our choices and hidden costs in the other versions, we are slowly but surely changing the course of our ship.

Paige will be a special guest host of a Facebook Live Shopping at Childish Things on April 13th at 7:30pm MST. Join the event for a chance to shop consignment from the comfort of your couch!

Check out Childish Things online or in person at their store in Boulder, CO.

Don’t live in the area? Google “Children’s Consignment and visit a store near you.

*** This article is a part of our series, “Sustainable Living For Families” in which we focus on the tools and solutions at our fingertips for changing our lives in the face of the climate crisis. If you are a business or organization interested in partnering with Jeff and Paige to offer your family-focuse solution to sustainability, reach out to learn more about partnering with us: paige@jeffandpaige.org. ***