Most kids love to play sports and be outdoors but as they begin to join teams for their school and the city leagues, the cost for them to play, climbs quickly.
Beginner equipment is generally not very expensive but as they need to improve their
game and as their skills improve, the basic gear will no longer be right for them. Advanced athletic equipment is certainly not cheap and while tennis and golf are still the most expensive sports, soccer, football, and baseball are still very pricey as are many other activities. Just walk around an athletic store to watch how the price tags keep climbing for baseball mits, tennis racquets, cleats, shoes, and other gear; the costs are astounding. Do some of these items really cost all the way up to a couple hundred dollars? Oh yes they do. Everything your child needs to play a sport 
may easily reach $100. An average seems to be out $60 for each item including an outfit, gear bag, shoes, cleats, bat, and gloves but right there, the Benjamins are already mounting up and this stuff will likely need to all be purchased again for the next season.
Since every child grows like magic beans every year, it might be wise to buy clothing items and shoes a size bigger or do an item exchange. Family and friends may have some things their own kids grew out of quickly like cleats, bats, shin guards, etc. that they may be willing to hand down to your family to save a lot of cash. Even if they only last a season or less, it’s nice to have some items for free that get you through as long as they can but it is likely that someone we know has some things that will last at least a full season such as a baseball mit, balls, gear bag, clothes and warm up sweats, or shoes in some cases. Most moms wouldn’t mind giving their childrens’ old stuff away to get out of the garage or instead of tossing them in the garbage so it never hurts to ask around and see if anyone might be able to save you a few hundred bucks every sport season.
A Mom exchange of all of these items and others starting at birth, makes a whole lot of sense. Every parent has stuff that is still new when the child becomes to0 big for it and most moms love to find good use for them instead of packing goods into boxes to possibly never be used again in an attic for fifty years or discarded in a landfill.
A nationwide mother exchange or a smaller geographical area, can be done with the help of the internet. Freecycle is awesome for this. Every single day people near you are posting items 100% for free as they move and need to unload stuff, as kids grow, and as they no longer want many things. Some people give away their old televisions and computer monitors after they buy new ones but know it’s completely wasteful to sit in the garage or the dump so they find someone who could really use one. People moving often post furniture such as couches and desks for free and all you have to do is pick them up in town, it’s that easy and free. Moms do the same thing with baby clothes, bikes, high chairs, and other items their kids stopped playing with so you may find a mom who has a son or daughter no longer playing baseball or football with gear and cleats to give away.
Craig’s List offers a very similar front. Their website not only has their famous classifieds of items for sale by others at very low prices but they also have a trade and barter section so people can do item exchanges, and just like Freecycle, they have a free board that anyone can look at to see if something they could use is available near them for no cost. Everyone has something in good condition they no longer need or use.
Just a small step above these two sites is the world famous Ebay. Ebay is well known internationally with thousands of sellers selling all of their own gently used items online for less than store prices but it also has local classifieds for people to post for sale and want ads of items they have or need so anyone near them can find what they need and buy it near by. If nothing you need is listed, then the online sellers will have it for a good price, and buying only takes a couple seconds.
Thredup is a mothers exchange for clothes and toys but also other items so moms
can browse some clothes like athletic apparel or items that would be perfect for the kids to practice in. Moms simply swap and ship in a trade transaction with another mother to rid the clutter and replace with the things they need. The community of mothers is wonderful and the World Wide Web has made it possible for them to connect in ways never before. Imagine how many hundreds or thousands of dollars you would save if you got so much for free or a lot for only a few bucks? Maybe a couple car payments or mortgage payments? Definitely possible.
