Kid's grow like weeds. We buy brand new clothes for our kids, and within months they no longer fit! Clothing for kids can take up a big part of your budget. For a short time after the birth of my son, my kids were getting only a few outfits a piece when I did buy clothing. I have a set budget for clothing, so we did with what we had. If you ask my husband, he'll tell you I complain all the time about how I hate paying a lot for kids clothing. Eventually I was able to spend the same amount, but get triple the amount of clothing! Want to know how? Sure you do! That's why you're here.........right?
- Clearance racks. I love shopping clearance! Walmart is notorious for leaving clearance carts full of $1 clothing. I always hit these up. I recently spent $6 on shirts for my son that would have normally cost me well over $35! Target is another great place to find clearance clothing. I like to check their website for clothing coupons before I visit my local Target. They recently had a $4 off any 2 children's clothing items. I was able to print 2 of the coupons and found 4 shirts for $2.20 each. I paid $.80 for 4 shirts!
- Shop out of season. This goes hand-in-hand with clearance racks. Shopping for Winter clothes in Spring or Summer will save you a few bucks.
- Shop resale. I love hitting up resale shops. Not only can you find cheap clothes, but if you're lucky, you can find cheap designer or name brand clothing!
- Shop online. My newest favorite online clothing site is thredUP.com. You get a $10 credit when you sign up (FREE clothes people!). Plus when you invite your friends, you can earn more free credit! You can also sell your gently used clothing from the comfort of your own home.
- Consign. I recently have fallen in love with consignment sales. My favorite is the Just Between Friends Sale. You can sign up to sell your children's clothing and toys online. Once they sell, you get a check mailed to you! They have numerous sales a year all around the country. Great way to get new clothes and make money off your old ones. Plus, unlike other consignment and resale shops, you price your own items.
- Extend the life of your clothes. Too often we find ourselves tossing out clothing because they have a hole in them. Maybe it's getting too warm out to wear long pants? I always take a second look at clothing with rips and holes. Check to see if they can be stitched up or have a patch put over the hole. My daughter once ripped her leggings on the knee. Instead of tossing out the leggings, I cut them into shorts and hemmed up the bottoms. My daughter loves leggings. So every fall we buy her leggings. By the time Spring comes, we cut them into shorts or capris so she can get another season out of them.
- Hand me downs! Yep, I said it. Hand me downs. Save your clothes for the next kid. I grew up wearing a lot of my big brother's clothing. If you have two daughters a few years apart in age, it makes sense to just save the clothing for the second child.
- Trade. You can go online and find groups of mom's in your area who trade and sell their kid's clothing among themselves.
What do you do to save money on your kids clothing? What about your clothing?
Check out this article on Yahoo!
After I wrote this article, I was introduced to my local Goodwill Outlet. This Goodwill isn't like the others......oh no. They do not sort anything, nor do they wash it. Everything is dumped into bins, and left for you to sort through. The cost.......$.79 per pound! I redid my family's wardrobe for under $30! You wouldn't believe how many things are donated still with tags on them! I also found out that my local Target donates excess items that they marked down on clearance, but never sold (and their out of season items). A bargain hunter's dream!
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