How do you save money on clothes and shoes for your family
I feel the same way too!With two kids, i feel like i am spending what it would cost to run a small country just on clothes, shoes, jackets, replacing everything as it is grown out of!
A few things i do:I shop in affordable places and check out sales, and look for the cutest things i can find there in a reasonable price range.If you aren’t browsing in the $60 baby dresses, you aren’t tempted by them.I don’t go looking at $60 shirts for my son, he’s five and he doesn’t need a $60 shirt.For fall i got True Religion Outlet him five pairs of jeans, maybe 8 tops, new socks, etc.Joe fresh, walmart, old navy, costco.Then i choose a few things that i know i want brand name or more stylish options for, and find ways to buy them more cheaply.These might be things like logo’d fleece tops, trendy jackets, things where the style is actually noticed.I buy jeans at old navy for my son when they are on sale, i buy gusti/genevieve lapierre snowsuits at sears when they are 40% off in sept/oct.And for younger kids, old navy and the children’s place jeans have adjustable waistbands.If you want to throw in some babysitting/birthday money and go buy something more expensive, you are welcome to do so! “That way, you are still paying for basics, but they can feel like they aren’t stuck wearing things they don’t like.There, i said it out loud.I try to be careful of what i buy, but i still find things i bought that were never worn.And i return them.I suck it up, i take it with me and go get my money back.Mistakes can be fixed if the items haven’t been worn or washed.
I’m all for thrift stores and yard sales.When they’re littler they’re more into comfort, perhaps insisting on certain colors, but somewhere around 13 they start to become more fashion conscious.If you want name brand clothes for kids, hit yard sales or consignment stores in better neighborhoods.Other places are ross’s or marshall’s.Both carry name brands.It’s just you never know what they’ll have.Another stategy is to buy fewer clothes.If you do laundry twice a week, you just don’t need as much.Aim for mix and match.Also have play clothes for rough and tumble wear and”Good”Clothes for school and church.All these help keep costs down.My sister and i maintained an informal exchange between the cousins.This helped a good deal.A church in our neighborhood has a yearly clothing giveaway.That kind of thing may be an option for you as well.Or you could request needed items on yahoo’s freecycle.I see alot of clothes being given or requested on that site.I had one son who ripped out knees.Double kneed pants were a great investment.It looked like a rather large patch of fusible interfacing attached to the inside knee area.So Cheap True Religion Jeans it might work if you tried that on exisitng pants.Hope these help.
I speak as a person without kids, but i’ll give this a shot anyway, using my memory of the perspective i had when i was a kid.My advice is, if the kids are young enough to not care much, don’t be afraid of the thrift store.My parents got a bunch of clothes from the thrift store as i was growing up(Around elementary school age)And i didn’t care at all.When i got to be older,(Middle school age)Shopping at target and k-Mart didn’t seem bad either.By the time the kids are old enough to really care beyond, they are probably old enough to get their own part-Time jobs and get their own clothing.
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