Moving to the D.C. area after my twins were born, we transformed from a family of three living comfortably, to a family of five struggling to make ends meet on one income. I had to get creative with our family budget, and one of the biggest line items to tackle was clothing. Four years later, I finally have a handle on it. Shopping for clothes for my three kids has been fine-tuned into a system that keeps us humming along season by season. How?
I get the best quality I can within my budget.
I take good care of what we have (and teach my children to do the same).
I resell my kids’ clothing in good condition to recoup my costs.
Buy Quality Clothes — For Less
You can save on sturdy kids’ clothing — I get great longevity from Lands’ End and Gymboree — by only shopping sales and clearance. In her article about the best time to buy almost everything, April mentioned which days are best to shop the clothing stores, but knowing the seasonal clearance schedule is helpful as well. For example, I send my kids to their first month of school in shorts and wait for the jeans/pants/leggings to go on sale in late September and October. Winter coats are on clearance in February; be ready to shop ahead for next year.
You can shop online, but do it wisely. I never shop online without coupon codes, and I always shop through a cashback site like Ebates. Shopping online gives me a larger selection of clearance items than local stores. Additionally, shopping online helps me stick to my list and budget, whereas in a store I am tempted to make impulse buys. Finally, most online retailers allow you to return clothing to the store for free if they don’t work out.
Another way to save is with used clothing, especially in the early years (infant to age four). Considering the amount of wear, tear, and washing these clothes go through, you’re better off saving the “good” clothes for church, holidays, and photo opportunities and dressing little ones in used clothing for everyday wear. Whether purchased at yard sales, thrift stores or consignment sales, look for those high-quality brands, the ones that hold their shape and color for years. (J.D. has shared his 18 tips for thrift-store shopping.) I’ve also found new-with-tag clothes at yard sales. The ultimate way to save? Get kids’ clothing for free through Freecycle or handed down from family and friends (don’t be shy about asking!).
Take Care of What You’ve Got
When you take care of the clothes you have, you stretch your dollars by giving items a longer life and better value. I’ve taught my children to care for their clothes by returning to the old-fashioned notion of “playclothes”. My son has learned to come home from school and change from his khaki pants (bought on sale with a coupon, of course) into sweats or other playclothes. These clothes are for running around outside, getting muddy, doing art projects, and the rest of childhood life. We all wear jeans at least twice before washing, and I tackle stains early so they don’t set in. If long-sleeved tees become stained or too worn, they become undershirts for layering.
Resell Clothing When You’re Done With It
I choose my best-quality items to resell at my multiples club’s consignment sale or eBay, sell some at yard sales, and donate or Freecycle the rest. By doing so, I not only recoup some of my initial cost, I also avoid the expense of storage space and keep my kids’ closets clutter-free. The only clothing I keep from my son are those I’ve bought with my twin girls in mind — raincoats, pajamas and other unisex items in neutral colors like red and blue (which my girls prefer to pink, anyway). I even resell my children’s shoes, though that phase is almost over; older children’s shoes get worn out before they’re outgrown.
While I’m sure I’ll have to adjust my system a bit as my kids reach the tween years, adding their opinions and peer pressure to the mix, I’ve set the groundwork for reasonable clothing expenses. My 6-year-old knows we have a budget set aside for clothing and we discuss why a Pokemon T-shirt costs more than a plain one. Already, I see him making choices with his allowance that come from our discussions about wants vs. needs.
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There are 35 comments to "How to save while shopping for children’s clothes".
Dustin | Engaged Marriage says25 February 2010 at 14:07
Thanks for this! As a Dad to two little ones and another coming along in July, I can certainly attest to the expense that kids’ clothes can represent.
I’m looking forward to watching our third (and likely final) baby grow because we can then start reselling and otherwise doing away with the insane amount of clothes we have stored in our basement!
Yay! I’ve been hoping for more kid-friendly guest posts! Though I am SO not a Gymboree mom. I am an avid acceptor of hand-me-downs and gifts though. We’ll see what happens when he hits 5 and maybe isn’t as fun for the grandparents to shop for.
We have 2 little ones, a 3 yr old boy and a 1 yr old girl. Clothes have been an issue since the get go. We had decided to not find out with either kid what the sex was. While that was a lot of fun, it made planning a nightmare. We are planning on having a couple more kids, so I guess we are covered going forward. But we do try to buy the best clothing that we can durability-wise. For holidays and things, we do tend to splurge on a piece to make the outfit really nice, but nothing that cannot be reused for another purpose. We also gladly take hand-me-downs. I have yet to hit a garage sale as these are the first grandkids on both sides…so the grandparents have been more than generous with gifts.
The idea of play clothes works for adults, too. I rarely wear my work clothes (or even casual, going “out on the town” clothes) around the house. I immediately change clothes when I come in and put on something along the line of sweats/athletic clothing. They wear well and I dont’ have to worry about getting a stain on my dry clean only clothes or a pick on a nice sweater I like wearing when I go out.
My town has a great consignment store. It’s a big step above a thrift store and WAY below market price for clothing. Since most kids don’t wear out $30 Gap jeans in the 6 months they fit into them, we buy tons and tons of stuff at the consignment shop, all of it top quality stuff for generally 50-80% off retail price.
It’s absolutely fantastic for 0-5 year olds and the clothing they need as they grow.
I work in a large department store in the children’s department and wanted to offer a few tips for rock bottom prices. Seriously, now that we accept coupons on designers you can find really nice clothing for less than thrift store’s best deal if you know how to look.
1. Ask what the best deals are that day. Find a person who knows, not necessarily the person at the counter. I do the markdowns and set the sales full time and I love to to hook people up with a deal.
2. Learn the markdown schedule for the store and the best days to shop. Our markdowns go into effect on Mondays, but often the best prices with and additional percentages off and coupons are later in the week-Thurs-Sunday. Some weeks markdowns don’t get physically marked down until later in the week.
3.Use the price checker. Sometimes customers find deals before we do!
4. Shopping in the morning is usually the best time to find someone to help you find the deals. People who sign and do markdowns often work an early shift.
3. Be specific about what sizes/ brands you are looking for.
I am very lucky to live in Atlanta. We have plenty of thrift stores to choose from. I try to buy only high end clothes at the thrift stores on half price day. I pay $2 a piece of clothing or less and then consign them when I am done with them. As my son gets older he is wearing out his clothes more so I am not making as much but the first year of his life not counting medical bills we came out with $500 more then we started with because we bought all of his stuff dirt cheap in great condition and then consigned or craigslisted it all when we were done with it. The years after that have been between $100-300 I have even started grabbing things not in his size or gender and tossing them straight into the consignment bin. I think thrift store shopping is a skill like any other skill and has to be learned and practiced. However now it takes me on average ten minutes from start to finish to go through all the clothes in my son’s size at my favorite store and check out. I go once a month and so for 2 hours of work a year I make 100-500 dollars not to mention I pay nothing for my son’s clothes. An added bonus is since all his clothes costs $2 or less I don’t stress about him wanting to wear nice sweaters just to play in and I don’t worry when something gets messed up or it only fits for two months before he grows out of it.
What is a “Gymboree Mom”? I like buying clothes for my son that last, which is why I shop at Gymboree on clearance. Hands down they are the clothing that have held up the best.
I also find that I do as well on clearance at retail stores than I do at thrift stores. But free is always the best, and we’re lucky to have family who buys us clothing or friends who give us their hand-me-downs.
And Kate is absolutely right. Don’t overbuy. Kids really don’t need that many outfits, especially when they are little. I just do laundry more often.
I shop at TheChildrensPlace.com and always go to retailmenot.com or momsview.com for coupons at that store when shopping online. I find that their jeans have adjustable waists and last as long as any name brand. They also have brick & mortar stores as well but I find that the stores don’t have a big selection of clearance items. The online stores have tons more clothing at clearance (we’re talking $4 for a long sleeve cute boy top or girl top and $9 or less for jeans). Plus, their shipping is a flat $5. With online coupons,it makes the deals even sweeter. I have purchased 4 tops, 2 shorts, 1 legging and 1 jean for a total of $40 including shipping as a gift!
I buy bigger sizes for my kids since they grow so fast but not so big that it hangs on them. I also make sure that the jeans are label-free on the outside and are in a stone wash color. That way, my kids won’t feel self-conscious about how they look. Adjustable waists are mandatory here due to weight and height differences. If I buy pants that are too long, I shorten the length but leave 1-2″ of fabric on them. So when they grow, I just need to have the length taken down. I do this with my kids now that they’re older, but not when they were toddlers.
Great post. As the father of a rapidly-growing 14-month old, I have been amazed to see how quickly kids go through clothes!
I am really excited about the launch of ThredUp Kids, an internet-based Netflix for clothes-type thing. Looks quite promising as a way to refresh the kids wardrobes as they grow. Check it out at http://kids.thredup.com/
Also, if you can swing it, have a boy first and then a girl. She can get away with wearing a blue dinosaur shirt, he cannot pull off pink flowers 😉 Really though, my daughter is 2 years younger than my oldest son and I only bought her one winter “girl” coat when she was about one year old. The next year, I was sorting through my sons clothes to give away and almost gave up an LL bean winter coat (we live in San Antonio and do need warm jackets, they just don’t get worn out–ever). Luckily smart thinking prevailed and that blue and red coat became her “superman” coat and I have kept that in mind with each winter coat I have bought my oldest since then. We also just had baby #3 and he is set (and will continue to be) with all the essentials. I haven’t kept everything from the other two (these are the only grandchildren with grandmas addicted to infant and toddler clothing), but just enough so I won’t have to buy anything. Like another commenter said, I do laundry often anyway.
It will be a very proud day for me when child #3 wears that “superman” coat.
There’s a lot of really good advice here. The only thing I’d add is consider not buying. I’ve bought only a handful of garments for my kids in the nearly six years I’ve been dressing them. We get almost everything we need from a network of friends who pass hand-me-downs around.
With both kids, we were given all the clothing, furniture and gear we could use (and some we couldn’t). We took good care of it, and passed it on the new babies when our kids had outgrown it.
Obviously not everyone has access to this kind of social support, but if you do have close friends or family nearby, don’t hesitate to tap that.
Last year someone asked my daughter why she wore black snowpants, and she said that girls with little brothers wear black snowpants. This made me laugh because I had never told her that – she just figured it out.
I’m conflicted between buying cheap, and buying high quality that you can pass down or sell. Ideally you can get both, but it doesn’t always work that way.
Like Lisa said, I definitely find retailmenot.com a great place to find bargains. Even if you’re planning to pick up your order at a local store (save on shipping!) you can often swing a good deal.
JD, thanks for including this post. It’s nice to see some advice out there on ways to save with kids–so much of which exists, but so much of which you don’t discover until *after* you have a child.
I’m a fan of collecting clothes from friends who have kids a bit older. We haven’t had to spend much at all on clothes thanks to the generousity of friends (who often pass down clothes that are now on their 4th or 5th kid-wearing!) The outgrown clothes go to an area consignment shop, and when we need a particular piece, we turn in our credits at the same consignment shop. I only wish the one in my ‘hood had been in existence when my now-four-year-old was a teeny baby!
Other ideas: google moms’ groups in your area. Often there’s a classifieds listing that goes along with such groups, and they tend to include plenty of discount–even free!–clothes. And if you are a member, you’re usually privy to a special discount beyond the Craigslist price.
One thing to keep in mind about consignment is that after multiple resales, some of the stuff shrinks and is no longer true to size.
Also, I’m not sure if this is regional but I can get an outfit for far less money at Target than at my local consignment stores. Given that my kids will outgrow it in a few months anyway, durability isn’t a big factor.
We live in a densely populated suburban area that has an overwhelming abundance of garage sales from April through September. We’ve gotten most of our two-year-old daughter’s clothes (many of them name brand) and toys from garage sales, and I generally pay between 25 cents and $1 per clothing item. We can stay within a 15-minute radius of our home and find more than enough. We look for garage sale ads on craigslist and often just follow the signs posted on the main streets. Once our daughter is older I’m sure we won’t be able to get everything at garage sales, but for now it saves us tons of money and it makes for a fun family activity on Saturday mornings.
“One thing to keep in mind about consignment is that after multiple resales, some of the stuff shrinks and is no longer true to size.”
That is so true! Some people might find this labor intensive, but I hang dry most of my son’s clothes that have the possibility of shrinking (esp. Carter’s infant clothes). This is especially true of the onesies when they are little. You buy a 12 month onesie, wash it and dry it, and all of the sudden it is a 6 month onesie! I’ve managed to keep him in those for much longer by not drying them. This is also true of cotton pajamas. It takes a little more time to put it on a rack, but I like that the clothes stay true to size.
Great advice! Just a quick question – what’s a good tip to get out stains that have already set? Sometimes, I can’t change my daughter’s clothes immediately.
As a slight tangent to the content here, fans of thrift and consignment stores for children’s products should make themselves familiar with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. If fully enacted it could essentially eliminate your ability to buy used items for your kids.
Essentially in an aim to improve safety standards for products for children in reaction to the hazards from toys imported from China, this legislation was created with very vague wording and could have major implications for thrift, consignment and re-use.
Under the way it’s currently written, any item sold for children needs to be tested for hazardous materials. It does not exclude used or handmade items. The testing costs are majorly prohibitive for anyone but large corporations and so there is a major threat that smaller scale sellers will not be able to sell items.
This could affect anything from clothes, furniture to toys (even library books!) While ensuring safety is a number one goal, this particular law is so vaguely written with no thought to broad implications that it’s under review.
If you want more info, here’s a really good blog about it from the perspective of the Commissioner for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. http://nancynord.wordpress.com/
I was lucky with my son, my sister had 2 boys and gave me 2 big boxes of clothing, which I proceeded to give to a friend after he out grew the clothes. I also went to our local thrift store and found good quality clothing.
My girls are now entering the tweens, when they have sized out of most children’s consignment shops and when they are starting to have strong opinions on what they wear.
We shop clearance at Target, where the clothes are good for 1-2 seasons. For another year I can get away with hitting the Children’s Place outlet, which has outstanding values. I’m also starting to try restyling some handmedowns from child #1 to meet the style preferences of #2. I am also working on teaching the kids about budgeting… if you buy x we can’t afford y too.
One day I watched a man buy clothing for his kids at our local Value Village. He said he had 4 kids all under the age of 8. He filled 2 gargabe bags sized bags with clothing. About half the stuff was brand new, still with the original store sticker on it. The total – $124. He even joked that he would be back in 6 weeks when the kids outgrew the clothes.
We used to get hand me downs from my husband’s cousin’s daughter who is a year older but now we hand down (or is it up) to her because my daughter is now 4″ taller than her and quite a bit bigger since the cousin is the tiniest thing. Also, my husband works for a major retailer and we go on special extra discount nights where we get the employee discount, the extra discount and if we are really lucky the clearance will be an extra % off. We also try to buy clothes that are just a little big on her so she can wear them 2 seasons. This has worked out well except the year of the major growth spurt.
Also, I know someone who works for a discount store part-time for more than just extra income. She works a couple of days a week to get the discount plus she can check with the mark-down people when the next mark-down event will be.
Chris at yardsalequeen.com says26 February 2010 at 16:02
When you buy pre-owned, the items has already been washed and dried several times so no surprises when you wash and it dry it yourself. That is another benefit over buying new.
The article mentioned a little about buying things like coats for next year, but I buy all my son’s clothes ahead of time. He’s 9 now, but I think he has clothes that will fit him well into his late teens. haha.
It will be easy to pick my kid out from the crowd, he’ll be the only one wearing a “Vote for Pedro” t-shirt.
A couple things I learned raising my twins, now 11 years old:
1) Forget about buying “quality”—-they will grow out of it long before it has a chance to wear out. Or they might dislike it and refuse to wear it. Think of the clothes as disposable.
My exception is outerwear–parkas, snow pants, boots, and gloves (I live in frosty Minnesota and you need to buy very high quality so the kids will keep warm enough). I get those at Lands end.
2) Don’t take hand-me-downs from anybody. Don’t get me wrong–I purchased lots of used baby clothes at thrift stores–if you can pick it out yourself, it’s great. I’m talking about relatives and friends who offered me their “old” baby clothes–because every single thing they gave me awful– ugly, stained, sometimes even torn. These dear people just couldn’t see it because of their fond memories. If they insisted on giving the clothes to me, I just donated them. And then I found out another problem: one person actually asked for their used baby clothes back! Not because she was going to have another baby or because of grandchildren, but just “to save” for sentimental reasons. Big oops, because I’d given those wrecked old rags away. So avoid those well-meaning friends and their emotional minefields and just tell them “no”.
3) All the baby books recommend that you buy insane quantities of things–2 dozen onesies etc. Ignore this. You only need about 4-5 onesies and some pairs of sweat pants per baby. And maybe a snuggle outfit for riding in the car during the winter. If it’s summer, your baby only needs a T-shirt & diaper. And only buy one fancy dress outfit–for pictures & grandma’s house.
4) elementary school age: sweat pants and T-shirts for the boys, stretch pants and T-shirts of the girls. Target quality is fine. You don’t need anything else because the kids don’t want to wear anything else. My son refuses to wear woven pants or jeans to this day–because they’re too uncomfortable and restrictive. Also forget wool sweaters and woven shirts etc–the kids won’t wear them because they’re not soft.
Thanks for all the great comments, everyone. I agree with the sentiment of “not buying.” That’s my MO, so we have a lot less clothes and a lot less laundry than most families, but many parents out there are still learning how to apply frugality to clothing as they hopefully have to grocery shopping.
Kathy and Karen–I’m a big “collector” of clothes from friends and family, but you’re right–sometimes the clothes are worse than those you find at yard/consignment sales. I was able to live off hand-me-downs for the first two years of the twins’ lives, but now the used clothes tend to be more stained or worn out than useful. I love the Children’s Place Outlet’s sales of $2-3 combined with a % off coupon, and I’m usually able to resell those clothes for almost what I paid.
Chris–I agree with your point about pre-owned clothes. Just this morning at my twins’ club consignment sale it was easy to see how the different brands compare after multiple washes/wears. Some hold up better or shrink less. Once you know the brands that fit your kids, it makes shopping used easier.
Meg–for the stains, I usually try to attack right away even if it’s just water and dish soap with a rag. But at their ages (3, 3 and 6) I always have an extra outfit just in case and a lot of stain stick on hand 🙂
I was a loyal Sears fan when my 3 boys were very young. Sears’ KidAdvantage Program allows you to return any clothes that they have worn out, provided they haven’t grown out of them. I bought quality clothing- Levi’s, Nike, etc., and usually 2 months later returned them for the same size as the boys are hard on shoes and pants.
My friends thought I was cheap for not shopping at Nordstroms, but this worked well for my family.
I second Kate at number 21’s comments about CPSIA, which is not being fully enforced right now. Technically, selling (or even “distributing”) any children’s clothing, new or used, without meeting the stringent testing requirements outlined in the law is already illegal. The Consumer Product Safety Commission claims that it is not going to go out and police every thrift store and yard sale, but I’m sure that they will eventually.
That said, I have been stocking up on children’s shoes while I can still find them in the thrift stores, and I have learned how to sew soft-soled shoes (there are free online tutorials). The rest of my children’s clothes are gifts, hand-me-downs from friends, and yard sale finds from the grandmas.
I sift through the incoming clothes for simple, comfortable clothes that go on and off easily, and try to have many that will work for either gender. The rest I donate.
When my kids were young it was easy. I bought the clothes and made all the decisions. As they got older, more independent and opinionated we started to argue over clothing. A year ago I instituted a budget for the kids clothing. In an envelope with each kids name I put their clothing allowance every month. They could spend it or save it. They are responsible for buying all their cloths including underwear, socks and shoes. This has been a freeing experience for me because now when we walk into a store and they say, ‘Can I get this?’ I respond, ‘I don’t know? Can you? Do you have enough money in your clothing envelope?’ It’s been fabulous!
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I only either buy pre-loved or on-sale clothing for my son. The monthly clothing allowance envelope is a great idea – I’ll be using that one when he starts choosing his own gear.
I’m currently selling kids clothing (newborn-10yrs) I’ve collected together, some from charity shops (yes they’ve been washed!) I love it because not only am I giving to charity, but I find it’s good fun too.
There are 35 comments to "How to save while shopping for children’s clothes".
Thanks for this! As a Dad to two little ones and another coming along in July, I can certainly attest to the expense that kids’ clothes can represent.
I’m looking forward to watching our third (and likely final) baby grow because we can then start reselling and otherwise doing away with the insane amount of clothes we have stored in our basement!
Great tips. We also used to shop Gymboree for quality stuff that lasted forever — but only when their clearance was on clearance!
Yay! I’ve been hoping for more kid-friendly guest posts! Though I am SO not a Gymboree mom. I am an avid acceptor of hand-me-downs and gifts though. We’ll see what happens when he hits 5 and maybe isn’t as fun for the grandparents to shop for.
We have 2 little ones, a 3 yr old boy and a 1 yr old girl. Clothes have been an issue since the get go. We had decided to not find out with either kid what the sex was. While that was a lot of fun, it made planning a nightmare. We are planning on having a couple more kids, so I guess we are covered going forward. But we do try to buy the best clothing that we can durability-wise. For holidays and things, we do tend to splurge on a piece to make the outfit really nice, but nothing that cannot be reused for another purpose. We also gladly take hand-me-downs. I have yet to hit a garage sale as these are the first grandkids on both sides…so the grandparents have been more than generous with gifts.
The idea of play clothes works for adults, too. I rarely wear my work clothes (or even casual, going “out on the town” clothes) around the house. I immediately change clothes when I come in and put on something along the line of sweats/athletic clothing. They wear well and I dont’ have to worry about getting a stain on my dry clean only clothes or a pick on a nice sweater I like wearing when I go out.
My town has a great consignment store. It’s a big step above a thrift store and WAY below market price for clothing. Since most kids don’t wear out $30 Gap jeans in the 6 months they fit into them, we buy tons and tons of stuff at the consignment shop, all of it top quality stuff for generally 50-80% off retail price.
It’s absolutely fantastic for 0-5 year olds and the clothing they need as they grow.
I work in a large department store in the children’s department and wanted to offer a few tips for rock bottom prices. Seriously, now that we accept coupons on designers you can find really nice clothing for less than thrift store’s best deal if you know how to look.
1. Ask what the best deals are that day. Find a person who knows, not necessarily the person at the counter. I do the markdowns and set the sales full time and I love to to hook people up with a deal.
2. Learn the markdown schedule for the store and the best days to shop. Our markdowns go into effect on Mondays, but often the best prices with and additional percentages off and coupons are later in the week-Thurs-Sunday. Some weeks markdowns don’t get physically marked down until later in the week.
3.Use the price checker. Sometimes customers find deals before we do!
4. Shopping in the morning is usually the best time to find someone to help you find the deals. People who sign and do markdowns often work an early shift.
3. Be specific about what sizes/ brands you are looking for.
I am very lucky to live in Atlanta. We have plenty of thrift stores to choose from. I try to buy only high end clothes at the thrift stores on half price day. I pay $2 a piece of clothing or less and then consign them when I am done with them. As my son gets older he is wearing out his clothes more so I am not making as much but the first year of his life not counting medical bills we came out with $500 more then we started with because we bought all of his stuff dirt cheap in great condition and then consigned or craigslisted it all when we were done with it. The years after that have been between $100-300 I have even started grabbing things not in his size or gender and tossing them straight into the consignment bin. I think thrift store shopping is a skill like any other skill and has to be learned and practiced. However now it takes me on average ten minutes from start to finish to go through all the clothes in my son’s size at my favorite store and check out. I go once a month and so for 2 hours of work a year I make 100-500 dollars not to mention I pay nothing for my son’s clothes. An added bonus is since all his clothes costs $2 or less I don’t stress about him wanting to wear nice sweaters just to play in and I don’t worry when something gets messed up or it only fits for two months before he grows out of it.
This article left out the number 1 point – don’t overbuy.
Girl’s clothes in particular are so cute, it’s easy to end up with way more than you need!
What is a “Gymboree Mom”? I like buying clothes for my son that last, which is why I shop at Gymboree on clearance. Hands down they are the clothing that have held up the best.
I also find that I do as well on clearance at retail stores than I do at thrift stores. But free is always the best, and we’re lucky to have family who buys us clothing or friends who give us their hand-me-downs.
And Kate is absolutely right. Don’t overbuy. Kids really don’t need that many outfits, especially when they are little. I just do laundry more often.
I shop at TheChildrensPlace.com and always go to retailmenot.com or momsview.com for coupons at that store when shopping online. I find that their jeans have adjustable waists and last as long as any name brand. They also have brick & mortar stores as well but I find that the stores don’t have a big selection of clearance items. The online stores have tons more clothing at clearance (we’re talking $4 for a long sleeve cute boy top or girl top and $9 or less for jeans). Plus, their shipping is a flat $5. With online coupons,it makes the deals even sweeter. I have purchased 4 tops, 2 shorts, 1 legging and 1 jean for a total of $40 including shipping as a gift!
I buy bigger sizes for my kids since they grow so fast but not so big that it hangs on them. I also make sure that the jeans are label-free on the outside and are in a stone wash color. That way, my kids won’t feel self-conscious about how they look. Adjustable waists are mandatory here due to weight and height differences. If I buy pants that are too long, I shorten the length but leave 1-2″ of fabric on them. So when they grow, I just need to have the length taken down. I do this with my kids now that they’re older, but not when they were toddlers.
Great post. As the father of a rapidly-growing 14-month old, I have been amazed to see how quickly kids go through clothes!
I am really excited about the launch of ThredUp Kids, an internet-based Netflix for clothes-type thing. Looks quite promising as a way to refresh the kids wardrobes as they grow. Check it out at http://kids.thredup.com/
Also, if you can swing it, have a boy first and then a girl. She can get away with wearing a blue dinosaur shirt, he cannot pull off pink flowers 😉 Really though, my daughter is 2 years younger than my oldest son and I only bought her one winter “girl” coat when she was about one year old. The next year, I was sorting through my sons clothes to give away and almost gave up an LL bean winter coat (we live in San Antonio and do need warm jackets, they just don’t get worn out–ever). Luckily smart thinking prevailed and that blue and red coat became her “superman” coat and I have kept that in mind with each winter coat I have bought my oldest since then. We also just had baby #3 and he is set (and will continue to be) with all the essentials. I haven’t kept everything from the other two (these are the only grandchildren with grandmas addicted to infant and toddler clothing), but just enough so I won’t have to buy anything. Like another commenter said, I do laundry often anyway.
It will be a very proud day for me when child #3 wears that “superman” coat.
There’s a lot of really good advice here. The only thing I’d add is consider not buying. I’ve bought only a handful of garments for my kids in the nearly six years I’ve been dressing them. We get almost everything we need from a network of friends who pass hand-me-downs around.
With both kids, we were given all the clothing, furniture and gear we could use (and some we couldn’t). We took good care of it, and passed it on the new babies when our kids had outgrown it.
Obviously not everyone has access to this kind of social support, but if you do have close friends or family nearby, don’t hesitate to tap that.
Last year someone asked my daughter why she wore black snowpants, and she said that girls with little brothers wear black snowpants. This made me laugh because I had never told her that – she just figured it out.
I’m conflicted between buying cheap, and buying high quality that you can pass down or sell. Ideally you can get both, but it doesn’t always work that way.
Like Lisa said, I definitely find retailmenot.com a great place to find bargains. Even if you’re planning to pick up your order at a local store (save on shipping!) you can often swing a good deal.
JD, thanks for including this post. It’s nice to see some advice out there on ways to save with kids–so much of which exists, but so much of which you don’t discover until *after* you have a child.
I’m a fan of collecting clothes from friends who have kids a bit older. We haven’t had to spend much at all on clothes thanks to the generousity of friends (who often pass down clothes that are now on their 4th or 5th kid-wearing!) The outgrown clothes go to an area consignment shop, and when we need a particular piece, we turn in our credits at the same consignment shop. I only wish the one in my ‘hood had been in existence when my now-four-year-old was a teeny baby!
Other ideas: google moms’ groups in your area. Often there’s a classifieds listing that goes along with such groups, and they tend to include plenty of discount–even free!–clothes. And if you are a member, you’re usually privy to a special discount beyond the Craigslist price.
One thing to keep in mind about consignment is that after multiple resales, some of the stuff shrinks and is no longer true to size.
Also, I’m not sure if this is regional but I can get an outfit for far less money at Target than at my local consignment stores. Given that my kids will outgrow it in a few months anyway, durability isn’t a big factor.
We live in a densely populated suburban area that has an overwhelming abundance of garage sales from April through September. We’ve gotten most of our two-year-old daughter’s clothes (many of them name brand) and toys from garage sales, and I generally pay between 25 cents and $1 per clothing item. We can stay within a 15-minute radius of our home and find more than enough. We look for garage sale ads on craigslist and often just follow the signs posted on the main streets. Once our daughter is older I’m sure we won’t be able to get everything at garage sales, but for now it saves us tons of money and it makes for a fun family activity on Saturday mornings.
“One thing to keep in mind about consignment is that after multiple resales, some of the stuff shrinks and is no longer true to size.”
That is so true! Some people might find this labor intensive, but I hang dry most of my son’s clothes that have the possibility of shrinking (esp. Carter’s infant clothes). This is especially true of the onesies when they are little. You buy a 12 month onesie, wash it and dry it, and all of the sudden it is a 6 month onesie! I’ve managed to keep him in those for much longer by not drying them. This is also true of cotton pajamas. It takes a little more time to put it on a rack, but I like that the clothes stay true to size.
Great advice! Just a quick question – what’s a good tip to get out stains that have already set? Sometimes, I can’t change my daughter’s clothes immediately.
As a slight tangent to the content here, fans of thrift and consignment stores for children’s products should make themselves familiar with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. If fully enacted it could essentially eliminate your ability to buy used items for your kids.
Essentially in an aim to improve safety standards for products for children in reaction to the hazards from toys imported from China, this legislation was created with very vague wording and could have major implications for thrift, consignment and re-use.
Under the way it’s currently written, any item sold for children needs to be tested for hazardous materials. It does not exclude used or handmade items. The testing costs are majorly prohibitive for anyone but large corporations and so there is a major threat that smaller scale sellers will not be able to sell items.
This could affect anything from clothes, furniture to toys (even library books!) While ensuring safety is a number one goal, this particular law is so vaguely written with no thought to broad implications that it’s under review.
If you want more info, here’s a really good blog about it from the perspective of the Commissioner for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. http://nancynord.wordpress.com/
I was lucky with my son, my sister had 2 boys and gave me 2 big boxes of clothing, which I proceeded to give to a friend after he out grew the clothes. I also went to our local thrift store and found good quality clothing.
My girls are now entering the tweens, when they have sized out of most children’s consignment shops and when they are starting to have strong opinions on what they wear.
We shop clearance at Target, where the clothes are good for 1-2 seasons. For another year I can get away with hitting the Children’s Place outlet, which has outstanding values. I’m also starting to try restyling some handmedowns from child #1 to meet the style preferences of #2. I am also working on teaching the kids about budgeting… if you buy x we can’t afford y too.
One day I watched a man buy clothing for his kids at our local Value Village. He said he had 4 kids all under the age of 8. He filled 2 gargabe bags sized bags with clothing. About half the stuff was brand new, still with the original store sticker on it. The total – $124. He even joked that he would be back in 6 weeks when the kids outgrew the clothes.
We used to get hand me downs from my husband’s cousin’s daughter who is a year older but now we hand down (or is it up) to her because my daughter is now 4″ taller than her and quite a bit bigger since the cousin is the tiniest thing. Also, my husband works for a major retailer and we go on special extra discount nights where we get the employee discount, the extra discount and if we are really lucky the clearance will be an extra % off. We also try to buy clothes that are just a little big on her so she can wear them 2 seasons. This has worked out well except the year of the major growth spurt.
Also, I know someone who works for a discount store part-time for more than just extra income. She works a couple of days a week to get the discount plus she can check with the mark-down people when the next mark-down event will be.
When you buy pre-owned, the items has already been washed and dried several times so no surprises when you wash and it dry it yourself. That is another benefit over buying new.
The article mentioned a little about buying things like coats for next year, but I buy all my son’s clothes ahead of time. He’s 9 now, but I think he has clothes that will fit him well into his late teens. haha.
It will be easy to pick my kid out from the crowd, he’ll be the only one wearing a “Vote for Pedro” t-shirt.
A couple things I learned raising my twins, now 11 years old:
1) Forget about buying “quality”—-they will grow out of it long before it has a chance to wear out. Or they might dislike it and refuse to wear it. Think of the clothes as disposable.
My exception is outerwear–parkas, snow pants, boots, and gloves (I live in frosty Minnesota and you need to buy very high quality so the kids will keep warm enough). I get those at Lands end.
2) Don’t take hand-me-downs from anybody. Don’t get me wrong–I purchased lots of used baby clothes at thrift stores–if you can pick it out yourself, it’s great. I’m talking about relatives and friends who offered me their “old” baby clothes–because every single thing they gave me awful– ugly, stained, sometimes even torn. These dear people just couldn’t see it because of their fond memories. If they insisted on giving the clothes to me, I just donated them. And then I found out another problem: one person actually asked for their used baby clothes back! Not because she was going to have another baby or because of grandchildren, but just “to save” for sentimental reasons. Big oops, because I’d given those wrecked old rags away. So avoid those well-meaning friends and their emotional minefields and just tell them “no”.
3) All the baby books recommend that you buy insane quantities of things–2 dozen onesies etc. Ignore this. You only need about 4-5 onesies and some pairs of sweat pants per baby. And maybe a snuggle outfit for riding in the car during the winter. If it’s summer, your baby only needs a T-shirt & diaper. And only buy one fancy dress outfit–for pictures & grandma’s house.
4) elementary school age: sweat pants and T-shirts for the boys, stretch pants and T-shirts of the girls. Target quality is fine. You don’t need anything else because the kids don’t want to wear anything else. My son refuses to wear woven pants or jeans to this day–because they’re too uncomfortable and restrictive. Also forget wool sweaters and woven shirts etc–the kids won’t wear them because they’re not soft.
Thanks for all the great comments, everyone. I agree with the sentiment of “not buying.” That’s my MO, so we have a lot less clothes and a lot less laundry than most families, but many parents out there are still learning how to apply frugality to clothing as they hopefully have to grocery shopping.
Kathy and Karen–I’m a big “collector” of clothes from friends and family, but you’re right–sometimes the clothes are worse than those you find at yard/consignment sales. I was able to live off hand-me-downs for the first two years of the twins’ lives, but now the used clothes tend to be more stained or worn out than useful. I love the Children’s Place Outlet’s sales of $2-3 combined with a % off coupon, and I’m usually able to resell those clothes for almost what I paid.
Chris–I agree with your point about pre-owned clothes. Just this morning at my twins’ club consignment sale it was easy to see how the different brands compare after multiple washes/wears. Some hold up better or shrink less. Once you know the brands that fit your kids, it makes shopping used easier.
Meg–for the stains, I usually try to attack right away even if it’s just water and dish soap with a rag. But at their ages (3, 3 and 6) I always have an extra outfit just in case and a lot of stain stick on hand 🙂
I was a loyal Sears fan when my 3 boys were very young. Sears’ KidAdvantage Program allows you to return any clothes that they have worn out, provided they haven’t grown out of them. I bought quality clothing- Levi’s, Nike, etc., and usually 2 months later returned them for the same size as the boys are hard on shoes and pants.
My friends thought I was cheap for not shopping at Nordstroms, but this worked well for my family.
I second Kate at number 21’s comments about CPSIA, which is not being fully enforced right now. Technically, selling (or even “distributing”) any children’s clothing, new or used, without meeting the stringent testing requirements outlined in the law is already illegal. The Consumer Product Safety Commission claims that it is not going to go out and police every thrift store and yard sale, but I’m sure that they will eventually.
That said, I have been stocking up on children’s shoes while I can still find them in the thrift stores, and I have learned how to sew soft-soled shoes (there are free online tutorials). The rest of my children’s clothes are gifts, hand-me-downs from friends, and yard sale finds from the grandmas.
I sift through the incoming clothes for simple, comfortable clothes that go on and off easily, and try to have many that will work for either gender. The rest I donate.
When my kids were young it was easy. I bought the clothes and made all the decisions. As they got older, more independent and opinionated we started to argue over clothing. A year ago I instituted a budget for the kids clothing. In an envelope with each kids name I put their clothing allowance every month. They could spend it or save it. They are responsible for buying all their cloths including underwear, socks and shoes. This has been a freeing experience for me because now when we walk into a store and they say, ‘Can I get this?’ I respond, ‘I don’t know? Can you? Do you have enough money in your clothing envelope?’ It’s been fabulous!
A diaper cake is usually a multi-layered cake and some people compare it to a wedding cake when they look them far away. In other words, we can say a diaper cake is nothing but a collection of multiple diapers, and it usually takes dozens to make a complete diaper cake, they are wrapped around to each other in a circular way to make a diaper cake. If you’re searching for diaper cakes for baby showers have a look at my site.
I only either buy pre-loved or on-sale clothing for my son. The monthly clothing allowance envelope is a great idea – I’ll be using that one when he starts choosing his own gear.
I’m currently selling kids clothing (newborn-10yrs) I’ve collected together, some from charity shops (yes they’ve been washed!) I love it because not only am I giving to charity, but I find it’s good fun too.
Have a look if you’re interested 🙂
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fruit-Cake-Kids/129703133749075
Donna you are really lucky of getting discount cards. i wish that i could.
From the tips for off-season shopping to searching for sales and clearance items, this article is a great help for parents!