Clothes are the one thing that breaks many budgets especially when it comes to back to school shopping. Every child is unique. What one kid loves the other probably hates.
If you find even one of the tips below helpful you will be closer to your financial goal. If you want to save money on clothing for your kids this year read the tips that work for my family and others below.
Join a your town’s local Facebook mom community. You could type something in like name of your city mom group. Community group. These groups are great places to post what you are looking for. Plenty of times parents are wanting to give away a huge lot of clothes or charge a small fee.
You can search on Facebook for lots of clothing near you as well.
Shop Yard Sales
I know you hear this one all the time, but it’s worth it when you do a little bit of work before you head out. Always browse your local Pennysaver, newspaper, or online local paper for garage sales that mention kids clothing.
Most of the time when someone is advertising kids clothing they have a lot. These are also the ones that usually have items priced at 50¢ a piece. Inspect everything over to be sure its free of stains and holes.
Read or Pin: How to Sell Everything at Your Next Yard Sale
Thredup
If your kids are older and wanting name brand items or you love name brand items you can shop for second hand clothing online! Thredup is my favorite one. I did a review on how much I enjoyed it for myself here. If you go through my link here you get $10 to spend!
The Children’s Place can have cheap clothing for kids online during their clearance events with free shipping.
Pass on Clothing to Your Kids
It will save money if you are able to reuse clothing items for your other children. Especially if they are in perfect condition. My oldest daughter is particular about the fabric feeling on her skin of ALL clothes.
It makes apparel shopping my least favorite thing. I feel a little better when the shirt sits in the closet because it goes right over to her sister’s side.
Hit up Clearance off Season
When you are looking to buy clothes for your kids you can get brand new items on clearance if you shop at the right times. The month of July you will find many retailers clearing out summer items. You can score brand new outfits for the first day of school on clearance. The month of September for our area is still pretty warm. It isn’t until October we need warmer clothes.
Read or Pin: How to Always Get Clearance Home Decor
Keep Shout on Hand
I loved the tip of keeping this on hand because it comes in handy. All kids get stains on their clothes from spilling food or drink to falling out in the grass. Having shout on hand I’m able to spray it right away let it sit and throw it in the wash.
If you can do your best to preserve the clothes they will have a longer life! I got the big bottle of Shout at BJs and have had it for a year now! There is still plenty left. Amazon is a good place to get it too.
Watch Your Persuasion
One thing to keep in mind to save money on kids clothes is- They don’t need a lot. Buy pieces that are versatile. An issue we face in our home is one of our kids wanting to wear the same few outfits over and over.
We constantly hear, ” It’s my favorite.” Or “It’s the most comfortable.” I had to let it go the idea of what other kids and parents would think if my child wore the same shirt three out of five days.
We wash it when necessary- little kids sweat like crazy. I had to shift my mindset and allow myself to realize she truly doesn’t feel comfortable in the other clothing pieces. If others want to think what they want about her wearing the same clothes frequently let them.
It’s a win win situation here. My daughter is comfortable and wearing clean clothes, and I’m happy with not having to buy new clothes all the time.
I’m sure this will be changing in the teenage years 😉
The reality is we may be portraying our needs and self image onto our kids with their clothing. It’s super fun to get the matching outfits for our babies, but they have no idea what’s going on. It can easily become a habit we keep up with until they are teenagers or start to express what they like to wear. Do you enjoy seeing your baby in the Nike shoes? Or do your Facebook friends like seeing your baby in adorable outfits?
You may be teaching your child to always have matching new clean clothes. Extreme perhaps? The point is to take a minute to reflect on what your own thought process is when it comes to buying clothes for your children.
Don’t Underestimate Walmart
Walmart is really picking up their A game with apparel. If you haven’t checked out the Time and Tru brand for us mom’s scoot on over here and do it. Name brand stores are suffering, and what ones are thriving? Yep, Walmart, Target, Amazon.
For kids clothing my daughter loves the Walmart line because it is soft. Walmart has clearance frequently too and if you learn how to shop off season you will find brand new items for $3 and under.
Start a Clothing Swap
You could utilize your local book clubs, mom groups or groups like MOPS to have a day where you bring in all the clothing you can’t use anymore and swap it for free.
When your kids are babies and toddlers you go through clothing so quickly and its in good shape, compared to the school age kids! It’s a perfect chance to pay NOTHING on clothing for your young children.
I hope this helps you think about ways to save money on your kids clothes. Whether it’s during the back to school shopping craze or anytime of the year. There are always little ways to save money if we stop, and get creative. Once we stop our normal routine and train ourselves to think before we spend, we enter a whole new financial path of freedom.