by Beks
My sister and sister-in-law have been AWESOME at supplying clothing for baby Cash. My sister shopped garage sales in Kansas and brought two suitcases full of clothing. My sister-in-law has been passing over the clothing from her little boy as he outgrows it. I have purchased precisely ONE top since his birth and it wasn’t out of necessity, it was simply a cute top that said ‘Take Me To My Mummy’ for Halloween.
The recent cold spell illuminated the holes on our kidlet’s wardrobe. The poor little dude, while loaded with adorable t-shirts, pants, and jackets, has no long sleeved shirts. We were ill prepared for our weekend at the coast and needed to grab some long sleeve onesies for the trip. I asked hubby to ‘run by Target for some cheap clothes’ thinking surely, it wouldn’t cost more than $20 for a dozen or so warm tops.
Clearly, I have never purchased kids clothing before. Eek.
$60 later, he had the long sleeved tops he needed, and our clothing budget was robbed for the year.
Needless to say, I plan on hitting up some garage sales in the future and being very, VERY nice to my sister and sister-in-law while begging for hand-me-downs.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
I stretched my boys’ summer clothes by buying the plain white long-sleeve onesies (still not cheap, but not awful) and layering them under short sleeve tops in winter. It was cute, and you can get by just adding some undershirts while still using all the warm-weather tops for variety/appearance.
You must learn the art of off season shopping. The day after Christmas, go to Kohl’s (or wherever) and hit the racks for NEXT YEAR. Seriously. You can get amazing deals. It is ridiculous to pay $16 for an outfit, when if you do it right you can get 3 outfits for that price. and buy a couple different sizes. Assume next winter he will be in 12-18 month AND 18-24 month. Get light long sleeves, so you can layer if necessary. I do this with my girls, and it is really the only way to buy kid clothes. I refuse to spend bookoos of $$$ on clothes they will outgrow in 3 months and more than likely will have food/puke/poop on them at some point.
Next time go to Salvation Army and other thrift stores. We did this through our two children’s early years when we were both in graduate school with minimum wage jobs and stony broke–bought our own clothes this way too. We were usually the best dressed people on campus! when my husband reached the going on interviews stage he went in an Armani suit and Hermes tie and hand made British shirt–total cost $16. Plus you are helping charities who help those even more desperate.
I recent purchased a ton of clothing for my newboard goddaughter – I didn’t spend more than $2 a piece at Savers (a second-hand store in the area). Many of the basic pieces where less than a dollar.
They were all in great condition and smelled clean (although I washed all of them before giving them to her). Even better – the selection was massive.
yeah kids are expensive! I went to try and buy diapers for a friend’s baby and holy crap!
Yes, go to a thrift store. Baby clothes are rarely worn out.
OMG! I’m 3 months pregnant and follow your tale closely. Write more things like this!!!!!!
Yes, clothes for babies are supper expensive. I try to buy used as much as possible. I go to children clothing sales once or twice a year and get most of the kids clothing there. I spend about $100 a year for each of the kids.
This has become really difficult for my older boy who is 12. There are no “good” hand me downs anymore. I actually have to buy him new clothes at the store. All the used clothing are in tatters as the kids actually destroy their clothes.
I agree with the thrift store option. You can absolutely find perfectly good clothes all the way up through about size 4-5T. After that it gets a little harder, especially for boys because they get to the age where they wear out clothes. Garage sales are good too but thrift stores are open almost every day. I also love a good clearance sale.