**Thanks to Honey, loyal reader and frugal mom of 5 for this guest post.

Saving on Children’s Items

I have always loved thrift stores/garage sales. Where else can you find a Ralph Lauren button-down for $1. It’s not only an earth-friendly way to shop, but a budget saving one as well. Here are a few tips:

1.  Plan ahead. Thrift store shopping requires you to think ahead over the next year or so. It’s the equivalent of grocery stockpiling. I am usually open to buying clothing for the next 2 seasons for each child. Most thrift stores don’t “sell seasonally” the way consignment sales and shops do, so you might find swim trunks and a winter coat all in the same trip. I try to keep a mental, if not paper list, of things we do and do not need. *One note: I have not had as much success with buying shoes ahead. But if you have a larger family or your children are spaced out a bit, it may be worth it to buy shoes ahead and find that someone may be able to wear them. Especially tennis shoes or other non-seasonal shoes.

2. Set a budget. For me, setting aside something like $20 a month for clothing for the children is way easier than finding yourself in April needing $100 to get caught up for summer clothes. Enough said.

3.  Set aside time. I like to go “thrifting” once or twice a month, if possible. This prevents the problem described in tip #2. If I need to bring the children along, I try to get them involved in looking for their own clothing. They can pull out things they like, then put them in the cart. I then go back and edit them for size, condition, and appropriateness. This keeps them out of trouble, I mean uh, makes them part of the process. Also it teaches them how to get the most for my your money. When we go to a regular store, I sometimes show them an article of clothing and tell them the price. I then compare it to the 5 pieces of clothing we got at the thrift store. Then they get the lesson. (This isn’t to say that we never buy “new” clothing, but I want them to understand the benefits of being frugal).

4.  Have a plan for storage. We use heavy duty Rubbermaid containers. For some cardboard boxes work fine. We just have allergies and find that they don’t get as dusty. I do wash the clothing as soon as we bring it home. This way when we pull it out for the season we need we don’t also have the chore of washing, too. Label your boxes with gender, season and size.

5.  Buy large. Because the clothing is used (unless you find some goodies with labels still on) they have been washed and may not be true to size. You can eyeball it and see if it looks like it is really that size.

6.  “Recycle”. I recycle all our clothing. No, not in the recycle bin, but back into our budget. While I would love to just pass all our things on to someone else, I am constrained by my budget to recoup money on some of our items. If things are top brand names and in excellent condition you can take them to consignment. Then when you are paid you can use the money to buy some more clothing for the next season. By doing it this way, I find that I usually only need to buy a few pieces and some shoes and underclothes when a new season rolls around.

Favorites:

• Goodwill- I especially like the Bearden location. The last full weekend of the month everything in the store is ½ off! And they run daily specials. For instance, “all orange tags $1”or “half off all winter coats, jackets.”
• Amvets-all childrens’ clothing is .79! There are locations on Chapman Highway and on Magnolia Avenue.
• Garage sales-all over town. See Craig’s list for some in your area. Garage sales usually sell things for less than thrift stores.
• Ladies of Charity (Big Catholic Church on Central)-all children’s clothing $1. Also shoes, books, toys.
• Other thrift stores include KARM, American Council for the Blind, Habitat for Humanity, and Salvation Army. (Most thrift stores support charities.)

Happy Hunting!