Clothing Kids on a Budget

Well, life happened and obviously, we haven't blogged in about a year. However, a friend recently confided that she was looking at cutting back at work in order to spend more time with her daughter. She asked me to share some of our best tips and tricks for frugal living and staying home with our large family. I figured this was as good a time as any to begin posting again. I'll be tackling some of our big money-savers over the next few weeks, starting with how we keep (cute) clothes on our kiddos' backs. Without further ado:

1. Figure out what your kids need to have in their closet. Make a list. This is the bare-bones minimum that will keep your child in seasonally appropriate clothing that is also activity appropriate. You can add to this list as your budget permits, but in a money crunch, it's good to know how little each child truly needs. Our kids aren't in school yet and I do laundry often, so they don't need to have a huge wardrobe.

2. Buy a size up and buy in the off season. Paying clearance prices for my kids clothing saves us a ton of money. The downside is having to store it, but would you rather pay $3.80 for a button down long sleeve shirt or 15 bucks? I would urge you to buy heavy winter coats 2 sizes up. They aren't cheap and getting 2 years' wear out of them leads to significant savings. Buying off-season also allows me to clothe our kids in new things, rather than relying on consigned clothing that may not wear as well or as long.

3. Keep a list of the items you intend to buy and a price range you find acceptable to pay for these items.  Then, set a budget for each child. our toddlers have a clothing allowance of $250 per year, which includes shoes (yes, they have plenty of shoes). Our youngest has a $100 budget, simply because her older sister outgrows clothing with alarming regularity. Her hand-me-downs are hardly used. We could probably eliminate the $100 from our budget, but we don't feel that it would be fair for her to not have new clothing when her siblings do. When our oldest starts school, I expect that her budget will double, but for now $250/year keeps them very well and very adorably clothed.

4. Thredup.com I clean out the kid's closets twice a year as the weather changes. Most of it gets trashed or sent to Goodwill, but anything nice enough to be consigned gets shipped off to thredup.com. I should note that you won't make much using their service. They are super-picky and they don't pay well. The last bag I sent in was stuffed to the brim with good stuff and I made about 30 bucks. If you can take your items to a brick-and-mortar consignment store, you'll do much better. If, however, you don't have the time/patience/inclination (like me!) it may be worth it to you. I typically find that the prices on their women's clothing is better than the kid's pricing, so I use the credit to fill in any wardrobe gaps I might have if the kids have everything they need.

If you're anything like me, right now you're thinking, "prove it." Okay :) My last purchases:

My order was from Crazy8. I shopped the sale section and used a 20% off code and free ship offer I received for signing up for their email list. I got blue jeans and a button down for our son, a skirt and shirt for our youngest, and a denim skirt for our eldest. My grand total was $23.53.

3 of my items were originally priced 16.88 and 2 of them were 12.88. Had I just gone out and bought these items at full price my total would have been $76.40.

Next up for budget friendly living- appliances that aren't super necessary, but save you a bundle in the long run!