I have a confession. I totally HATE shopping! I enjoy couponing because of the money that I save. But my idea of a successful shopping trip is one where I can get in and out with what I need as quickly as possible. I don't do malls. Other than going to a special store for the kids like the Lego store or to get pictures made at Olan Mills because I have a coupon, I can go years between trips to the mall.
I love hand-me-downs from cousins and clothing swaps with church or homeschooling groups. Children grow so fast. Many of the clothes that I have for my six-week-old Joseph to wear have already been through 5-6 brothers and cousins. Some things I've had to patch up and other things have worn out or become too stained to be fitting to wear. But a lot of it is still usable.
My older boys have gotten so big that hand-me-downs are rare. So the bulk of our clothing budget is for them. When we started them in public school, I knew we would need some more clothes. Pajama and sweat pants were great around the house but we needed a good selection of jeans and khakis. Here are my three main shopping venues.
1) Salvage store - My husband manages a store that takes out-of-date, out-of-season, and returned items from major retailers. I have found a few shirts and pairs of socks for the boys there. Prices are 30-90% off. I try to look here first but they don't always have enough selection so I can get what I need here. This is where I get most of the little ones' shoes whenever they have a big shipment.
2) Consignment sales - There is a big annual sale here and this year was my first year to attend. I found the boys super nice winter coats for $15 each. Much nicer than what my husband was getting at his store. I loved it because of how well organized it was. I got five children out of the van, loaded three into two strollers, looked at shoes, coats and found the bouncy seat and exersaucer for Joseph. I got all that I was needing to find there and got everything loaded back in the van and back home in an hour. That's my kind of shopping. Quickly done!
3) Thrift stores - I now live five miles away from the thrift store that I drove two hours to visit quite regularly. I found the boys several jeans and a few shirts when school started, but I needed a few more now that it was getting too cold to wear shorts. I found seven pairs of jeans and khakis and four long-sleeved shirts for $26 total. You have to look closely at the clothes for rips and stains. Also check zippers to see if they work. I saw a rustic red plaid dress with a scottish terrier on the skirt. I wanted so badly to get it for Katie Rose although she is really in no need of any more clothes. But alas, it had a stain on the front so I walked away. It took no more than thirty minutes to sort through the size 8 and 10 pants as well as the long sleeved shirts.
Side note - the inventor of the elastic and buttons inside jeans so they can be adjusted smaller for my skinny 10-yr-old and bigger later on for my 8-yr-old is a total genius! I try not to buy pants without them.
And although it will be several years before they are needed. I store everything the older boys outgrow in office boxes or space bags. I shouldn't have to buy much at all for the younger boys. With the exception of completely worn out clothes that need to go to the trash or hand-me-downs that I never cared for that will go to the thrift store.
I have occasionally bought an item or two like shoes for John Micah or dress socks for the older boys at JC Penney. They send out a coupon for $10 off $10 purchase ever so often. I hear that you can get some great deals with coupons at The Children's Place, Gap and Target with Cartwheel but I haven't done that personally.
I am working on seasonal changes in the children's wardrobes. Yesterday, I got rid of many of the summer dresses that I knew Katie Rose was growing out of and wouldn't be able to wear next summer. I need to look through the next size of shirts and jeans in storage to see if I need to get out anything that she will fit into now. Yesterday, I also organized the older boys' dresser so that their jeans and khakis are separated with a drawer for each boys' clothes. So much of their clothes have been communal property since they haven't often been very far apart in size. Davy's growth spurt has put some distance between them. Maybe this will reduce the times I have to send them back to the room to try again.
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