Money Saving Tips-Clothes Shopping

I've been called a lot of words over the years over how cheap I am, especially from my husband who is not nearly as budget concious as I am. I am sharing my tips for saving some money on common things that we buy for our family. I would love to hear from you with your own money saving tips.

Todays post is about how to save money on new clothing. My kids are 18 months and 4 and go so clothing so quickly, plus I am am always planning ahead for the next season.

TOP 10 TIPS FOR SAVING MONEY ON BUYING CLOTHES

1.  Accept And Ask For Hand Me Downs.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was fortunate that people handed clothes down to me. I accumulated enough clothing from 0-3 to 2t to last more then 2 years. I just bought some clothing and got some new clothing as gifts to supplement what I didn't get. Don't be afraid to ask others if they have any clothing to pass on and don't refuse if anyone asks if you want clothing from them.

2. Save Clothing and Buy Neutral Clothing When Possible.

If you have or plan to have multiple children, save the clothing that your children use in plastic tubs or bags for the next child. Buy neutral clothing, which is easier to do in the smaller sizes if you have or may have children of both sexes. We happen to have two girls so we save a lot of money by passing clothing down and just buying for the oldest child.

3. Buy Second Hand.


Why spend thousands of dollars on a new wardrobe? Go to Thrift stores, consignment shops, look on the internet sites such as ebay and craigslist, flea markets, yard / garage sales, estate sales and moving sales for great bargains.



4.  Buy in Bulk

Look for Lots and if you go to garage sales/ flea markets, ect ask if you can buy in bulk and make an offer, you may be able to find you can buy items in bulk for 75 percent less then what it would cost if you bought the items indivdually.  On craigslist, I look for key words such as bag, bags, tub, tubs, container, ect to find those that are selling in bulk. For ebay I look for the words lot or lots.

5. Look for Free Clothing.

There is a free section on Craigslist and Freecycle and you can pick up some free clothing on there by being lucky. Don't harass the poster though because there may be a lot of people writing for the same item and including your contact info and why you want the clothing always will help you versus the person that just writes, "Is this available?"

6. Barter / Trade Clothing that Doesn't Fit For Clothing that Does.

On craigslist there is a Barter section where people trade things that they don't want for things that they do. You can always offer a bag of clothing that you don't want and ask for a bag of clothing that does. Its the element of surprise that attacts people to this as they never know what they will get.

7. Have A Stain Stick and A Thread And Needle.

Some people don't like to buy stained or torn clothing. But honestly with a good stain stick and a small amount of sewing these clothing can be good as new so don't be afraid to buy or ask for these types of clothing.

8.  Look For Special Sales and Sign Up For Newsletters.

In Maryland we have a few semi annual sales such as the TotSwap and WeeCycle events where a huge amount of people consign their unwanted kids clothing, household items, toys, books and baby items. You can get fantastic deals and they have days where most things are half off or 1 dollar. Sign up for their newsletters. Also Thrift shops and consignment shops have newsletters and you can learn about great sales and deals they are having.

9. Sell Old Clothes To Make Money For New Clothes.

Like you, there are tons of people looking for a bargain so look on websites such as kijiji, ebay and craigslist and sell as lots or individually for nicer or new with tags clothing. You can make enough money to buy new clothing.

10. Don't Be Afraid To Look In The Dumpster.

You would be surprised what people throw away. Especially if you live near an apartment complex, where people are always moving out. Typically they will put these things on the ground with the hopes someone will come and pick them up, recycling is much better then these items ending up in a pile of trash.

Thank you everyone for reading and I encourage your great additional tips and responses!!