Six Tips On How to Get the Most Use from your Children’s Wardrobes
Children are expensive and when they grow as fast as they do, it sometimes feels like you always need to buy new clothes. When you are looking to save some money and get the most out of your children’s wardrobes, there are some tips that you can follow.
1. Hunt for Bargains
The first step is to purchase as much of your child’s clothing as possible from clearance or discount racks. You can get great deals when purchasing from these racks and will then be able to purchase more clothing for the same amount of money as you would when buying the clothes at regular price. A general rule of thumb is to look for clothing that is out of season. When summer starts, find clothing that your kids will fit into the next winter. Shopping this way you can easily save up to 80% off on all of next years clothing.
2. Stalk the Thrift Shops
Check secondhand stores for the clothing your child needs. When you think of a secondhand store, you may be thinking that the clothing will be worn out and not worth you purchasing, but the opposite is true. When people bring their clothing into a secondhand store, it is thoroughly checked to ensure that it is of good quality. You can save hundreds by purchasing your child’s clothing at a secondhand store. It may take some extra time, but if you look through the racks carefully you can often find clothing items that still have new tags on them for a fraction of the price.
3. Stain Duty
Maximize the use your child will get out of their clothing. Children are messy and have a tendency to get dirt and stains on their clothes. It is important to take great care in eliminating these stains in order to get the most out of the clothes. You may need to pre-treat stains in order to remove them. You should also ensure that you do not overload the washing machine. When a washing machine is too full, it makes it difficult for the clothing to get thoroughly washed and clean. The clothes can also wear out more quickly due to the friction of them being so close together and rubbing against each other. As soon as you notice a stain on your child’s clothing, soak it or spray with a treatment spray right away before it sets. This will make it so you can save the item and use it longer.
4. Pass it Down
Hand down each child’s clothing to the next one. If you are planning on having more than one child, store the clothes from the first child and use them for the next one. This will only work if your children are the same sex, but is a great way to save some money. Make sure that you separate clothing and are only saving clothing in good condition that your child won’t complain about wearing. You can also consider exchanging clothes with other friends and family members if you are looking for clothing for a different size or gender than you already have.
5. Repair it
Repair rips, tears or holes. Although you may do everything you can to ensure your child’s clothing will last, children love to crawl around and play and are likely to damage their clothing once in a while. In these cases, you should go to a craft, clothing, or patch store, such as Patch Superstore, in order to get a patch that would go well with the material of the clothing that needs repair. You can also add patches of your child’s favorite characters or animals to not only cover the hole, but add character to the item. If your child loves sesame street, he’ll love wearing jeans with Cookie Monster on the knee.
6. Recycle It
When you are done having children, you could go through the clothing they have grown out of and bring them into a secondhand store to sell. You could also have a garage sale in order to sell as much as possible. Both of these are great ways to get a little money back from the clothes your child can no longer wear. Anything you don’t sell you can donate to a local charitable thrift store or a homeless shelter. Oftentimes you can get a tax write off for donated items.
Taking care of children gets expensive and in the current economy most families have a very tight budget. To make the most of you clothing budget, try some of these tips.
Category: Family Finances, Saving Money
