by Hope
It’s that time of year again. The seasons are changing and the children are growing so fast I can’t keep up. Three of my four have pretty much outgrown all of their clothes, including shoes over the winter. In years, past I could count on help from my younger two’s father to help with clothes, but that is not the case this year. So what do we do…we went shopping!
Thrift store win as displayed today as we left for school, on our first of many to come 80+ degree days. Every item of clothing displayed in this photo of my oldest three this morning was purchased yestarday at our local thrift store…a whopping total of $20 for all three outfits. With the Princess winning the Most Affordable outfit at a whopping $4.
I’m sure most of you have already experienced the joy of thrift stores. But here are my tips for being successful at thrift store shopping:
- Wear clothes that you can slip clothes over or under to try on. This is not a MUST everywhere but with ours there’s a No return policy and No fitting rooms, so we find this saves us money and disappointment.
- Patience is key. If you don’t find what you want today, check back tomorrow. Thrift stores are constantly getting new items in and re-stocking their shelves.
- Be thorough. Princess is planning to cut off several pairs of thrift store jeans for cut offs for her hang out clothes for the summer. We actually failed on this one yesterday and got all the way to the checkout counter with a pair of jeans that had a hold in a not acceptable place. Thank goodness for great customer service who caught our mistake.
- Be sure. Just like retail shops, if you buy it and don’t wear it, it’s a waste of money (especially if you can’t return it.) I really push this with my kids, even with the items that are just $1.99.
- Go when you have time. Thrift shopping is not something you can do quickly, things are not necessarily organized by size or color or much of anything, so you have to look. It’s not something that you can do in a rush. So prepare for a wandering afternoon through racks.
It can be a daunting task, but so worth is financially. I am happy to announce that each child got a good start on their summer clothes wardrobe…and I only spent a whopping $60. Thrift store WIN!
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
I wore uniforms to school, but my play clothes were all hand-me-downs or thrift store purchased…I am thrilled your children are all in on your budget friendly clothing purchases…they look great. I had a friend who allowed her son to choose only Nike new clothing for his entire childhood…it was ridiculous, costly and left her in deep debt.
Yes, I have friends like that too.
I am also very pleasantly surprised that my kids are so excited about the thrift store clothes. They don’t get that from me I’m ashamed to say, but I do contribute alot of their attitude to our homeschooling and not having TV ie commercials. They don’t get the peer pressure to conform or the ads telling them they “must have” this to be cool.
I was the oldest in the family and weird sizes, so I generally had new clothes (from cheap stores purchased with a coupon, mind you), but all of my siblings have been victims of the hand me downs. Some of those clothes weren’t too “in style” after ten years, but my Mom wasn’t about to spend a pile of cash on clothes that would be worn in the sandbox.
Unless you said something, no one would have ever guessed all those clothes were from the thrift store. I not only donate to our local thrift store, I shop there too.