I went to Walmart the other day and stumbled upon some clearenced shoes. My boys go through shoes pretty quickly. They spend alot of their time outside so between shoes getting ruined and shoes getting out grown it seems we are buying a new pair every couple months. I found these shoes for $5 a piece, normally $15.88. I ended up buy 3 pairs. One pair will be for my one son when he starts school and the other 2 pair are a size bigger than what both boys wear now. Buying them now will save me money on a new pair later when I might of had to pay full price for them.I do this with clothing too. I very rarely buy my children brand new clothes from the store. In fact I don't think I have bought my daughter anything brand new, except a hat. My boys get most of their clothes from hand-me-downs from their cousin or from garage sales.
I have a bin of clothes for each kid that is the "to grow into" bin. I shop at garage sales and try and buy as much as I can to get them through the next year. For my daughter, she is 8 months old but I have bought clothes up to 18 months to get her through the Fall and Winter up until next garage sale season hits. I will get her entire wardrobe including a coat, mittens and hats all for quarters instead of paying major dollars buying them new.
And when I am out shopping and find a great deal like $5 shoes, you bet I will take advantage of that and buy ahead because I know they will need them anyway in a few months.
Do you shop ahead?
This post is linked to the Frugal Tuesday Tip hosted here at Learning the Frugal Life.
I love the shop ahead in fact, I too only buy my kids clothes at the thrift or yard sales. But My boys go threw cheap shoes like they would a white shirt I have never had a pair last for more than 2 weeks before they were broke and funky. So I guy them pure Black Nikes and they last my oldest son 6 months and my ADHD son 4 months. It is a lot of money but it saves money in the end.
ReplyDeleteI shop ahead all the time. I have three girls (16, 14, 10) and one boy (6). I have hand-me-downs for the youngest girl and I shop at garage sales for all of them. The boy I shop ahead a lot right now with garage sales and clearance items. Right now, Dollar General has flip-flops on a B1G1 Free special. Good job on your great finds!
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind, I did share this article on my blog! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have 2 kids, a girl (5) and a boy (3). We get hand-me downs for both. I always shop garage sales and end of season Clearance sales. When they start dropping the price on shorts in another month or so, I'll buy them cheap for next year!
ReplyDeleteI do that too, buy the next size especially at the end of the season for the next year. Fortunately, we also have three cousins who we rotate clothes among. These options provide us with an endless amount of clothes to choose from.
ReplyDeletei totally do this too! I love knowing that I have saved hundreds on my kids clothes. I also use a website called Thredup ( http://www.thredup.com/290023 ) it's an online clothing exchange. I have gotten and sent some very cute clothes through them for 15.95 a box. I am really big on using thrift stores to find great deals.
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