Works For me Wednesday - Childern Clothes Shopping

We are a family of eight, six of them children who didn't seem to get the message that growing should be done in a staggered manner, one child every 2 months. These children usually decide to grow in groups, for instance this week three of them have grown out of there pants. I was prepared for one to grow the youngest and had on hand 5T's and regular size 4 which for some reason are the same size. But the other two have been the same size for the last year or more and I had given up hope that they would ever grow any taller, no their bodies were just waiting for the week before Christmas to grow.

I buy most of my children's clothes at the local thrift store for the younger kids and teens, and Plato Closet for the teens. So that means shopping has to be done with a plan, I keep a notebook with there current sizes, and needs. When I do my bi- weekly shopping I usually stop in the thrift store and take a look for what is on the list, if is not on the list I try very hard not to get it, but there are times I bend that rule usually for spider man shirts that a certain boy loves. This allows us to clothe the children in nice clothing that our budget will allow, and not become over run by clothes. This has rubbed off on the teens to, when they have there own money to buy clothes with and head to the mall they go straight to the back of the stores where the clearance racks are. They have learned that if you wait and shop carefully you rarely have to pay full price.

I do get the boys t-shirts in a store that you really wouldn't think of looking for clothes, and that is Ac Moore. I wait until they have there 5 for 10 sale on t-shirts and stock up on solid color t-shirts for them, and if they are ruined in hard play that is ok. I also try to make sure to have clothing money put away for when Old Navy has there 60% off clearance prices sale at the end of each season.

In the case of a sneak attack growth spurt we have Plan B, first we check to see if there are any clothes that might work in the other kids closets for the short term. This usually works for the older three boys, but not so much for the girls. Then we head to the thrift store as soon as we can and try to find at least 3 pair of pants to get them started, if there is nothing there in their size then we will head to the regular store and hope to find some on sale. Then there new sizes and needs are added to the list and over the course of the next month or two we fill out the wardrobe.

This post is linked at Works for Me Wednesday