How to Save on Kids Clothes

Walk through any mall and window shop at the trendy kids clothing stores, and you will see and adorable array of pint sized fashions that no doubt would look adorable on your little one. But when you actually walk into those stores, and look at the price tags, and you will see that most of them are ridiculously priced. But your kid can still wear the cutest styles, without breaking the bank. This is how I manage to have a cute, nice-quality, with out spending retail.

1. Hand-me-downs - Take any free hand-me-downs from family, friends, neighbors, etc. I always graciously accept anything free I can get. If someone offers you a bag of cloths, don't pick through it and see what you want, take the whole bag, and go through it at home. (Don't seem picky, or they might not offer to you again.) Keep anything you will use now, or in the future. Then donate anything you know you will not use to someone you know that can, or a charity, shelter or crisis nursery.

2. Have a set price you are willing to pay per item - have an idea of how much you want to spend on certain items, so you know when to buy and don't over spend. For example, for my little boys, I try to spend no more then $10 on a pair of new jeans, or $5 on used jeans.

3. Fund new clothes with old clothes - When my kids grow out of clothes, I try and sell them on eBay, or in a garage sale. Then I put all funds earned from selling the old clothes toward buying new clothes. One year, we put the $300 we earned in our garage sale toward new school clothes for Melody, new coats and shoes for the boys, and new running shoes for Adam.

3. Shop second-hand (eBay, thrift stores, garage sales) - Find a few good second hand stores (Goodwill, Savers, etc). Try to find ones that have a good selection and have extra discount days or special sales. Try and shop often, and on the discount days to maximize your savings. Take a day on the weekend and hunt down some good garage sales. A lot of churches or organizations have yearly sales for fund raise, these can be great places to find multiple families selling items. As you are looking, keep in mind your set price you set on each item. If I find a cute shirt, but its more then my limit, it goes back on the rack. This keeps me from over spending, and helps me avoid buyers remorse.

4. Know when to shop - When buying new, watch for sales at your favorite stores. Sign up to get emails from them, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter to get information on special sales, coupons and discount codes. Shop around the sales. I (almost) never shop at mall stores or department stores unless I have a coupon. Many stores like Kohl's, JCPenney's, Old Navy, Children's Place, Gymboree, etc, frequently have sales and coupons that you can combine for big savings. I wait for these times to shop. (Also use your coupons or extra discount to take advantage of end of the season clearance sales and stock up on items for next year.) Again, while shopping, keep your set price for each item, so you don't overspend.

5. Don't buy all school clothes before school starts - Most of the time, kids don't need a full fall/winter wardrobe before school starts. We usually buy a couple pair of jeans, new shoes, and a couple new tops to wear the first couple days of school. Then we shop throughout the fall for the rest. Stores usually start marking down their fall merchandise in September or October, so if you wait, you can save. October is know as the best month to buy jeans, as many stores are clearing out old styles to make way for new ones before the holidays. But......

6. DO take advantage of Back-to-School sale - While you don't want to buy it all before school starts, there a lot of sales around Labor Day weekend (right before school starts in most areas) that you can take advantage of to save money. You can especially find really good deals on shoes at this time. This year, for Melody we got her 2 pair of shoes, the store was running a buy one get one half off sale, plus I had a coupon for 20% off, PLUS I had a $10 member reward credit. I was able to save nearly $50 with that sale.

6. Shop ahead - Try to shop 1-2 seasons ahead. Toward the end of winter I take an inventory of the clothes I have for everyone for the upcoming spring and summer. (And I do the same in the summer for fall and winter clothing.). I go through hand-me-downs from older kids, and have them try on anything from last year that might fit. Then I make a list of what each child is going to need. This way, while I am shopping, I know what to look for and what we need. This also prevents me from buying what we don't need.

7. Only buy what you need - There are a lot of cute clothes out there now for kids. But, at least for my kids, what they need most are comfortable, everyday, play clothes. So we tend to have a simple, minimalist (but still cute!) wardrobe. For the little boys this means mostly cotton pants/shorts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, a couple pair of jeans, etc. Melody has a little more, since she is in Middle School, and now has an opinion about what she is wearing. Each kid has 1-2 dressy outfits, since we don't use them very often. Also try to stick to pieces that match each other. I used to buy up clearance and thrift store finds I thought were really cute, but would end up just sitting in the closet all season because I didn't have anything to pair them with. So what I thought was a good deal, ended up being a waste of money because it didn't get worn.

8. Remember, you do get what you pay for - Sometimes with clothing, quality does reflect in the price. You can outfit you little one in entirely Garanimals wardrobe from Walmart, and it will be inexpensive, but don't expect it to last. This is especially important to remember, if you are shopping for an older child or plan on having more kids that you are going to want to hand these clothes down to. If you opt for some of the higher quality (and a little higher priced) clothing, chances are those pieces will be in better shape when the older one out grows them, then some of the cheaper stuff. This can actually end of saving you money in the end, because you will have fewer items to replace when the next kid is wearing these hand-me-downs. And by getting these items at a good price, you aren't really spending that much more.

Homemade Applesauce

After picking over 300 free apples, I started researching how to make and can applesauce. I found a few different methods, and recipes, and just kind of winged it and made a batch. And it was pretty good! My goal was to use no extra sugar or anything, so it would be as natural as possible. I tried it out on my taste testers (aka my kiddos), and they gobbled it right up. So I think this method works pretty well.

Homemade Applesauce

(makes 4 quarts)

What you will need:
About 12 pounds of apples (about 36 medium sized apples)
5 cups water
1/4 lemon juice

1. Fill a large pot with the water and lemon juice.
2. Peel, core, and slice your apples. Add them to the pot of water as you slice them. Stir occasionally to coat with the lemon juice.
3. When all the apples are chopped, place pot on the stove, bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until apples are tender.
*While your apples are simmering, is a good time to get you jars sterilized and ready
4. When apples are tender, spoon apples and some of the water into a blender. Puree apples to the consistency you want for your applesauce (my kids like it really smooth, so I puree it thoroughly).
5. Ladle the applesauce into hot, sterilized jars, leaving about 1/2" head space. Process the jars for 25 minutes. Let cool on the counter for 24 hours.

You can also freeze the applesauce, if you prefer.

Resources used:
heavenlyhomemakers.com
freshpreserving.com
pickyourown.org

Apples, Apples and More Apples!!

Yay for apple season!

There were a lot of things I wanted to try making with apples this year, so I was ecstatic when my father-in-law stopped by one Sunday morning and said his neighbor had 2 trees full of apples I could come pick for free! So I spent the afternoon picking tons of apples and researching recipes.

I started with 1 batch of each recipe I wanted to try. So I made up 6 quarts applesauce, 3 quarts of apple pie filling and 3 pints of apple butter, which barely made a dent in my apple supply! So then came more applesauce, more pie filling, and a different apple butter recipe to try. With plenty of apples still left, I had my mom dig up some of my grandmas old recipes, and I made 2 batches of apple crisp for the freezer. At this point I was running out of ideas, time and good apples, so I just made more applesauce (I had found a lot of recipes that use applesauce in them, so I figured I would be able to use it up) and chopped and froze some apples to make more apple crisp with.

After I used up all the apples I had picked, I found a recipe for apple chips that sounded yummy. Since apples are so cheap this time of year, I had a bunch in the fridge, so I baked some up. They were pretty good too! The boys ate them up like crazy! They are weirdly addicting, so they didn't last too long around here.

Final count: 16 quarts of applesauce, 2 quarts of cinnamon applesauce, 6 quarts of apple pie filling, 5 pints of apple butter, 2 apple crisps, 12 cups of chopped apples, and a couple cups of apple chips. Needless to say, I won't have to buy applesauce for a LONG time, and we will have lots of yummy apple treats to eat this winter!

I did the math, and I used over 270 apples!!! And they were all free!