Works for me Wednesday #7 - Shopping secondhand and outlet stores

When my first baby girl was born, I was thrilled to be able to buy cute dresses and outfits for her. Then I realized how expensive all of those little matching outfits and hats are. Especially for a child who will outgrow it a week later!

I also found that buying matching sets of shirts and pants or skirts wasn't a good idea since she (and her younger sister later on) wore a size smaller in pants than in shirts. So we ended up with cute little clothing sets where the shirt was either too small or the pants falling off. Buying separate pieces isn't always as much fun and can also be more expensive.

Are you sensing a theme here yet? LOL

Now that my oldest has grown out of the baby, toddler and little girl sizes, I'm finding other problems with buying clothes for her. Most of the clothes in the Girls 7-16 departments are trendy - and I'm not too thrilled with some of the current trends. They tend to show more skin than I'm comfortable with for a child of mine or aren't practical at all for a child who could care less about fashion and needs clothes that can take a beating. The clothes that I can find are generally - can you guess? Yes, the more expensive ones usually. I just can't justify spending $20 (or more!) on jeans when I know she'll just wear through the knees by spring anyway.

With a limited budget and a difficult time finding quality, practical, appropriate clothing, I have turned to two solutions. The first one is to shop as much as possible at secondhand stores. The clothes there are somewhat more worn - but then again so are most of the 'new' ones too since that's the style these days. They're already pre-shrunk so I know that if it fits her to begin with, it should until she grows out of it. And even if she does wear holes in the knees, I feel much better about replacing a pair of pants that I paid $5 for and can replace again, spending a total of less than I'd probably pay for a new pair to begin with. And older jeans with holey knees make great play pants or can be cut off into play shorts later on too.

I also find that the styles at secondhand stores are more in line with what I think is cute, yet still appropriate for a girl Abby's age. Sometimes you have to spend a little more time digging through the racks, but some of my favorite clothes of hers have been bought secondhand. And at her age, she doesn't care where her clothes come from (yet?) - new to her is still new. In fact, she gets all excited over being given clothes or shoes secondhand from friends or family and often insists on wearing them instead of the ones bought new for her.

The other way I shop for Abby, as well as my other girls when necessary, is to make 2 yearly trips to an outlet mall when I visit my friend Mary in March and October. In fact, we'll be heading there when the girls and I spend this coming weekend with her family. The outlet mall we go to has a Carter's Outlet as well as a Children's Place Outlet and I can generally find clothes for all of my kids there at incredible prices. Children's Place is especially awesome since they carry sizes for all 3 of my girls and I can find coordinating or matching clothing there for photo opportunities or special occasions. The last group photo we had taken of the girls shows them in matching shorts (and a matching skort on Becca) that I got at the Children's Place Outlet store for $1.99 each. It's hard to beat that - especially for cute, new, durable clothing.


It works for me!

Check out more Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer!