Children will grow out of their clothing very quickly and some may even wear out their clothes if they are particularly boisterous or active. This means that it can be expensive to keep buying them new ones. There are things that you can do though, that will help to reduce the cost of buying clothes.
Hand me Downs
Giving children hand me down clothes can be very useful. If you have several children then you might be able to pass clothing on from one to the other. You might even be able to do this with their cousins or other family members. It can be a good idea to ask about it and you may be able to pass things back if they then have another child. everyone using the same clothes in a family can really help everyone with costs. You can do this with toys as well. There is no shame in doing this, it is not frowned upon anymore as it is good for the environment as well as cheaper and a lot of people are campaigning for less waste.
Second Hand
Buying clothing second hand can be cheaper as well. There are lots of places that sell them such as charity shops on the high street and online places as well. It is a good idea to be very careful though. You may find that some clothing will be more expensive second hand than it would be to buy that item new. This is because some brands will sell for a lot more money. It is worth thinking hard about brands and the cost of them. It can be tempting to think that certain brands are better, but quality is not really a huge issue with kids clothes as they grow out of them before they wear out. However, if you plan on using them for more than one child or passing them on, then perhaps quality could be more important. It really depends on whether you can afford to spend a bit more to get better quality or whether you do not have a lot of money and so need to spend the minimum that you can.
School Uniform Rails
It is worth knowing that most schools will have a uniform rail of second-hand items that you can purchase. Do not feel worried about doing this as most kids prefer to have uniform that looks a bit worn in compared with items that look brand new. You can save a significant amount of money and you will also be helping out the school as the money raised will often go to the PTA or directly to the school. If there is no rail then it might be possible to find second hand clothing in local shops for that particular school. You could even start a rail at your children’s local school and help out this way. By asking parents for donations of clothing that their children have grown out of and selling it to other parents for a small cost with the money going to the school you could be a doing a big favour to parents and to the school and also help yourself out as well. It could be quite a bit of work to set up, but it is likely that you will be able to get other parents or the PTA involved with helping you out.
Sales
It can be worth looking out for sales but you need to be really careful When shops have sales they are often looking to tempt you to buy things that you do not really need. Make sure that when you are sale shopping that you have a specific list of items and you stick to it. It can often be very tempting to buy things because they look like they are a bargain. However, you need to remember that an item is only a bargain if it is something that you were going to by anyway and it is cheaper. If you are buying something you do not need, then you are spending extra money that you may not actually be able to afford. Also make sure that the sale price really is cheap. It can often be the case that a sale price is actually dearer than the item at a full price elsewhere. For example, a high-end shop will still be more expensive than a cheaper one even if their items are reduced. So, make sure that you still compare prices and do not assume that sales will always save you money as you may still end up paying out more than necessary.