Thrifty Clothing Finds

This week, I went shopping for some clothes that Handy Boy needs for fall.  I went to a few stores and hit the clearance racks.  I never shop for “back to school clothes” before school starts.  Handy Boy can still wear his shorts and t-shirts for a while, and he seems to have a growth spurt every fall.

I would love to be able to get clothes for Handy Boy at thrift and consignment stores, but unfortunately, that’s not possible any more.  Second hand stores have more clothing for babies, toddlers, and younger children.  Handy Boy is a size 10 now, and I just can’t find clothes in that size in second hand stores.

I found some shirts on sale at Kohl’s and Sears.  I bought two short sleeved shirts and three long sleeved shirts.

I also took out these three shirts.  I had stored these shirts in Handy Boy’s dresser.  We bought them back in the spring from a clearance rack for $2.49 each!!  Can you believe it?

Here’s the proof:

I don’t like the idea of paying $24 for ONE SHIRT for a child, but $2.49?! Awesome!

Here are the two short sleeved shirts that I bought:

I recently found a site called thredup.  It’s an online site where you can trade gently used children’s clothing.  Unfortunately, there isn’t much for boy’s size 10 clothing there, either; but I thought I would pass along the info.

I absolutely hate paying full price for clothing for myself, Handy Man or Handy Boy.  We always check clearance racks, second hand stores and sales.  Last year, I bought Handy Boy a nice winter coat for $1 in a thrift store! ONE dollar!  Check out this post about some thrifty winter items I bought for Handy Boy last winter.  Click here to see the nice rain coat I bought for the Boy for $1.99.

Linking to: The Thrifty Home/It’s a Blog Party

How do you save money on clothing?

Declutter Challenge for a Monday

Here’s a project I’ve been working on lately.  I thought it would make a good Monday Decluttering Challenge.  I’ve been going through clothes and cleaning out and organizing some closets.  This is a picture of The Boy’s closet.  He has grown like a WEED lately, and I had to get him all new jeans and pull out some shirts that don’t fit.  There’s not much left!  I left a few long-sleeved shirts, but I will have to buy more of those in the fall.

Don’t worry about Handy Boy, we have stocked up on plenty of shorts and Spongebob t-shirts for the summer.  He is finally able to wear shorts, now that the weather has warmed up.

Over short amounts of time on different days, I went through the Boy’s closet and his dresser.  Each time, I had him try on a few things.  Of course he moaned and groaned, but it was the only way I could be sure of what fits or not, since he’s grown so much lately.  I put several items into bags for donation, and organized what was left.

This was a pretty easy project, since The Boy doesn’t have a lot of clothes.  Do you have a closet you could go through?  I think kids’ closets can either be a nightmare or pretty easy, depending on how many clothes they have!  If you have a large closet cleaning project to do, don’t do it all at once! Just do one section per day, over a week or two.  It will still get done, and you won’t have to devote a whole Saturday to it.  Place two bags near the closet: put donations into one, and put clothes you want to give to a friend’s child in the other bag. Ready, set, GO!

Winter Gear for Handy Boy (on the Cheap)

Since the weather is turning cold, I’ve been looking for some outerwear for Handy Boy for the upcoming winter. Handy Boy is 8 now, but ever since he was a baby, I’ve been shopping at consignment stores for his snowsuits. One year, I found a really nice, almost brand-new LL Bean snowsuit for him at a consignment store for about $18! Brand new snowsuits from LL Bean can cost $50 and UP! I decided that there is no way I’m paying $60ish for a snowsuit that he MIGHT wear for one winter.

Handy Man and I did some Goodwill shopping recently, and we bought the following items:

– snow pants, a hat, and some really warm gloves (the hat and gloves were brand new at Goodwill, but very inexpensive) for $19.99 total!

– and these really nice, barely-used, LL Bean snow boots for $6!

Handy Boy has a nice winter jacket from last year (another Goodwill purchase for about $10!) that he will wear again this winter, but next year I’ll  need to get him a new jacket, since he is growing so much.

Here in New England, it can get pretty expensive to outfit a child (or children!) with winter gear for playing outside.  You can shop sales, especially at the end of winter, but don’t rule out shopping at Goodwill, children’s consignment stores, or even yard sales, to find these things.