Lets talk school clothes.

[AngieB]

School here starts Mid-August so I'm starting to think about school clothes for my two older kids and fall clothes for the two younger ones. How do you decide what they need. Where you you buy them? How much per child do you spend? How many of each item do you buy..ie, 5 pairs of pants, 5 shirts...etc.? They still have some things from last winter that fits so they don't need everything but they do need some stuff.

[Aeress]

I look at what I have, what can be passed down and what to give away. Then I make matches -pants, skirts, shirts, sweater/sweatshirt. Since I have 2 girls I also check on tights and leg warmers.

I end up spending 100 for both girls but that usually includes 1 pair of shoes each.

[SusannahM]

My situation is always confounded by the fact that grandparents buy so many clothes arbitrarily for my children. I never know what to plan. I usually just make sure they have *enough* to make it through, I'll gain variety from what other people give me.

I prefer to do my shopping at the consignment sales on 1/2 price day if I need to do any. Still a good variety of clothes left at that point, and the prices are great.

[Rebecca]

I'm one of those people who buy boys clothes out of season on clearance, so we have plenty of nice stuff.

I like to have a few pairs of jeans, a few cords, a few cargo type, a few sweatpants, and for shirts mostly rugbys, turtlenecks/sweaters and some long sleeve tees. He doesn't need new shoes yet and the 3 yr old gets all the 5 yr olds hand-me-downs of course. How much is enough? I dunno.

[MsBirdie]

This is why I wish our school had uniforms

[shelbean91]

I usually only buy one or 2 outfits b/c MIL has a shopping problem!! She loves to shop the thrift stores and comes over with BAGS and BAGS of clothes, year round. I just have to pick through the bags- get rid of what doesn't fit or is ugly (donate that right back) and keep the rest. In AZ, it's HOT when school starts, so I end up buying clothes year round- an outfit here or there. MIL also goes nuts w/shoes. Seriously, dd has about 25 prs of shoes. I rarely buy her shoes.

[Belleweather]

My kiddo is too little to need school clothes yet, but here's what I learned from my mom: Don't buy 'school clothes' right at the beginning of school. At least here in the midwest, the first 6 weeks-ish of school is warm enough that you can manage with summer clothes and maybe a pair of jeans and a light jacket. We'd get a nice outfit and a pair of jeans for the first few days of school along with our school supplies and whatever else we NEEDED (ie. backpack, gym shoes, whatever) and then we did the bulk of our 'school' shopping when things went on big sale in October or November. My mom also bought us fall clothes at thrift stores and garage sales during the summer, since the nice stuff was often picked over by 'school clothes' time.

[Marcee]

we start hitting our local thrift stores about now becuase people start clearing out for school clothes. I have found JNCO jeans, Hilfiger jeans and such still with tags on! Then I evaluate what we have and fill in the caps with new stuff.

[townmouse]

If you have lots of kids of the same gender, IMO and experience the best option is www.frenchtoast.com (this is if you don't mind polo shirts and khaki pants)

I buy for the oldest, and believe it or not the clothes hold up for at least 2 more siblings. That's with daily wear and no special laundering.

I fill in around the edges with clothes on clearance from Target.


*townmouse received NO financial renumeration from frenchtoast.com for this post

[2Sweeties1Angel]

***This is why I wish our school had uniforms***

Me too! I always hated the idea of uniforms growing up but now I understand why my parents always wanted them (we didn't have them). I remember how hard it is to be the child with the "wrong" clothes and to get picked on and I don't want that for my children. On the other hand, I can't afford all the "right" clothes.

Yes, I do realize how screwed up it is that kids pick on other kids because they don't have fashionable, name brand clothing. Sending my kid to school in outdated clothes isn't going to change that or prove any sort of point--it's just going to get him picked on.

[camprunner]

DD is going to go to Kindergarten this year at a school that requires uniforms. She has five different colors of shirts she can wear and with either navy blue or kaki pants,shorts, skirts, jumpers or dresses.

I lucked out when my mom called and said she found some stuff on sale that met the uniform requirements and asked for her size. So she sent us one shirt in each color, a pair of shorts in navy and a pair of pants in each color. I bought her (at a consignment shop)another pair of kaki pants and a kaki jumper and I'm hoping that will get us through. Ofcourse with my luck she'll want to wear the same color shirt every day!

We have to get her a pair of shoes yet which I'll try to get on sale.

[Paxjourney]

DD1 starts Kindergarden this year. She still has alot of clothes that are in almost new condition from last year that fit her. She is a peanut. We will buy a few fall dresses before school starts and a couple of other things. So initial budget of $200 including shoes. Then We will fill in any gaps in october. DD2 doesn't need any new clothes as she has a TON of size 2t clothes to last her the next year. I do need to purchase some new socks and shoes.

[Amys1st]

Its still pretty hot here when school starts in mid/late August. I bought some sneakers on sale a few weeks ago to save for school. She received a new backpack from my mom for her bday last spring. She has been using it for camp but it will work fine for school. So other than the school supplies we need to buy, she is set until the weather gets cooler. Then I will buy some jeans, non sneaker type shoes, some fall dresses (she loves dresses) and she can wear that on Sunday as well.

I do need to get a new lunch sack/box.

[velochic]

Dd's school has uniforms. I'm not really sure it makes it much easier. Her school has a plaid and I always buy a jumper and a skirt in the school plaid. I get a tan pair of pants and a blue pair of pants (she hates wearing pants, though, so these are for only the coldest of days). Then I get a blue and tan skirt and another jumper in tan. I buy her 6 short-sleeved shirts and 6 long-sleeved shirts. I get her a school sweater and a school sweatshirt. So, that's 7 bottoms and 8 tops. But dd is still picky about the styles.

I get most of her stuff at Land's End - we get gift cards from our credit card points and most of it is free. Otherwise, Target has great deals and we have a place we take the stuff to get it embroidered.

[KariM]

We're homeschooling now, but when I did buy DS school clothes he always got two new pair of shoes each fall and then we evaluated his wardrobe to see where he needed updating.

I wanted to have, in his size and in good repair:

1 pair dress pants (khakis/dockers usually)
1 nice button down dress shirt
at least 5 pair of socks
at least 5 pair of underpants
at least 1 undershirt
5 nice looking shirts that met the school dress code
5 pair casual pants that met the school dress code

We tried to buy on sale, at thrifts, rummage sales, etc. throughout the year. I generally keep a supply of clothing one size above what the kids are wearing now. Sometimes, though, we had to buy new.

My goal was to have enough clothing to make it through a school week without *having* to wash clothing. Typically he had double what was on the list, but that was our bare minimum.

[oldgirl,newtricks]

You can create your "own" uniform. Just decide what you want it to be. My boys basically have 5 pair of jeans. They can then mix and match any shirt in their drawer to wear with the jeans.

This year, my dd's "uniform" will be gouchos we've reconned from men's T-shirts. We've stayed in the same color family, so that all of the tops can be mixed with all of the bottoms. It was easy to pick up socks which would match all of them. She still has three pair of jeans which will go with any top.

My criteria for WHAT type of clothing is based on how I do laundry. Jeans one load. That's easy. Shirts have either go in pastels or darks. Nothing for school can need ironing, so no button down cotton shirts here, unless the kids are willing to iron them.

By keeping the choices limited, the washing needs limited, we find it really easy to manage school clothing.

[L J]

If you have kids 10 or so and up, you should see if you have a Plato's Closet close by. I worked at one for a while, and you can get awesome deals in there. They pay cash upfront for gently used teen clothing and accessories and then sell them for around 30-40% of what they retailed new for.

Their standards on what they will accept are high - nothing stained, holey, faded, with excess wear, and it has to be current styles.

Its a great way to get "The right" clothes (according to teenagers ) for much cheaper than retail.

*and no, I no longer work there, so I am not being paid to say and of this.

[~Megan~]

Well my aunt has worked at a major chain retailer for some time and last spring she bought lots of Fall items in bigger sizes that were clearanced.
So dd has those.

I also got a great deal on the TP here for some more nice brands for dd.

I'll lay everything out and try to fill in gaps at the consignment store first. Anything I can't find there I'll buy new.

[Mallori]

I start early too. I buy at end of season clearance sales, consignment year round, and buy the next 2-3 sizes up from what they are. I have two plastic bins in the basement and a tote under the bed for each child. So when seasons change, I have minimal to buy. Usually underwear, t-shirts, shoes, etc. I also buy clothes that mix-n-match. For the boys that's easy. I do it for dd too, but with her I just crocheted her a poncho, and can get a little more crafty with things whereas the boys don't like it.

I also just bought swim suits for all of them for next year. OH, coats and jackets I have a hard time finding in advance. They never seem to have the right sizes.

[jennlyn]

For my older children , I usually stock up on socks/underwear as many places have them on sale before school starts. We shop as needed, not really for back to school. The exception is my one child who is required to wear a uniform. I can always find the khaki/navy bottoms at a thrift store, but I usually purchase the polos from Lands' End. They hold up very well. I do have issues against dressing kids in what looks like a uniform and then sending them to a school where there is no uniform policy. There was a fifth grade boy at my child's school who wore that uniform look every day. In speaking with him one day, he mentioned that he had gone to a private school previously. He didn't fit in very well with his peers as they mostly just ignored him. Yes, I would like my children to look nice, but if everyone is wearing jeans and t-shirts and you are wearing khakis and polo shirts it just isn't going to go easy for you. To the mom who mentioned her child can wear five different color tops- yes, your child may wind up wanting to wear the same color every day. We have the option of three- white went by the wayside almost immediately, navy was worn about three times , burgundy was worn every day the rest of the year except for Friday when the kids wore school t-shirts.