how much do you spend on girl toddler clothes? - Page 2

[AnalogWife]

I only have a boy, but Freecycle has yielded us a LOT of Old Navy, Gap jeans, Hannah Anderssen, etc...for nothing more than the gas it takes me to get it. I'm waaaaay too cheap to spend much $$ on DS's clothes, but he still looks great!

[mtm]

I'm in awe of some of the sales you ladies find. We just don't get sales like that in Canada or at least not that I know of. We got a lot of handmedowns and I watch sales but I still spent $100 on clothes for dd's first year.

[lilyka]

I spent almost nothing on toddler clothes.

places with awesome sales right now:

Old Navy - 1/2 off the lowest clearance price. We got about 20 items for $40 last night. (I was shopping for four people)

Once upon a child has there clearance sale right now (at least ours does) and we got two garbage sized bags of clothes for $35. some things were under $1. and it was cute stuff some still had the original tags.

Gap has some pretty good clearance right now.

[Hey Mama!]

I have 3 girls and my bf has one so we do a fair amount of hand me downs. I also try to first find as much as I can from garage sales throughout the summer then fill in as needed from a regular store. At a dept. store I'll try to stay under $10 for a pair of jeans, $8 for a shirt, and $12 for dresses. I don't like to skimp on shoes but I usually buy what's on clearance. They dont care if it is last season's style. My girls dress very nice because I try to only buy quality clothing from garage sales/thrift shops. I don't really mess with any big box clothing except Target and Kohls. My absolute fav store is Children's Place, and my mom lives by an outlet so I usually score awesome deals.

[miss_sonja]

When mine were younger, I'd occassionally splurge on a Gymboree outfit. Their Red Dot sales are really good and you can get a lot for not much. Plus, if you keep it stain free it's got resale value.

Old Navy stuff is cute too, and again, look for the clearance section. I've gotten swimsuits for $5, sweaters for $4, etc.

[ZanZansMommy]

From the time DD was a few mos old till she was about a year, I only bought high quality clothes from Gap, Gymboree, Old Navy & Children's Place. Then I looked back at the amount of $$$ I spent on clothes that she wore for such a little bit of time & a light switched for me. No way no how do I buy those things now unless, the are on super sale.

Last Jan. I bought DS 7 shirts, 3 sweaters, 2 pairs of pants & some mittens for $32.00 at Old Navy. The shirts turned out to be $1.99/each, the sweaters were $3/each, pants were $4 & the mittens were $1.99. After that mother load, I saved the receipt & I keep it in my wallet (it's highlighted in pink) so that whenever I feel an urge to buy I look at it & remind myself how much money I'd be losing if I didn't wait until the sale.

I've found that Tuesdays are markdown days for many retailers so that's when I pop in if we need something.

Originally Posted by brewgirl

Shirts: under $5
Pants: definitely under $10 and only that if they're really cute
Dresses: Under $15, though again only that much if it's durable. My one daughter pretty much only wears dresses and she's rough and tumble. I go to the Hanna Anderson outlet and shop Land's End overstocks for play dresses.
Shoes: I don't skimp on these. Generally $30-40 for stride rite to fit her chubby feet. I often get these at kidsurplus.com
Coat: it's pretty mild here, so fleece works. Usually under $20.

I guess that my advice would be to realize that your child may ruin the resale value of some of their clothing, unless you want to make yourself crazy keeping them away from anything dirty.

I agree with this.

[Free Thinker]

I have 2 girls who are 2 years apart, so whatever I buy for #1 goes on to #2, and now I have a niece who is starting to get my nice Gymbo after it's been worn twice I guess I just want to get nicer brands that last longer (like Hanna) and I can pass on. One year I got DD all Wal-Mart stuff b/c it was cheap and I was pregnant and didn't want to shop. ALL Of those clothes ended up getting pitched, so when #2 came along I had to rebuy all that particular season. Since then I've decided to stick w/ mainly Gymboree stuff. For one I like their quality, two, they are cute, and three I can shop from home and find good deals for next year. I watch their sales like a hawk! I plan to get a lot of stuff for next summer here in a few weeks when they mark it all down again for BTS stuff! Last year I totally cleaned up, I bought jeans for $8, tops for $4 and$5, even hair stuff, bracelets and socks to match! DD has a whole wardrobe for winter and it cost me about the same or less than I would have spent at Wal-Mart. I do not having any good thrifts or any good places to get used clothing. I do get some hand-me-downs from my cousin, but they are usually dressier things and we need more casual (city folk vs country folk )

My kids have skinny feet just like I did as a kid and I do buy Stride Rites narrows, usually at shoebuy.com w/ a coupon. I don't buy a lot of shoes, usually one pr tennis shoes, one pr. Mary Janes (or sandles in summer).

[Sonnenwende]

We buy almost all of my 2 year old daughter's clothes at Once Upon A Child. No more than $7 for any piece. She ends up ruining almost all of them anyway before she even grows out of them, so there really is no point in spending a lot of money.

[Purplehaze]

I spend close to nothing on my kids clothes

and have for all the 13 years of being a mom. For my DD (youngest) I knew I was having a girl and I put the word out- that I was willing to take what anyone had up to size 3 (before she was born- I always save up 3 years ahead) that is a BIG part of my secret- take what people offer you when they offer it. My kids are big. my 2 1/2 year old DD wears sizes 3 and can wear 4s in some summer items- tank tops.shorts... some dresses.... So I take all the clothing that is offered to me, I wash it all on hot to get out stains and allergenst and then go thru it. I toss anything really ratty, and pass on when I get too many of something- who needs 10 size 4 sleepers, right? So I share with a friend with a DD 3 months younger. then I put everything into those rubbermaid storage totes and store int eh basement, with them all labeled by size and season. I don't over stuff the bins as this lets critters into them... But it is so easy now- when I needed 3 summer stuff, there it was, just brought it up...

I also do a LOT with Freecycle. I freecycle out all my middle sons things that are too boyish to save for DD, and then if I need stuff for my older son or my dd, I ask and have been blessed with so much- even shoes... wonderful coats et cetera... If you don't have a lot of storage space, I would say get 3 of those under bed bins- 3 will fit under a twin bed, and then have one for the coming season (Fall/winter 08) another for Sping Summer 09 and another for Fall Winter 09. But if you can devote a corner of the basement to clothing sotarage that will really save you $$$ Amy D wrote aobut the method I use in the TWG books... I guess also with having DD be my third (and last) it is nice because once she is done with stuff it all gets passed on. I do save things between my 2 boys. I have nev,r ever had to run out and buy any child a whole seasons worth of clothing. Now that my oldest is a teen and is in hard to fit sizes I do find myself buying him jeans and shorts, but still I ask on Freecycle first. I also have to buy my oldest brand new shoes, the kids goes thru them pretty quick but he has my poor arches so I do spend money on good shoes for him. But all his coats and shirts come via friends or Freecycle and I do find some shorts and pants for him at the thrift shop.


I also send thank you notes, some times on e-mail, to those who have given me clothing for my kids. Even when what they gave me was mostly play clothing or even shot- I figure if I got even one or 2 useable things, then we are good. One lady I know always gives me play clothes, but we need those too so that is ok : )

If you are not yet involved with Freecyle, I strongly urge you to get involved. Wehn I joined my group, it was a very small group but now it has grown to almost 2000 people. If you don't like getting tons of e-mails, you can get it in digest format.