GARAGE SALES! Although it os close to the end of the season. I have bought tons of NICE name Brand clothes at garage sales this summer and have not paid more than $.50 a piece for them. Especially when they are that little and grow that fast you can find some nice stuff b/c they don't wear it out as much. I usually buy a year in advance. My daughter is 2. So i was looking for winter clothes in 2s and summer clothes in 3s. She has so many clothes now that I will rarely have to do laundry. And I hardly paid anything for them. Good Luck!

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Loving wife to Matthew 6/26/04
SAHM to Jacob Matthew 4/19/03 & Evelyn Grace 2/15/06
Baby #3 due 3/14/09

I have 8 kids and all of them were wearing double their age......for example, my son is 4.5 months and heading into size 9 month clothes.

This has held true up until they were in size 3's. My kids are not large or "fat", they are average size and average height.

My twins are not quite 3 and one is wearing a size 5 (one is wearing a 4).

I was NEVER able to buy shoes ahead......I found it to be a waste of $$$ because I could never "guess" the size that they would be in........thus spending $$$$ on a good deal/clearance and then having to pay full price when it came time to actually need them on a pair that actually fit.

Lots of good suggestions in these replies...

1) Shop ahead to get deals. (seems like all these mommies have ideas on this already posted). A good one I have found is to shop the after-holiday clearances. For example Target had all these "Halloween"-themed tshirts for kids after the holiday last year on sale for under a dollar. I went and picked up five little boy t shirts (all that I could find in a 2T size) for less than 2 dollars. and they are not even all that theme-y. He has been wearing them all summer and really they basically say "little monster". Yeah - that applies all year long
2) Start dressing in separates. One of the first things that are going to stop fitting are those onesies. If you have purchased or been gifted a lot for the approaching sizes either be prepared to cut off into shirts or try out the onesie extentions (beware that these may not always work for whatever brand onesie though). I think DS stopped wearing onesies on any regular basis at 6mo.
3) Think wardrobe basics. It seems like all of DS's clothes are like mix and match. complimenting colors, etc. Less like "outfits". And we concentrate on basics and let the brithday and xmas gifts be the special items. Actually it is a lot like how we approach our own wardrobes

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Awe, well I wish we lived close too!!! Thanks for the tips I understand what you say about out growing after one wear, my mom bought my son a cute full piece oSkosh outfit and he wore it ONCE!!!

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MOMMY 4 MCCAIN

We've been doing garage sales too. Also, I hit up the sales and buy 1-2 sizes bigger. That way I know she can wear it next year too. My DD usually wears her clothes 2 years then we have to give them away or sell them.

I had the best luck shopping yard sales. You can go wrong if you only pay .50.

Another suggestion is to see if there are any large, sponsored "garage" sales put on by organizations in your area. For instance, the Jr League does a barely blemished sale here yearly and I've scored a ton of great deals there for clothes. I used to buy my entire working wardrobe there yearly and when I became a SAHM I bought a bunch of maternity clothes and the kid's clothes. I try to buy in larger sizes also. And for the price if I pull it out later and don't love it, doesn't fit then I don't mind donating it or passing it on to someone else.

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SuperSavinMommy
SAHM of 1 son (born 8/06) and due 6/17/08 with son #2

Thanks for all the great suggestions!! They are all helpful to me and I hope other new mommies find this post helpful too!

I am SOOOO excited, I Have great news about my previous clothing issue, I was talking to a girlfriend today on the phone that has a daughter my sons age, she was telling me how a good friend of her mothers adopted a boy that is 8 months now, he has just grown out of all of his 3-6 month & 6-9 month clothing and was searching for someone to give them too, my girlfriend said that I could have them if I wanted them and that some still have TAGS becuase they bought a ton before they adopted him and they were not exactually sure of his size, she is giving them to me tommarow at church, she told me that it was two 30 gallon garbage bags shoved full and that about 1/2 of one bag still had tags!!! My friend also told me that the mother giving the clothes said to tell me that as he grows out of them she will keep sending them my way!!

WHAT A BLESSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to write her a really nice card!!

At least now I will be able to spend my money on a few nice outfits that Carter can have that are not hand me downs and not have to spread our small clothing budget across onesizes, sleepers and nice clothing!!!!
YA******


*By the way I am SO going to be searching craigslist too and garage sales (why did I not think of that)*

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MOMMY 4 MCCAIN

I always bought ahead and excepted ANY hand me downs! I would just go through them all, goodwill anything I didn't need, and wash the rest and put them in totes labeled 2T, 3T, etc and sometimes if I had room I would put them in totes labeled Summer or winter. I did that until about now when my kids have caught up with my clothes. Last year I did buy a lot of clearance at gymboree, Old Navy, Gap, Childrens place, Kohls, etc. I used to only buy target or walmart when they were younger but now that they are in school I try to buy better quality while still shopping the sales racks.

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Twice a year, the mother's groups around the area has tag/consignment sales so I can keep up with my sprouting girls pretty well. I don't know if that's a popular thing in your area, but my Saturday mornings in September and April are all about going to tag/consignment sales for kids stuff.

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