It’s almost time for the kids to head back to school. Which usually also means its time to start shopping for a new wardrobe because those little darn sprouts just keep growing like weeds. When back to school time comes around and your kids need new clothes, it can become a stressful time for parents. Shopping for new clothes can add up quickly, especially if you have more than one child to shop for. You want to get them new clothes and you definitely want to be sure they have everything they need but it can be really expensive. So here are some ideas to help you save more on back to school clothing shopping and keep your sanity.
6 Ways to Save More on Back to School Clothing
1. Take inventory and make a plan. Your first step should be to do inventory of your child’s closet and current clothes.
What do they have? What have they outgrown? What will they need? Take inventory and then create a list of the things you’re going to need to buy.
2. Have a budget. Too often we overspend when we enter a store without a good plan, including a budget. Know what you’re buying and how much you have to spend and commit to that, without going over. Your bank account will thank you later.
3. Shop used clothing stores. Used stores, secondhand stores and consignment shops are a great way to save on clothing that still has a lot of life left. You’re also doing a good thing for the environment by keeping good clothing out of the landfill. My personal favorite is definitely consignment stores – especially for the girls. I’ve managed to find some incredible deals on items that still even had tags on them!
4. Sell off the old to buy new. You can take things your kids no longer wear, things that don’t fit, or clothing they never wore in the first place and sell it to buy new clothes. You can sell on eBay or Craigslist, at a yard sale or a consignment shop or through sale groups like those on Facebook.
5. Do a clothing swap. Get together with neighbors and friends and swap your gently used clothing. How often do kids outgrow things before they ever even get to wear them? This is a great opportunity to save some money and help out your fellow parents during the back-to-school season.
6. Take advantage of the sales tax holidays. Almost every state has a sales tax holiday right around back to school season. By getting your shopping done on these days you can save pretty big. In Florida it’s a savings of 6-7% and in NYC over 8%!
It’s never too early or too late to start teaching your kids about saving and budgeting so involve them in the process. What are some ways to save more on back to school clothing shopping that you use?
Comments (19)
Childrens clothing can be so expensive. These are some great suggestions I can use for my grandchildren. Thank you so much for sharing
Couldn’t have said it better myself. I use all these tips. I also really like Kohl’s markdowns
These are all good ideas. I ‘m all about the consignment shops. they have marvelous stuff sometimes.
I think these are very good advices, especially when the kids are always growing up so there’s no need to spend a lot of money on new clothes every wear. At least when they are still growing.
Saving money on school items is critical for us all these days,pennies are getting pinched harder than ever
Consignment stores would by the first place to shop for clothes for my future children. I buy my clothes at those stores all the time.
Back to school is rough. Any way to save is the way to go!
All great tips for saving money on back to school clothes. While we do buy new we buy a lot from consignment shops. We have 3 really nice ones pretty close to where we live and always find amazing gently used and sometimes even new clothes with the tags still on them.
Great tips I love the clothing swap idea thanks for sharing these I am going to use them this year.
When going back to school it’s always about saving especially when having a few kids great tips!
I have been purchasing some clothes for all my granddaughters. There parents need so much help with the expenses. Thank you for sharing these awesome tips.
Good ideas.
Great ideas, kids clothes are so expensive
Tax free weekend is always a great way to save a little bit of money on school supplies and clothing!
These are great tips and I used some when my daughter and grandson went to school. Later on the schools had a dress code so had to shop where they carried them.
Thank you for the helpful tips on Cloth Shopping for my Children!!
Great tips. I’ve always wanted to do a clothing swap.
I had a yard sale and sold off the old and made a nice amount of money for new school clothes. I think it is good to try and save anywhere I can on school clothes!
These are all great tips. Clothes shopping for children can get very expensive, especially when they outgrow it 6 months later!