When my son (now 11 years old) was little, we bought him designer baby clothes (Ralph Lauren) at stores like Neiman Marcus.  Talk about silly!  Between his uncanny ability to stain an outfit in less than 5 seconds and how quickly babies grow, he didn’t wear an outfit more than a few times before it was thrown away due to staining or it was too small.  I learned this lesson pretty quickly.. don’t spend a fortune on baby and children’s clothes! They simply grow too fast and the clothes usually get stained too quickly to justify spending $100+ on a designer outfit.

Learn to shop smart and save big by purchasing gently used kids clothing, baby gear, and toys from your local children’s consignment store.

At the consignment store you can get high quality, gently used clothing at low prices. With the rapid growth spurts of your kids, buying new clothes at each stage can be costly, making consignment stores a perfect resource that you should take advantage of.  To ensure minimal spending when you go to your local children’s consignment store take a look in your baby or child’s closet first and make a check list of the things he/she needs.

Consignment stores are great places to get kids clothing and they are usually a lot cheaper but their clothing may be a little more used. They do however have extra discounts on some items on their sale days.

You can also visit yard sales where you have the opportunity to get a full wardrobe for only $10 but in order to get to these yard sales, it requires a lot of work on your part.  For example, checking the papers and getting up early on Saturday mornings to ensure that you get the best buys at the best prices.

If you really must get new clothing for the kids you can purchase them at specialty stores where you can save some money. Think of the maximum length of wear time that each piece of clothing has before purchasing.

Hand-me-downs from family members and friends can come in handy and they usually have very little wear and are quite usable.

When looking at all the options given, the children’s consignment stores stand out with their low costs, brand names, clothing for special occasions, high quality, every day wear , end of season sales and their huge discounts.

Recommendations

You can find maternity and children’s consignment stores near you by searching Google for your city and “consignment stores”.   You’ll also find great consignment opportunities online at websites including eBay, Gently-Used.com, and ThredUp.com.

ThredUp.com is a great concept.. you swap boxes of clothing with other moms and pay just $5 for shipping.  You can see a list of what’s included in each box including the brand name in most cases.  ThredUp.com shoppers can search boxes by age, size, and type of clothing making it very easy to find exactly what your child needs quickly.