Saving Moolah: Baby Clothes

Happy Valentine's Day! 
There are two things that are very true of our lives right now. One, that we are on an extremely tight budget when it comes to everything. And two, that kiddie clothes can be obnoxiously expensive. Clearly, a tight budget and expensive clothes don't make a cute pair.

Before Little Miss thinks it's way too cool not to have the brand names out there, we shop resale stores. The plus side to resale shopping:

1. Prices are wonderfully low
2. Some outfits still have the original tags attached (never worn!)
3. Brand names are all over those racks; you just have look 
4. That money left over in the budget can be used towards something else
5. Throw those clothes into the wash for a once over and they're good as new

The down side to shopping resale:

1. We don't always find what we're looking for (size, season and style)
2. We need a boat load of patience to look through every rack in our "size section"
3. Having the patience to look also means you have less time to do other things
4. Stores are sometimes cramped with all the big ticket items they get (beware to those of us with claustrophobia)

This past weekend, we got out to our favorite resale shop to look for summer clothes for Maddy. We also had a little incentive to go because we received a gift card for Maddy during Christmas. Our Little Miss is growing so fast that she now needs some 12 month clothes! So here's what we were able to find:

• A dress for Easter weekend
• 6 onesies
•  2 summer outfits (tops + bottoms)
• 4 summer dresses (with diaper covers)

These lovely little things were all brand name items (one outfit with the tags still attached!) and priced anywhere from $11.00 - $18.00 / piece at regular department stores. If we had bought everything full-priced, it would have cost us a whopping $200.00! Whoa...tooo much. We were lucky enough, by using the gift card, to only pay $18.00! The amount of savings is worth the time and effort in resale shopping. And we will gladly keep doing it until it's "too cool for school".