Clothing Your Family

I love spring and summer. Clothes, for the most part, are less expensive than fall/winter clothes. We do a lot of Old Navy, Target, etc. for play at home clothes, going out to play clothes, play dates, etc. Then each lo has a few nicer outfits for church, pictures, the beach, etc. Today I bought another round of clothes for spring/summer at Old Navy for $150. That's my second $150 trip this season, so a grand total of $300 and I guess each baby has 10-12 outfits that can be mixed and matched. It still doesn't sound like that much when I think about spending $300. It makes me laugh because if I were only buying for one kiddo like most of our friends and family do, that would be a ton of clothes. Oh well, that's just how it goes. My question is how many outfits do you buy for your littles ones each season? I do a lot of buying at the end of one season for the next year - like Christmas outfits a year in advance to get a good deal. I think I'm going to start looking into some of the kids consignment stores around here for dress outfits too. My girls have tons of smocked dresses that were worn only once or twice and I know most people consign those things when their lo's outgrow them, so I could probably find a good deal that way. I like to buy play clothes new because I figure at $4 a piece (like I did today at Old Navy's stock-up sale), it's not much more than I'd pay for consigned items. Anyway, just curious. Splitting our clothing budget for them doesn't go very far when divided by three. I can only imagine what it's going be like when they're all in high school!

 

About 10-12 outfits here also, and I'm cheap and never pay more than $5 for a shirt or $9 for pants if I can. I just buy on sale. I used to go to consignment sales but since I moved I haven't been impressed by the ones in the area, and most clothes are not in such a great shape when you need bigger than 18 months... I like Kohl's brand too, it's usually 2 for $14 so it's cheap when you have a 30% coupon. I stocked up at Old Navy a couple months back when they had the 40% extra off clearance (stuff up to 5T). I don't bother with fancy clothes, the one time I needed some I just went and bought something.

I really don't understand how Gymboree can still be in business though. Even at 50% off the stuff is twice what I normally pay. Crazy. The only times I've bought something is when it was on sale, I had a coupon, and it gave gymbucks, but even then, it's not always cheaper overall than the other brands (and you have to find stuff on sale to spend the gymbucks on or it's too expensive too!).

I admit I went a bit overboard on clothes the first two years though (never buying expensive stuff, but too much cheap stuff), had a hard time resisting cute girl outfits. Now I'm so over it. I must have spent $60 total for their Summer clothes, $90 if you count swimsuits. I'll probably end up reusing most of last year's stuff (will be the third Summer DS fits in the same shorts!). It really doesn't matter in Summer if everything is a bit short.

 

I'd love to have a weeks worth of clothing. That's normally my goal. By the end of this season I did not have that much for my twins. The older boys had at least that. My middle son gets hand me downs from ODS and has much more. I like for them each to have a nice outfit for church. Sometimes it just ends up being a collared shirt and a nice pair of shorts or pants. Boys are easy!

 

We have A LOT but probably 15-20 outfits ea but more tops - 75% of it is purchased 2nd hand the other 25% clearance/sale rack. My boys are very different in size so I am getting at least 2 seasons out of each item, if not more.

If I had girls I would need a second job just to pay for all the cute girl stuff I see

 

Way too much. I probably have 20 pairs of pants each and around 30 shirts. In large part because they are growing out of stuff more slowly. I have all their summer stuff from last year, and I bet most of it still fits. They probably also have 3-5 dressy outfits each. Plus jackets and coats. For summer, they have at least two swimsuits and cover ups each. I hate laundry, so everyone in my family has enough clothes for 2-3 weeks. Most of ours come from Target, Kohl's and babyGap (we have a rewards visa, so we get lots of gift certificates).

 

I don't think in terms of outfits, but my girls have way more clothes than they can wear. I think last year I counted 24 sundresses. :ibiggrin: And that's not counting the shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, capris.... Of course each of them has like 4 items that they wear as often as they possibly can, and most of the others get ignored.

We get hand-me-downs from two different families, and I can't resist buying a few things myself. I buy mostly at consignment stores and the twins club sale (though both of those are getting harder because there's less used clothing for older kids).

My big splurge is to buy things 50% off at Gymboree. Even then it pains me, but I will buy something if it's really cute and they don't have a dozen whatevers already. I also buy tights from the Gymboree clearance bins.

 

i usually have enough on hand to dress each of them for a week without doing a load of laundry. i buy most stuff at my MOMs sales & fill in with special outfits as needed. this past winter i think i spent a grand total of $150 for both of them, including snow suits. i'm kind of bummed because i'll be missing the spring sale this year so will have to shell out quite a bit more on clothes.

 

I've bought lots of clothes off of ebay (lots, not a lot). I spent $40 plus shipping for all of Alice's clothes last spring/summer. 13 sundresses, 15 shirts, a bathing suit, 8 pairs of shorts. Yeah some of them weren't in pristine shape, but they were wearable. I think Royce's was $15 for ten items (t-shirts and shorts).

 

I'm not sure how much I have... but I have a small drawer for shirts for each child and a drawer shared for shorts/skirts. probably 20 shirts each, 10 shorts ea. then there are other clothes too. I try to have a couple of dressy outfits that match, and of course a few more too. We get given a lot of girl clothing from a friend. And have a few boy outfits too.

I LOVE bargains! I have our MoMs sales here and then there are at least 4 other sales that happen 3x a year too that I frequent... I love getting an average of items for $1.50 to $2 each! I buy ahead for items that I know they'll need, jeans, shorts shirts etc. You can't go wrong with $2 for adjustable waist shorts!! Or the most adorable Laura Ashley velvet dress for $4!!

anyway, I love buying new clothes on sale too, but I really hate "having" to buy items in the stores for full price, so I do try to buy ahead.

 

For preschool/play clothes I buy Carters sets from Costco and Kohls.com. Those are the only place I can find the sets in toddler sizes. They usually run $8-10 for a top and bottom, so I buy every style they have and that I like. It usually comes to about 6-8 outfits per kid. Then for nicer clothes and dresses I usually shop at Old Navy or Kohls when it's 30% off, and only buy a few per season. I'm never sure of what size they will be next season so I don't buy ahead, so in turn I try to buy the bare minimum on sale during the season.

 

enough for a week - but that's usually 2 outfits a day LOL!!!

seriously I got a ton of clothes from a friend so I will likely NOT have to buy Abby an outfit this year except for pictures...Ian will probably get the majority of the clothes this year, but possibly just for shirts....I think most of his shorts will still fit him...

 

I go for 7 pairs of pants and 7 shirts and then 2-3 church outfits. That's mostly Spring and Summer. Winter I throw in undershirts too. I have been lucky with the twins b/c my sil has given me hand me downs from my nephew and then we have hand me downs from older ds too so the twins have more than enough for this summer. I do buy some new things just for them. I try and buy sales from Kohls (jumping bean brand is awesome!) and then some things at Sams club (Carters) and once in a while at the actual Carters outlet store. Rarely do I buy from Childrens place or Old Navy. I used to shop the $1 or .99 cent rack at Childrens Place for older ds and that was great but I haven't liked their selections anymore and the prices haven't been as good either.

For older ds, I will buy some things for this summer b/c he doesn't get any hand me downs. He can wear shorts from last year too which is nice. I think I will take 3 pairs of his pants (sweat pants) from this year and cut them off and make shorts out of them b/c they are getting holes in the knees so they can't be handed down to the twins.

I haven't shopped clearance for since the twins were born but I think I will this year for older ds for next fall/winter.

 

My kids have way too many clothes. Even our unborn baby has a bunch! I am a clothesaholic, I LOVE to get a great deal. Last spring I bought the girls 10 pair of Levis jeans for 3.99 a pair at Macy's!!

 

Thank you for posting this bc this seems to be the one thing on having twins that baffles me sometimes! LOL I always throw 6 pairs of pants in the cart and think its a lot until I get home and realize its only 3 pairs each! LOL!

 

I know exactly what you mean! I feel like I am always preparing even more ahead of time when it comes to the twins so I make sure I get exactly what I need.