Clothing Children on a Budget

You can clothe your children on a budget. Here are some ideas, tips, and tricks to help you clothe your kids for less. We all like to see our kids look good and feel good about themselves, but there are cheaper ways to do that. IN the current economic climate, it is not a frugal choice, but a necessity.

The best scenario, is if you have a relative or friend giving you hand-me-downs or selling them to you cheaply. If you are not that lucky, the first thought that comes to mind, is to recommend you become familiar with all the thrift stores and consignment shops in your area. Besides just checking the racks for that special item, you can be aware of any special "bag sales', CLEARANCE sales, etc....Consignment shops usually have a scheduled movement of merchandise. it goes to half, then to a dollar, etc..... thrift stores shopping is like fishing, and you usually have to put your pole in the water more than once. It is often just the luck of being there at the right time. Some stores, like the Goodwill Stores, carry quite a lot of new items from Target , home shopping, and other retailers. Other Consignment stores are often good places to sell clothing your kids no longer wear. I used to buy my daughter a few new outfits in the Spring by selling the previous Spring's clothing to a consignment store. Our newspaper had a Tuesday ad section with free ads that I used, also. Having this extra money to spend is very helpful. Now, Ebay is another option that moms have....both for buying and selling. It is amazing what some people get things for on Ebay. I have, as a seller, sent things out that cost me to sell! You can get a bargain on ebay sometimes.

Learn to "remake" things and adjust items to fit your child. Sometimes you will find a great item at a great price, but in the wrong length or size. With small children, their pants become too short almost weekly! Pants that are too long today will be too short very quickly. Hemming them seems a waste of time. The easiest, most sensible thing to do is to take elastic and run through the hem to gather them up like sweat pants. This allows them to grow and the pants have room to grow, but don't drag the ground! For too-short pants, the obvious thing Moms do is either christen them as play clothes or cut them off for shorts. For girls, capri pants or cropped pants are an option. You just hem them, and, if you can figure it out, leave a little slit on the sides to look even more professional. Boys now wear those baggier knee-length pants year around. You can cut off a baggy, but too short pair to be those.

Packets of tee shirts or undershirts have always been a staple of creativity. Lately I have been seeing the fabric skirts attached to tee shirts again. You gather some fabric....around two to three times the length around the bottom of the shirt. Attach to the tee shirt for a cute little dress. You can cut out one of the images in the fabric and embellish the shirt, if you want. Look at the magazines and catalogs; particularly notice the graphics, techniques and embellishments on expensive shirts. You can copy these with paint, trim, glue, etc....It is even better if they can have a hand in the process. Tie dye is very much on the scene again. You bunch, use rubber bands, and dip in rit dye. Be careful of damaging other clothing in your laundry processes. One time I laundered something I had dyed, and it ruined a whole load of clothes. Another similar technique is using bleach or peroxide to reverse dye....removing tint to put a design on a shirt or other item.

Boys love wearing shirts, trims, belts, etc that have significance. My son loved wearing his Dad's army belt. A cousin's Little League or other athletic tee shirt is quite a status symbol to a boy. Even a tee shirt from the thrift store with some team logo appeals to the boys among us. But, any patches, buttons, belts, trims etc that belonged to Dad or granddad, etc can make a plain shirt into a prized possession.

Little Toddler girls look precious in pillow case dresses. You open the top and far enough down the sides for armholes. You attach ribbons for straps, and you have a precious sun dress. Maybe you can find an heirloom pillowcase with beautiful handmade lace and embroideries. My mother made me a shirt out of a potato sack when I was in college! It was the talk of the campus, and everyone wanted one. There are sites all over the Internet regarding "T-shirt surgery," which is taking tee shirts and cutting them down to look like they came from those "mall stores" ...ie..."Abnormal and Rich", you know the ones where it is so dark, you can't see what you are buying? Most tee shirts from events are so huge....you can cut them down to look like fashion.

Blue Jeans can be given longer life with some creative work....Girls denim is so much fun to embellish with embroidery, lace, applique, etc...You sew up the rip or hole and place a fabric patch or embroidery over the area. I fixed a skirt one time for my daughter that was ripped, and I just kept embroidering with ribbon and yarn. It became a masterpiece! If those little blue jean skirts, or any other skirts, become too short, you can add ruffled lace to the bottom to lengthen. I added lace and embroidery and it was a hit! Boys jeans can be patched with utilitarian patching or creatively embellished with patches, appliques, etc. Those jeans with holes already in them usually have to be rescued as the holes begin to grow. I have fixed a pair of expensive jeans (they pay extra for holes) for a friend of my daughters. He was Cold! He wanted thermal underwear fabric behind the holes and brought me an old shirt to cut up and sew in there.

It can actually be fun to assemble a creative wardrobe for your kids. It is especially nice if it becomes something you work on together.