How to Save Money on Children's Clothes

As kids grow, they change clothing sizes frequently. A parent can easily spend upwards of $600 or more a year on children's clothing while keeping up with their growth spurts. For an average family that would throw the budget into a tailspin. Fortunately, there are tips that families can use to cut the cost of keeping up with their growing child and still be able to keep them in clothes that fit.

Tip #1: Shop at Thrift or Consignment Stores. You can usually find good quality clothes that are gently used that are at a significant discount from regular store prices. Thrift and consignment stores are becoming more popular since the economy started tanking a few years ago. You can find your local stores by looking under "Resell Shops" or "Thrift Stores" in your local Yellow Pages. Most stores will even buy clothes that you don't need anymore and give you credit toward your future purchases. This means that you can get free clothes if you use your credit with the store first. Tip #2: Start a mom's clothing swap. If you belong to a Mother's Day Out Group, suggest that everyone swap clothes that they no longer need for sizes they do need. Your group could do this once a month. This is a great way to get clothes and not have to spend a dime on them.

Tip #5: Find out when your store marks the prices down. Some stores do them on Monday and others do them midweek. Just ask the cashiers or employees and most would be happy to tell you. The best time of the day to shop on markdown day is 2 hours after they open. This gives them time to start marking down items and still give you time to get a good pick of the goods.

No matter where you find the best deals on children's clothes, set yourself a budget and stick to it. You can still go overboard and buy too much. Just remember, if your kids are growing they probably won't wear it again next year. If you have more than one child, try to buy classic colors so the next child could get use of it.

Tip #3: Sign up for your favorite stores e-newsletter. Stores like The Gap and The Children's Place will notify you of any deals or coupons that come out that you can use online or in the store. I suggest setting up an email address specific for e-newsletters so you can easily check for new deals daily.

Tip #4: Shop at outlet stores. If you have an outlet mall in the area, check to see if there are any stores that sells children's clothing. You can find some great deals here if you know how to shop them. Just like regular stores, every deal is not a good deal. Compare the original price against the current selling price, if the deal is not 50% or more difference, this is not a good deal and is one you can pass on.