As many of the regular readers here at A Penny Saved know, my wife and I had a little baby boy in June. Since then, it’s been one constant roller coaster as we buy formula, clothes, toys, furniture, etc. And we haven’t even begun to “baby-proof” the house. As if that were really possible anyways.
One thing that I’ve noticed is the astronomical price of baby clothes. A nice little outfit consisting of a onesie and a pair of pants can run $12 at Wal*mart. I rarely pay that for most of my clothes. I’ve looked at some of the more upscale retailers and all I can say about that is Wowsa! How anyone can afford to buy enough from these places to keep their profit in the black is beyond me.
If there is one thing about having a child, it suddenly makes a person much more frugal about a lot of things. Baby Clothes is one of those things.
We’ve tried several things to save money on them, but by far the best thing we’ve found so far is Garage/Yard sales. The key is to not be extremely picky, but keep in mind that most babies only fit into any one item for about 3 months. And if the child is anything like our son, it’s closer to a month and a half. We packed items away that he’s only worn once or twice. A majority of the items at Garage sales are the same way. Nearly new condition and at a fraction of the price. We usually pay about $3-$4 for a similar outfit to the one that sells at Wal*Mart for $12.
You don’t need to be a math genius to figure out the 75% savings there. Of course, you may not have the best selection, but we are in a fairly rural area and we managed to get clothes from about 3 months to 12-18 months and a lot of them at that.
Another good way to find cheap baby clothes is eBay. The prices will be a little more than garage sales, but are usually cheaper than the retail prices.
[tags]ebay, kids, children, clothes, kids clothes, baby clothes, onesie, savings[/tags]
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Watch clothes at Target, they will have slightly out of season clothes anywhere from 30% to 75% off. Only 1 time in the last month did they not have at least 1 clearance rack, right when the fall, winter stuff was coming out. We just picked up short sleved shirts at 50% off, they will be fine to wear at home or daycare. We have been know to buy stuff that we think they will fit next year.
That’s a great tip also Carl! Thanks for adding it. Another thing that I forgot was to search out hand-me-downs. They’re free and again, they probably are little used.
If you could have, you should have had your wife breast feed the baby. Saves hundreds of dollars on formula and is much better for the baby. Keep this in mind for baby #2!