Welcome to the first installment of the LivingWithBeth Monthly Cash Savings Challenge. Are you with me?
To commemorate the back to school season, this month’s challenge is all about saving money on clothing. For me, clothing has become the absolute easiest thing to save money on. In this post, I’m spilling my secrets to spending very little on clothing for my family.
This post may contain affiliate links; please read my disclosure here.
Thrift Stores
If you live in or near a decently sized city, check out all of the nearby nonprofit thrift stores. I’ve learned a lot about what clothing brands to buy and what brands to avoid from shopping at thrift stores.
You’ll want to look closely at clothing before buying. Remember that you can always mend a tear, but I tend to steer clear of anything with a stain, unless it’s somewhere unlikely to be seen.
Follow your favorite stores on Facebook so you can stay informed of their special sales. My favorite thrift store is open five days a week and has a different special every day.
Friends, Relatives and Coworkers
I started shopping at thrift stores because it seemed like every time I complimented someone on her clothes, she’d say she bought everything at a thrift store. I was in the process of losing weight and needed a bunch of clothing that fit my new size, and thrift stores were a godsend.
Then, I started getting comments about my clothing, and I’d tell people where I bought them. When other thrift store shoppers started getting the idea that I was open to used clothing, they started offering me their hand-me-downs.
Friends offered me a bunch of really nice stuff for my girls, out of the blue, on a couple of different occasions, just within the past year.
I’m certainly not saying that you should beg for clothing from everyone you know. I’m suggesting that you should leave yourself open to it, and see what happens. I really never asked anyone for anything. It seems like fellow thrift shoppers like to help each other out.
Bargain Shop
Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard all about shopping for sales, using coupons, and so forth. That’s not what I’m talking about. There are some stores that have consistently low prices on clothing.
I’ve had good luck with some of Walmart’s brands of clothing, such as Faded Glory. I also really like Gymboree children’s clothing. They almost always have a sale going on, and they offer an enormous selection of gorgeous mix-and-match kids’ clothing.
How About You?
How do you save money on clothing for your family? Are you up to the challenge to save even more?
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