Clothing
and Toys:
Some of my favorite places to shop
for discounted clothes are eBay, Salvation Army, Goodwill, and local used clothing, thrift, and consignment shops. Look up
‘Consignment’ or ‘ Thrift’ in your local phone book to find some stores near you. You can also check
online at yellowpages.com, or do a quick Google search for these terms AND ‘your town’. Garage sales are also
a great place to pick up clothes (and toys) for your children. You can often find large Garage Sales listed in the classifieds
of your local paper, as well as signage in your local area.
End of season sales are a great way to get new clothes
at a fraction of the price. Just be sure to plan ahead for size changes, especially for children. Department stores tend to
pull out next season’s clothing relatively early, so you may get some wear out of end of season items before the season
ends!
Discount stores can also be a great source of ‘basic’ clothing, such as socks and underwear.
For children who outgrow clothes in just a season, you may find that shopping somewhere like Wal-Mart or K-Mart meets your
needs.
If you have a specific store you love to shop at, try checking them out online for special clearance deals.
For specific designer brands, you can find the best deal by following my advice in the Online Shopping section. For new clothes at discounted prices, I like WebClothes (free shipping, no taxes in most states).
After your family has outgrown clothes or toys (or anything else for that matter), you can
then sell things you don’t want on eBay. From my experience, clothing seems to sell best when grouped into ‘Lots’,
as opposed to one item at a time. If you have never sold anything on eBay, you may want to consider the VideoProfessor tutorial
series.
How about trading your clothes via ChangingYourClothes? You trade your clothes for points, and pick other clothes to spend those points on.
FreeCycle and Craig's
List:
If you have stuff to give away or want stuff, check out FreeCycle (search groups for a FreeCycle near you) and Craig's List (find your city/state on the right). You can find almost anything on these sites for free, from clothes to bicycles.
