Children often grow out of their clothes before they wear them out. After Christmas and into the New Year is a great time to look for winter clothes. A lot of children will have new clothes for the holidays, so families will probably be looking to get rid of old clothes. Combined with the New Year’s / Hogmanay urge to clean up and ship out old stuff, you have the ideal time to get winter clothes for your kids.
Make a list. Start with an honest assessment of what you need in what sizes so you don’t end up impulse buying more than you need.
Look for sales. Comb sale advertisements in the papers before you head off to the stores. Save yourself the grief of having to physically push clothes around on the racks. De-stress. Only go to the sales that are most likely to have what you need.
Trade with friends. If you have a large enough circle of friends and acquaintances, clothes can be passed from family to family until they wear out. You might not be trading clothes for clothes with the same family, but you can often work out a fair system for trading in a circle.
Consign and shop consignment post-holidays. Gather up the clothes that don’t fit your children and take them to a consignment shop IF the shop gives you decent terms. Don’t give away the clothes for nothing. Near me, I have only found shops that give terrible terms, so I don’t do this.
Buy a size up. As you are part-way into the season, you will save money by buying the size you will need next year. My children know I am going to buy coats with arms too long, and they are just resigned to it.
Image © Lucyna Onik | Dreamstime.com
