Clothes on the Cheap

I’m on a clothing mission for the girls. It’s all about getting more for less. I don’t shop at Gymboree, Baby Gap or even Carters. Even though their clothes are ADORABLE, I specialize in Target clearance. In fact, I’ve been buying up various sizes of clearance Target clothing since before Ella was born, or even conceived in a few cases. One friend got my stockpile of boys clothing. I just have a hard time paying full price for items my child will spit-up on, poop on, vomit on, spill on, color on and just get generally messy on a daily basis and then grow out of three months later. Is everything clearance? No, but a good share. Including winter boots, hats, mittens, coats, snow pants, swimsuits, etc. Sometimes I find shoes, tights and socks, but those are harder to find. With the change of the seasons and Ella starting back at school, I figured it was time to dig out her 4T clothing box and see what I had stockpiled in the last five years. As I was sorting through everything, I figured I’d keep the tags and then total up the actual retail cost and what I paid. The results are in…

 

Here’s Ella’s new wardrobe all laid out. Actual retail cost: $458.11. Price I paid: $211.02 – that’s a savings of 54%

At this time of year, it’s always great to stock up on underwear and socks for the upcoming year. Once they went on sale, I was at Target to pick up a jumbo pack of Ellawear. This really shouldn’t be such a difficult choice. Prior years, I could buy her underwear in the baby section where your big choice was which character you wanted to cover your child’s hiney. This year, we moved over to the girls section where the exact same shirt can run anywhere between XS (Ella’s size) to XL (something I could almost wear). Once over in this new section, I came to realize that I had to be extra vigilant to be sure my daughter’s clothing didn’t have a skank factor. Things start to get strappy, lacy and somewhat revealing. Now, I no longer have to avoid the clothing that has “Princess” emblazoned across the front, but things with sayings about stealing boyfriends, and the words “I *heart* Justin Beiber”. But then, this French company called Jours Après Lunes, comes out with “Loungerie” there take on lingerie for preschoolers. I kid you not.  Fashionista has a good article outlining the lingerie that is targeted to FOUR to TWELVE year olds (and thankfully not sold at Target). Gross. I’m trying to teach Ella that only a few select adults should see her underwear, I don’t know that she needs couture undies. She still has accidents. Once again, gross. So fast forward back to me standing in the underwear aisle in the girls section of Target. Suddenly, there are choices as to what cut to buy my three year old. Whaaaat? Does my baby need bikini cut underwear? No. So my thought process went like this, “Hmmm, she’s three. The 11-pack of underwear is on sale for $5, I’m going to get the MOST fabric for my buck. What cut is the most granny-panty like?” And into the cart went the briefs. Ella is now the happy owner of eleven new pairs of granny-panties. And, she doesn’t really care what cut they are. Half the time she puts them on backwards, so she’s probably happy I didn’t get bikini or half the time, she’d be wearing a thong. And that’s one bridge I hope to not cross for at least ten more years (wishful thinking?).

   

No snuggies for my girl!