Kids Hand-Me-Down Challenge

Tip Hero serves up fresh money-saving tips daily,
with over 2,000 tips shared to date.

GET FREE UPDATES:

Tips by Category:

Babies & Kids

Home > Babies & Kids > Topics: Baby Clothing

-----------------------------------------

Kids Hand-Me-Down Challenge

Submitted by: azzz 02/27/2009 10:24 PM

A good challenge to stick to. Vow that you will only buy your children's clothing second hand. A great way to save money and be green.

There are plenty of ways to get clothes for cheap, or even no cost at all.

1) If you know someone that has a same sex, but older child, than yours, ask them if you could take all of their child's out grown clothes.

2) ebay has great deals with little or no shipping. Try to stay away from those big name brand auctions at the top of the page.

3)People are always trying to sell clothes on Craigslist.org

4) Freecycle is another great place to find clothes, and on this site they're free!

5) Yard sale. Most people sell items for around $1, and if they aren't, you can always try to talk them down

6) Resale shops. There are some nation wide chains like The Children's Orchard, but don't forget the little mom 'n pop type places. Also stores like the Salvation Army Store.

---
sponsored: Find Money Budgeting Tips.

---
Tip Hero serves up new money-saving tips daily.
Get free updates via Email , RSS or Twitter.

More Money-Saving Tips:

12 Ways to Make Extra Money

18 Money-Saving Grocery Shopping Tips

A Quick Guide to Debt Settlement

Want To Save Money On Auto Insurance?

Sponsored Searches:

Make Money From Home

Money Saving Tips

Online Sweepstakes

Comments:

.................................

These are all wonderful ideas which I do use, but I have found the Target clearance rack to be a great place to find children's clothes, too. I can find shirts for my preschooler for $.97 and these are brand new. One year following 4th of July, I found shirts (which were supposed to be holiday themed for the 4th) for $.39. One of them had a fireworks saying on the front. The other three were just patriotic shirts with flag colors. I bought one in every style. He is still wearing several of these today. Target was good quality clothes for kids that last through numerous washes and I can sometimes get these cheaper than yard sales and consignment stores.

Posted by Christy on February 28, 2009 11:15 PM

.................................

Has anyone heard of The Complete Tightwad Gazette book this book cost me $20 10 years ago. It started out as a newsletter than all the articles were turned into a book. It tells you how to save money on food clothes, how to raise kids cheaply and pay off all your debts and save for a house. It takes a look of work and sacrifice but it is worth it in the end. This book came out in the early 1990s. It is based on living frugally by a family who lives what they preach. Their name is Amy Dacyczyn and her family that live in Maine (Leeds, I think). It is hard to find but I lost my original copy and I found it online thru Wal-Mart.

Posted by Linda on March 04, 2009 6:49 PM

.................................

Church Rummage sales are great as well -- ( look for adds in your local SNP) Goodwill and check out Target once a week after holidays -- I found Easter tees with bunnies,kitty cats and chicks on pastel shirts and pastel colored skooters in the holiday items area for .50 - 90% off ?! I mean brand new and I stocked up for a few years. My daughter was delighted with the items as well --and the items look summer like and can be worn for that

Posted by *()*)*(*)( on March 06, 2009 3:29 PM

.................................

Another way you can get free clothing is by volunteering at a church rummage sale or church-based thrift shop. Some will let you have clothes in exchange for labor. It's a lot of work to sort clothing for sale, but in the process you might be more likely to find things you actually need than if you were just going to yard sales.
Also because they sort out huge volumes of donations, they can't deal with anything that is damaged or needs cleaning, will usually just throw it away... so will let you take any of that stuff as well. But items may be serviceable with a little effort, or provide raw fabric to make or repair other things. You might just take damaged clothing to scavenge buttons, zippers, overalls hardware.
Volunteering is also a way to get free/cheap clothing during the cooler months when there are no yard sales. Since I have been volunteering, it was no longer so critical to get clothing for kids in the summer to get them though the non-yard-sale months.

Posted by anonymous on May 24, 2009 5:35 PM

.................................

Linda commented that the Complete Tightwad Gazette is hard to find. A woman I know just bought one though Amazon.com (which also has lots of reviews to read). You can buy them on ebay. My local Waldenbooks will also special-order books.

It makes sense to check out one at the library first, before ordering one sight-unseen.

The "Complete" version is the best value, as it includes all the material in the earlier three books, plus some things that were not in the first three books.

Posted by RRose on May 24, 2009 6:25 PM

.................................

Just thought I would add when looking for hand me downs look for a family that has a child slightly larger than yous and may one slightly smaller. I have 2 girls 9 years apart. I often gave away my older daughters to receive things for my younger daughter and I didnt' have to store the clothes for such a lone time.

Posted by anonymous on August 01, 2009 5:57 PM

.................................

-----------------------------------------

Share Your Comments:

Comments may need to be approved before they are displayed.

Comments:

Name (leave blank if you want to be anonymous):

Email Address (your email address will not be displayed):

Website URL (not required; please do not include "http://"):