Am I the only one?? I hate walmart clothes. They don't last. And it seems like the rest is outragously expensive... How the heck do people afford the cute nice brand clothes?? I don't get it?? I spent $300 on 2 outfits each for my kids. GOOD GRIEF!! And they were all on sale..
I'm with you on Walmart clothes. They are far more costly in the long run because of having to replace it all. I have found that KMart is better quality and their sales make the clothes cheaper than Walmart. I buy clearance stuff at the outlet malls. It's usually a season off, so I store new clothes until they are needed. (I have a rather elaborate storage tote system for this. lol). I love Old Navy. Their clothes aren't quite as high-quality as, say, Children's Place, but they're better than Walmart. This one takes time, but if you've got it it's worth it to dig around a good-sized thrift store. No, your daughter isn't going to get the most in-style tops, but jeans and play-pants are a steal there. I don't care when my boys tear up a $.50 pair of jogging pants while rough-housing with the dogs... at least not nearly as much as I would care if I spent $20 on the same pair.
Yes I would say the same thng as Amie....... I really miss our good wil that went out of business, I used to get leggings and play clothes really cheap...... not to mention some really fun star wars toys once..... I used to have it pretty good when my mom owned her discount store, we'd get things from there free or almost free. ...... I know that trhere are a few places like that around though, brand new stuff at almost 70-80% off.
I shop the clearance racks at Kohl's when I have the extra 30% off coupon if I use it with my Kohl's Card. Then I turn right around at the register and pay it. I also shop Walmart clothes when they have the $1 racks set up. I can choke down paying $1 for a shirt or shorts that will only last one season. Another thing some friends and I do is get on the charitable giving list at a local consignment shop. We get tons of clothes to then give away to charities or other families in need. I have only bought myself or my daughter one pair of jeans in the past couple years. It's a lot of work, but totally worth the effort. I often wear name brand jeans and only had to pay with my labor.
We love love love Goodwill! Freddy and I go at least once a week and I try to go on Friday mornings when I have the time. I find great jeans there and some still have the tags on them. I have found out that at our Goodwill you have to look carefully because the community service helpers don't put the jeans in the right size slots. I also find great hoodies there. I find a lot of big name brands there as well as regular brands like Levi and Wrangler. Lately I have seen so many cute Christmas dresses there for little girls. Sigh! No little ones here right now.
I hate shopping, period. But my MIL is the definition of smart shopper. She will browse the clearance racks again and again, and oh yes, again, usually at the end of the season, AND use in-store coupons, AND her savings credit card. So despite living on a budget she is always able to gift my kids brand name good quality clothes. I lived with her for a year, and if you have the patience for it, you can buy pretty much all your stuff at the mall for really really cheap. She never looks at anything that isnt in the 80% off rack, and she goes back every so often if she's waiting for an item... Have to nitpick though, she will take the $2.50 sticker off the shirt, and leave the original tag that says $45 on...that kinda sucks, but hey, I dont really care, she has excellent taste
I have found some decent deals on the sales racks at Kohl's and Burlington. I have found many new clothes, with the tags, at Salvation Army. I go their on half off day. Sadly, our Sally is getting more expensive every year and I have actually been able to buy some skirts and shorts for less at department stores than at Salvation Army.
Ugh. I agree. Walmart clothes are trash - except for maybe the girls leggings, I love those! I like target a little better. I HATE THE MALL and refuse to shop for anything there. We get a lot of hand me downs, my daughter asks for gift cards to places like Justice and Kohls. We combine with 40% off coupons and deals and usually get some good stuff. We also have a thrift store, a Salvation Army and a Goodwill not too far from us. I would say 90% of their clothes come from either hand-me-downs or thrift stores.
AT THE MALL........... our main reason for the mall is HALLMARK (Amy's HALLMARK by the way):lol: I love tht store. the kids like Game stop and I love the Bath and body works..... I hat the clithes stores there too.
I'm also a non-shopper. My kids get most of their clothes from their grandmas, but my mom died last January, so that will be cut in half. She would also buy them a gift card to Penney's or Kohl's. I would take them out individually, we'd go to lunch, and go shopping. As much as I hate shopping, it would be a nice way to spend an afternoon with the kids one-on-one! And I hear you about Walmart!!! GRRRRRRR!!!!
I hate shopping. Period. I'm probably remiss on the whole clothing issue. Each of my kids have a few outfits we reserve for church and going out. But most of the time they're in the woods or the swamp anyway, so it's Goodwill playclothes. My daughter, however, went to back to public school this year, 7th grade, so we did have to make that trip into town. Ug, I just hate shopping.
I love shopping But the older the kids get and the larger they get the more the clothes cost. So I try to only buy sales now. I just got my dd a Christmas dress from the Childrens Place regularly $56 on 40% off with additional in store discount it came to $13! Way more reasonable. I also try to pay attention to when stores are giving out coupons. When they were little I used to shop Value Village which has great used clothes. But then they started to raise the price and not make it worthwhile. I also like our Winners store which has great deals on ends of line items. And the grocery store supercentre has a great in house brand too for not too much. Again I try to buy sale and I generally buy shirts a little larger so they last longer. I just picked up a winter jacket for DD whose jacket was looky raggedy from last year on sale for $30 which when you compare to other stores around here is a steal. So on it goes. I tried started a local fashion exchange with other Moms but I was the only one giving out clothes so that fell through. The idea was to list what you had to give away and people could contact you to pick up the items. I think it would have worked great if others had shared. But oh well. Of course having friends who have kids in one size bigger helps too
Rachael came home today with a lovely brown sweater she found for $4 at Good Will. She had been visiting a friend, and says the Good Will near her house actually has a Junior's section!
:lol: We shop Goodwill too... My husband use to not want to step foot in that store but has changed his mind and now He is the one who wants to stop there on Sunday afternoons... 99 cent day!!! I make most of the girls skirts, demin and all... Cato's is the store we shop at the most for dress cloths. I hardly ever go the the mall anymore.
I've not had any trouble with Wal-Mart's clothes and my kids are pretty rough on their clothes. I LOVE Goodwill and Once Upon a Child as well. I try to avoid the mall at all cost. It is hard to even find decent clothes for girls anymore though. They are cut too short, tight, and look highly inappropriate overall
The outlet mall stores save my bacon! We do most of our shopping for clothes and shoes at these stores. It's just too expensive elsewhere! My DH is 6'4" and my oldest son is almost there. They both have long in-seams in pants, which are hard to find in regular stores. They both also wear larger than 13 sized shoes!! DS was wearing size 15 cleats for football this fall. About one more growth spurt and we will be special ordering his wardrobe! Our local Salvation Army is not the best- the whole store just smells musty. When we get to the city I try to stop in their stores sometimes. I'll admit- the last time I was in our Walmart was early this summer when we were pricing landscaping supplies... I can't stand to shop there!!! MT3
Fortressmom, do they have a Plato's Closet near you? That's a teens shop owned by Once Upon A Child. Though my girls rarely find things there they actually like. Rachael has bought several formal dresses at Good Will; we have a Celtic Ball here in central Ohio. It's a formal dance for hs'ers. Bringing a date is discouraged, as is monopolizing one person. They encourage dancing with a variety of people.
I keep hearing about Once Upon a Child.. We have NOTHING here in this tiny little town but Walmart and Bealls. I buy shoes for the boys at Bealls but only if they are on sale with a coupon. Last time I purchased ds15 shoes he was able to get some really expensive ones and stay within budget because of a 40% off shoes coupon. It was nice to be able to tell him that he could get whatever shoe he wanted for a change.. I looked for a Plato's Closet and the closest one to us (fortressmom) is san antonio.. I agree that most of the clothes sold now days for girls are way too immodest.. When I go to Lubbock (which will be EVERY Friday soon because of Grace Group YAY) I like to go to Savers. Gonna check out once upon a child too. I ordered from Gymboree on black friday for the girls and the order STILL has not shipped. Got the boys clothes from Old Navy and it came today but they put the wrong size shirt in the box. Grrrrrrr...
We shop Goodwill and Salvation Army for jeans. For everything else, I try to find good sales on. I will occasionally go to a consignment store, but really, I feel like I can do better shopping sales. We've been to Plato's Closet once, and I wasn't impressed. My dd13 just this week asked if we could try it again.
We have a Goodwill, but it has racks upon racks of jeans that are NOT sorted by size. It's a major headache to shop there. My DD has found tops there because she doesn't worry so much about fit with tops. She prefers them big and comfy!! We DO have a very nice thrift store run by the local hospital. They aren't nearly as big as Goodwill, but they are all organized by size and color. It's wonderful to shop there! My dd took most of her jeans from last spring and had them cut and hemmed into shorts by a local seamstress friend. Then I took her to the hosipital thrift store and pulled out every pair of jeans in her size that was a style she liked. She tried on about 15 pairs of jeans and bought 10 of them! They started at $5 a pair, but the price was cut the longer they were on the rack, so we only paid $35 for 10 pair of jeans!!! Woo Hoo! combined with all her summer t-shirts, a few sweatshirts that still fit, and a few new sweatshirts from Goodwill we covered her fall/winter wardrobe! I rarely find stuff for my youngers at that thrift store - kids sizes just aren't as easy to find in thrift. But luckily they are growing so fast a one season shirt from Walmart is ok in my book. I also shop summer garage sales for them and get hand me downs from friends.
