Bargain Shopping for Clothes in Today's Economy

With spring here and summer quickly approaching, I find that I need to shop for summer clothes for the kids, my husband and myself.  Being the bargain shopper that I am, I refuse to pay full price for any of our clothes.  That being said,  I do acknowledge that 2 of my children are now tweens and that clothes have become very important to them.  Gone are the days of filling their wardrobes with 90% off t-shirts and shorts from the Target clearance rack (how it pains me to admit that).  Instead, they long for clothes from stores like Gap, Abercrombie, Hollister and Justice.  While I would love to say to them, clothing does not make you who you are, it is what is on the inside that matters.  I know better.  At the ages my children are at, clothes make a difference, I reluctantly accept it and have found ways to fill their wardrobes with those longed for brand names at a discount.

First thing I have done, I get help from Grandma.  My 11 and 10 year olds prefer clothes, among other things for gifts.  They are very fortunate to have grandmothers who buy them gifts for every holiday known to man!  I keep an ongoing list of clothes the kids want and what store that clothing is at, so that I am armed and ready when grandma calls looking for gift ideas.   I am very lucky to have such generous family members who are willing to provide such gifts for my kids.

Second, I have made sure that the stores I shop at have my email address.  That way, when clearance sales start, I can go shopping for any desired items at the sale price.  This morning I got an email from Abercrombie stating that the Spring clearance had started.  I was at the mall by noon and had purchased a couple of summer items at 50% off.   As a general rule, Abercrombie is very expensive, but, I found the clothing today to be very reasonable because of the sale.

Third, I take advantage of all coupons that I receive from the stores that we like to shop.  While at the mall today, I walked by a new store, Crazy 8.  My 6 year old, who is not at all picky is also in need of some summer clothes.  While we have plenty of hand me downs for her from her sister, she still needed a couple of additions to her summer wardrobe.  When I walked into the store, I was given a 25% off coupon off everything in the store, plus, if I spent $40 I would get an additional $20 off my next purchase.  To top it off, everything was already on sale!  Knowing what I needed, I picked out those items, knowing when to stop at $40.  My grand total for 2 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and 2 pairs of shoes, $41.63 before tax.  I plan on finishing my shopping for her next week when I can use the $20 off coupon.  I plan on clothing her this summer for around $75.00  

Fourth, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I utilize hand me downs for my youngest.  I have never had to buy her a winter coat, spring coat, or pajamas.  I always buy her what she needs, but only after carefully going through the hand me downs I have on hand.  One word of caution on hand me downs.  Never reuse shoes.  I learned this the hard way.  My poor little girl got bunions because she had been wearing her sister's old shoes.  I don't cheap out on good athletic shoes anymore.   I have their feet properly measured and pay for good shoes.  I still feel very bad about that parenting mistake.

Clothing my husband and myself is a bit easier, but obviously more expensive.  My husband needs good work clothes, but he is fortunate enough to be able to wear business casual every day.  The best place I have found for his clothing is Eddie Bauer.  I use the Eddie Bauer credit card (which I pay off right away) and I use the Eddie Bauer Friends Card.  We get amazing deals and gift certificates by using the Friends card.  Living in Wisconsin, the home of Kohls, we of course buy a lot of our clothing there at deep discounts.

I have to state that I do not buy much from Goodwill or Thrift Stores.  I think those stores are great!  I don't shop those stores, because they can be hit or miss and often time require a lot of time in order to find good deals.  Unfortunately, I don't have as much time as I would like in order to shop properly at these stores.  Any ideas on how to utilize these stores more efficiently would be much appreciated.

I will be the first person to admit that I could probably save even more money on clothing my family.  But, I find that I must be doing something right, our monthly bill for clothes falls below what I hear my friends spend.

That is all for now.  Happy shopping:)