Money | How You Can Save on Children’s Clothing

Our kids are our pride and joy, but there’s no doubt that it costs a lot to raise a family. An article posted on The Guardian back in February indicates that it can cost up to £231,843 to raise a child born this year up until the age of 21. Unsurprisingly, the biggest expenses included childcare and education, with food and holidays following shortly after, but one of the more surprising costs that made the list was clothes. It’s not every day that parents realise just how much they spend on children’s clothes, with other expenses often disguising the expenditure on clothing.

Babies and toddlers grow at rates faster than we can keep up with, resulting in new shoes, jumpers and pants every year that lead parents to spend recklessly on kids’ wardrobes. They may be necessities, but that doesn’t mean we need to be shelling out thousands of pounds only to purchase apparel that will only last for one season. It’s possible to cut down on clothing costs and still have all the essentials to keep the little ones cool in the summer and warm during the winter.

Shop For Versatility

Real Simple has a number of suggestions for minimising the money spent on kids’ clothing, but the one piece of advice that parents seriously must focus on is to avoid shopping for clothes and accessories solely because they’re cute. Instead, you should be looking for practicality, choosing things that can be mixed and matched to make use of shoes, outerwear and whatnot before your child grows out of them, and either keep the items as hand-me-downs or donate them to charity if they’re still in good condition.

Consider Unisex Clothing

If you have twins or children close to the same age, then your solution would be to look for gender neutral clothing. While mothers might naturally be drawn to the pink dresses for their daughters and blue overalls for their sons, shopping for gender specific outfits can generate greater costs in terms of your budget. The separation of categories in department stores is strategic for retailers, as the founder of the Tootsa brand Kate Pietrasik explains, “Dividing up the goods in this way means more sales.” There’s so much you can save when children, boys and girls, can share the same wardrobe. They don’t always have to be plain either – go for bright and bold! This t-shirt is from Pinterest, so if anyone can find the store for me, that would be great!

Explore Charity or Thrift Shops

There are plenty of treasures to dig up from thrift stores, including future additions to your children’s wardrobe. Money Crashers share that you can buy anything from gently used basics to formal attire in secondhand shops. Special occasion clothing can set your budget back quite a bit, thus it’s best to thrift shop when you’re in need of a Christmas outfit.

How do you save on your children’s clothes? Any tips you can offer?

Written by Alycia Shana
Exclusive for www.raisingtherings.com