How I save money on kids’ clothes

Photos by Helga Laing Photography

I’ve never been one to spend lots of money on my kids’ clothes or a lot of time looking for said clothes. They grow out of them, stain them, or wear them out way too fast for that.

But, I still like to find cute outfits for them.

Let me be honest. When I first heard of second-hand clothing shops for kids, I steered clear of them. I assumed the clothes would be a bit raggedy and would smell funny.

But that didn’t stop me from selling to my local second-hand clothing shop, Kid to Kid. I got a fair amount of money for clothes my kids no longer needed, so I could put that towards new clothes from them.

While I waited for an employee to go through my clothes, I started looking through the clothes racks. And I started finding stuff. Like, really good stuff:

Like-new Saltwater sandals, Toms and Adidas soccer cleats.

Gap Chambray dresses and new hair accessories for my girls.

Short-sleeved button ups and shorts for my boy.

And the price tags for all of these things hovered around five bucks.

So now, I go to Kid to Kid to buy more than I go there to sell.

I get double, sometimes triple the amount of clothes for the same price I’d normally pay for them—especially the name-brand clothes. And when they do get worn out, grown out of or stained? No biggie.

I like to think of shopping at Kid to Kid as getting really good quality hand-me-downs from my neighbors. And it makes me happy to know someone else is going to enjoy my kids’ cute little clothes when they grow out of them.