Hello, My name is Ashley Steiner and I am a married mother of two. I will be celebrating my 5th anniversary in September with my husband Daniel and my children are three (Gavin) and basically two (Zak). We are a happy family and have everything we need in life thanks to good spending and saving habits. This was not something that came easy for us. I was a shopper for all things not needed just because they were on sale or clearance. My husband loves almost all things electronic and computerized. These two things together do not equal a cheap life style. What did we do, you ask. Well we learned to get rid of a lot of things not needed, get the things we want for cheap or even better FREE! Yes, I did say free! This blog is going to be a how to guide for living a fabulously cheap lifestyle and not being ashamed of it!
I know from personal experience that life can be hard and expensive at times. I am not going to make any promises about this life style being easy to get used to. But I do promise if you try your hardest and really follow some of my tips, it can be beneficial and fun to live a cheap life! Since this is my first posting I will take it easy on you.
Clothes do not have to be in that long list. I can honestly say I have not paid more than $50.00 on clothes for my children put together. And I am very proud of this because that means a few things. One being I'm doing my part in keeping this a greener world. Two being that when they ruin a shirt or a pair of pants I don't feel bad about it at all! There are so many different ways of getting really nice quality clothing for your kids with out spending a lot of money or any money at all for that matter.
Freecycle has to be my favorite place to score free kid clothes. It's an online community where people post items they no longer need. It's great because you can get free stuff and get rid of items you no longer need. People will pick up scrap metal, moving boxes, and all kinds of stuff you might think is destined for the trash. The best example of why I love Freecycle is I responded to a lot of boys clothing with a porch pickup. It turned out that the pick up place was less than a mile from my house and there was three large bags of clothes and a box full of shoes. I went through the items and kept probably around a bag and a half of clothes, gave away a bag because the items were too small for my children, and threw about a half a bag away because of stains and rips. I kept a few pairs of the shoes and gave away the rest.
Craigslist is another great way to find cheap if not free clothes for the kids! You can search your area for great steals on this site. I was once just looking over the site like I often do and there was FREE posting for children’s clothes. The sizes varied and there was some girls stuff thrown in there as well. So I responded to the ad and drove almost forty minutes away, thinking "this better be good" the whole way. We pull up to the house and were I ever thankful we brought my best friends van. In front of us laid six huge black garbage bags full of children’s clothes. I was so excited and I couldn't stop smiling because I just hit the mother load of free clothes. We drove back to our house and started going through all of the great stuff we had just landed. I was able to get clothes that will fit them in a couple years from now. There was stuff for my friends little girl and my niece. Some stuff was practically brand new. I gave away very little and threw away even less. That forty minutes drive was three years worth of clothes for my boys plus some!
Yard sales! When people ask what my favorite season is, I respond "yard sale season, of course." Yard saleing is so much fun and you can really get some great stuff for the kids. It can be difficult at times to find good yard sales that have what you're looking for, but I'll tell you a way to make it a little easier. Scroll your local newspapers for yard sale ads, also craigslist.org is another place, grocery stores might have ads hanging up. A lot of times in the ads they'll right an overview of what’s expected to be at the sale. Another great way is to find out if any neighborhoods have community yard sale weekends. There is a town near mine that has yard sale after yard sale during a walleye festival. Is there a more ritzy part of town? Look there! More times than not if there are yard sales in these areas, they just want to get rid of stuff, so you can score great stuff cheap. If you go on the last day of a yard sale a lot of times they will sell everything half off or make you a ridiculous offer. My mom and I went to a yard sale when I was pregnant with Gavin. It was late in the day on a Sunday and I was looking through the baby clothes and she said you can have everything on the table for ten dollars! It was a huge amount of clothes. My parents recently went to a sale and were literally just given all the left over’s.
Thrift stores are a lot of fun and you can get a really great deal. Know this though, not all thrift stores are created equally. Some such as GOODWILL are a little over priced but if you watch for their 50% off or even better 75% off sales you can get like new or even new (tags still on) for less than a dollar! Salvation Army is one of my favorite places to go and shop. They have everything and they are cheap. Sometimes they'll even have bag sales. They'll give you a bag when you walk in and it's a set price like two dollars for whatever you can put in the bag. That's always a good sale. It's always good to support local thrift stores in your area, so Google thrift stores and see where it takes you! Oh and if you like online shopping some thrift stores have online store too. The main one I know of is Goodwill.
Swap sites are another great way to get and give free stuff. Swap sites are all ran a little differently. There is Rehash that lets you trade evenly. An example would be "I have a old navy coat size 6months and you have a really cute pair of shoes. Want to trade?" Then there is Zwaggle. This is a site where you use Zoints to buy items. The more stuff you sell the more zoints you'll have. You could either by little stuff or save up for one big item. You could also have your own swap party for children's clothes. Invite some friends and have them all bring one or two people that have kids, then swap your goods!
Now if you must by your kids some new clothes. I have a few go-to places that you can always find a good deal in the clearance section. I like to plan ahead so the clearance section is perfect. K-Mart is my all time favorite place to shop that's a retail store. The clearance items you can get there are amazing. After the season is over all of their stuff is marked down almost 50% right away, then the further into the following season it goes, the cheaper it gets. If you time it right you can get a shirt and pants for under $2.00 all together. Old Navy is my second choice. Once again if you shop off season you can get some great deals or even at holiday sales. I have picked up a really cute wool coat from there for $4.00.
Well these are my tips for scoring some great deals on kid’s clothes. I really hope you are able to find some great free stuff or really cheap at least. Please let me know all of you great ideas and if you have scored some great items!
I know from personal experience that life can be hard and expensive at times. I am not going to make any promises about this life style being easy to get used to. But I do promise if you try your hardest and really follow some of my tips, it can be beneficial and fun to live a cheap life! Since this is my first posting I will take it easy on you.
Don't buy new clothes for your young children.
Children are expensive to begin with, there is food, bottles, diapers, wipes, toys, etc...
Children are expensive to begin with, there is food, bottles, diapers, wipes, toys, etc...
Clothes do not have to be in that long list. I can honestly say I have not paid more than $50.00 on clothes for my children put together. And I am very proud of this because that means a few things. One being I'm doing my part in keeping this a greener world. Two being that when they ruin a shirt or a pair of pants I don't feel bad about it at all! There are so many different ways of getting really nice quality clothing for your kids with out spending a lot of money or any money at all for that matter.
Freecycle has to be my favorite place to score free kid clothes. It's an online community where people post items they no longer need. It's great because you can get free stuff and get rid of items you no longer need. People will pick up scrap metal, moving boxes, and all kinds of stuff you might think is destined for the trash. The best example of why I love Freecycle is I responded to a lot of boys clothing with a porch pickup. It turned out that the pick up place was less than a mile from my house and there was three large bags of clothes and a box full of shoes. I went through the items and kept probably around a bag and a half of clothes, gave away a bag because the items were too small for my children, and threw about a half a bag away because of stains and rips. I kept a few pairs of the shoes and gave away the rest.
Craigslist is another great way to find cheap if not free clothes for the kids! You can search your area for great steals on this site. I was once just looking over the site like I often do and there was FREE posting for children’s clothes. The sizes varied and there was some girls stuff thrown in there as well. So I responded to the ad and drove almost forty minutes away, thinking "this better be good" the whole way. We pull up to the house and were I ever thankful we brought my best friends van. In front of us laid six huge black garbage bags full of children’s clothes. I was so excited and I couldn't stop smiling because I just hit the mother load of free clothes. We drove back to our house and started going through all of the great stuff we had just landed. I was able to get clothes that will fit them in a couple years from now. There was stuff for my friends little girl and my niece. Some stuff was practically brand new. I gave away very little and threw away even less. That forty minutes drive was three years worth of clothes for my boys plus some!
Yard sales! When people ask what my favorite season is, I respond "yard sale season, of course." Yard saleing is so much fun and you can really get some great stuff for the kids. It can be difficult at times to find good yard sales that have what you're looking for, but I'll tell you a way to make it a little easier. Scroll your local newspapers for yard sale ads, also craigslist.org is another place, grocery stores might have ads hanging up. A lot of times in the ads they'll right an overview of what’s expected to be at the sale. Another great way is to find out if any neighborhoods have community yard sale weekends. There is a town near mine that has yard sale after yard sale during a walleye festival. Is there a more ritzy part of town? Look there! More times than not if there are yard sales in these areas, they just want to get rid of stuff, so you can score great stuff cheap. If you go on the last day of a yard sale a lot of times they will sell everything half off or make you a ridiculous offer. My mom and I went to a yard sale when I was pregnant with Gavin. It was late in the day on a Sunday and I was looking through the baby clothes and she said you can have everything on the table for ten dollars! It was a huge amount of clothes. My parents recently went to a sale and were literally just given all the left over’s.
Thrift stores are a lot of fun and you can get a really great deal. Know this though, not all thrift stores are created equally. Some such as GOODWILL are a little over priced but if you watch for their 50% off or even better 75% off sales you can get like new or even new (tags still on) for less than a dollar! Salvation Army is one of my favorite places to go and shop. They have everything and they are cheap. Sometimes they'll even have bag sales. They'll give you a bag when you walk in and it's a set price like two dollars for whatever you can put in the bag. That's always a good sale. It's always good to support local thrift stores in your area, so Google thrift stores and see where it takes you! Oh and if you like online shopping some thrift stores have online store too. The main one I know of is Goodwill.
Swap sites are another great way to get and give free stuff. Swap sites are all ran a little differently. There is Rehash that lets you trade evenly. An example would be "I have a old navy coat size 6months and you have a really cute pair of shoes. Want to trade?" Then there is Zwaggle. This is a site where you use Zoints to buy items. The more stuff you sell the more zoints you'll have. You could either by little stuff or save up for one big item. You could also have your own swap party for children's clothes. Invite some friends and have them all bring one or two people that have kids, then swap your goods!
Now if you must by your kids some new clothes. I have a few go-to places that you can always find a good deal in the clearance section. I like to plan ahead so the clearance section is perfect. K-Mart is my all time favorite place to shop that's a retail store. The clearance items you can get there are amazing. After the season is over all of their stuff is marked down almost 50% right away, then the further into the following season it goes, the cheaper it gets. If you time it right you can get a shirt and pants for under $2.00 all together. Old Navy is my second choice. Once again if you shop off season you can get some great deals or even at holiday sales. I have picked up a really cute wool coat from there for $4.00.
Well these are my tips for scoring some great deals on kid’s clothes. I really hope you are able to find some great free stuff or really cheap at least. Please let me know all of you great ideas and if you have scored some great items!
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