Clothing question

[houseelf]

Do you buy your kids' clothes at the end of season for the next year? How has this gone in your household? Do you hit the size mark well? Do you remember what you have already purchased or do you buy duplicates?

I almost ONLY buy at the end of season for the next year. For the most part, it works out well. I just rearranged the kids' closets and I got such joy seeing sweatpants with a clearance tag of $2 on it. I get to relive my bargain prowess all over again. Unfortunately, however, I bought a gazillion pants for DS this year. On a rare occasion, one of my kids will "miss" the size of an outfit and this makes me question the effectiveness of this system.

Thoughts? Success stories?

Kelly

[Deebs]

Re: Clothing question

I buy things I wouldn't normally buy for the next year. Most of our staples come in the form of hand-me-downs, so what I buy is really just bonus. I'm very lucky, for the time being, that I have friends whose kids were the same size during the same season as DD. This year, I discovered that I bought WAY more sweaters than she'll need - all from Gymboree. I just loved them and couldn't pass them up. I'm afraid to buy too much, though, because I don't feel I'm good at predicting what size she'll wear next week, let alone next year. I have friends who are great at it, though, and buy all their kid's' clothes that way.

Re: Clothing question

This has worked out pretty well for me. I don't do it all the time -- only if I have the time and money to put into it and I won't buy something just because it is on sale (I really try not to).

IMO, this works better after 18-24 months when there aren't as many size categories. It also helps that if DD1 won't wear it, I've got two more lined up who will. I also do this with shoes.

[peggyfromwastate]

Re: Clothing question

It's gotta be something really great for me to store it all winter. I have enough hand me downs and precious little storage space... It's also hard for me to guess the pants' sizes anymore. For Kate, we buy at the start of the school year for jeans and at the winter for all the summer/spring. She grows way too fast and her body changes too much- but that's a topic for the tweens section I guess!

Anyway, if you like to bargain hunt, go for it!

[DCJenn]

Re: Clothing question

My problem is that our summer lasts 9 months! My solution is to buy big at the beginning of the season and hopefully he won't be singing soprano by the end of the season. I bought his sandals (Stride Rite=$) on the same theory and filled in w/ a pair of shoes from Target.

His belly is starting to hang out of some of the 3ts and some shorts don't button, some socks are now known as "formerly white". Eh, that's why he goes to Crunchy school.

We're having a cold snap next week though, it'll only be in the mid-80s!

Jenn

[samssugarmomma]

Re: Clothing question

We've had a lot of success with this so far. We don't buy the entire wardrobe early - just handfull of pieces. I have a big bin of clothes labeled "clothes to grow into" that sits on the floor in Natalie's closet. And I group the clothes by size. Neurotically organized much? We've only missed out on wearing one or two pieces - and that was because they were labeled say 3T but when we put it on her there was no way it was a 3T. So we stored them with the 2T stuff for the next one.....


I've had the most success with buying shirts, PJs, and jackets.

[diggitydot]

Re: Clothing question

Do you buy your kids' clothes at the end of season for the next year? How has this gone in your household? Do you hit the size mark well? Do you remember what you have already purchased or do you buy duplicates?

The only time I purchase current-season items are at one of the local second-hand or thrift shops. Hello, my name is Wendy and I'm a cheapo.

Seriously, though...I can't stomach spending much more than a few bucks on something my kids are either going to outgrow or trash immediately. That, and our local thrift shops have some REALLY great kids stuff, many with the original store tags still attached. You just have to keep an eye out and make sure the items are in decent shape and/or are name brands with a good reputation for quality.

When the rarity occurs and I get the kids something from a "real" store, yep, it's last season. I usually do all right on sizing. My girls don't tend to have those "HOLY CRAP, how did that happen" type of growth spurts so they're pretty easy to estimate. Our son, however, is a different story. That boy is pure moose. I try not to get him stuff too far ahead of time because I can never tell when he's going to leapfrog over sizes. (Which he's does now several times.) DH is going to have to be a doc just to afford food for this kid when he hits his teen years.

[PrincessFiona]

Re: Clothing question

Kelly,

I also almost always buy at the end of one season for the beginning of the next for the younger kids. I keep the tags on everything in case something doesn't fit. If a child has outgrown something, I just bring it with new tags to once upon a child...I usually come close to recouping my money.

kris