I have talked about the benefits of consignment shopping, especially when buying children’s items, but you have to be careful.  Let me be your example for the day.  Today, I was in the mood to do a little shopping for the new baby and what better place to cure that urge of shopping without spending a ton, the consignment store.  Unless, that consignment store is the last of a dying breed in your area and they know it and start hiking up the prices. 

I admit when I go to thrift or consignment stores I search out name brands.  What is the point of paying $2 or $3 for a piece from Walmart or Target.  You can wait until they go on sale at the stores and buy it new.  If I am going to be doing some searching then I want to find diamonds among the coal.  The problem is the consignment stores know this and take advantage.  I just hate when I fall into the trap.

This was today’s recent score from my local consignment store:

Yellow dress is BabyGap, Polka Dot pink dress is Circo (Target brand), flower and blue dress are Gymboree and the shoes are Stride Rite.

Not only did I break a few of my rules for second hand shopping, the biggest was  spending more than is reasonable.  The other rules were never buying second hand shoes and I never buy shoes for infants.  If you are not walking then you don’t need shoes, socks will do you just fine.  However there have been evil thoughts afoot with this new baby, like, not only the cute shoes, but these headbands.  Also, I bought a Target dress for $5 when I am sure I could have found it for way less, but I am loving the polka dots.  *sigh*  I was shocked at the price tag of $71, but when I get my heart set on something I usually can’t walk away.  That means I paid over $10 for each piece.  I know these styles are probably no longer in the stores, but I am sure I could have gotten a lot more for my dollar if I just waited for the next big sale at Gymboree .  Heck, I just spent around $60 for well over $200 worth stuff at Gymboree a few months ago.  And it was all new. 

So yes, consignment shopping can be a good thing, but know your prices and realize when to walk away.

A new maternity store opened up in my area, so, of course, I had to check it out.  I was hoping for nice and slightly different styles at prices that didn’t require I sell my children in order to buy something.  I think Destination Maternity fit the bill.  PLUS they had an area for the kids and the husbands.  My husband wasn’t there to try out their flat screen TV in a comfy leather chair, but  Sam was able to put the kid area to a full test.  Not only did they have some pretty cool toys, but Noggin was playing on another flat screen TV.  Heaven for the hanger ons that must go shopping with mom, who needs all the time she can get to cover her ever growing belly. 

The store was nice and big, which is a plus if you have ever been to the Motherhood Maternity store in the mall.  They carried Pea in the Pod, Motherhood and Mimi.  So I would say that the price range was medium high to reasonable.  And even though I had been in the Motherhood store several times since getting pregnant, Destination Maternity offered more styles than was offered in the cramped mall store. 

My one complaint, which I have with most retail stores that don’t specialize in undergarments, is the bra fitting.  Like most women I have never worn the correct bra size until about a 3 years ago, because no one has ever taught me how to measure myself properly.  And that is because they, themselves, can’t measure you properly. 

First we need to get over the fear of touching or personal space.  Maybe because I am older or have had 3 kids going on number 3, which every mother knows modesty goes out the window during the birth process, or because I am so fed up with being uncomfortable in my bra that I don’t care what you have to do to get me in the right size.  I did get a correct size once I started nursing Sam.  I remember throughout my pregnancy with him being so uncomfortable and increasing my bra band size didn’t help at all.  As a measure of last resort, I went to a medical supply store to look at their nursing bras.  I thought maybe it wouldn’t be pretty, but maybe, just maybe, it would hold the girls up and help with the back pain.  I got a lot more than I bargained for.  I was ushered into a dressing room and told to strip down to my bra.  Shocked, because, HEY, didn’t she miss the part where she was suppose to buy my a dinner or drink, at the very least, first.  And then the saleswoman set to work with her measuring tape.  I was shocked at the outcome, a 34 DDD.  The cup size didn’t shock me as much as the band size.  I had always been told I was a 36/38 and while pregnant I went up to a 40, with no luck.  It never occurred to me that it was strange that I immediately went to the tightest sighting on all new bras I bought.  You should start on the loosest setting and as the bra band stretches move to the tightest setting.  I walked out of there with a new bra, better posture and a back that didn’t make me look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  

After that day, I stopped buying my bras in retail stores, because they rarely carry a small band size with a large cup.  I did most of my shopping online.  The downside to this revelation was that these bras are usually way more expensive than the “average” bra size.  I guess you can’t have everything. 

Second, the woman that measured me at the maternity store didn’t believe me when I told her what size I worn.  She was shocked as she showed me that her tape measure was barely on 39 inches.  Well, that happens when you have the tape pulled from my chest and a couple of fingers in the way.  I have found that the easiest way to get a pretty good sizing is to measure, at least, down to your bra and right under your breasts.  Then you measure the fullest part of your breasts.  Subtract the 2 numbers and the difference is your cup size (1=A, 2=B, 3=C, 4=D and so on).  It does get a bit confusing when you get into the double, but I have found that some bra companies just like to use the double letters.  Like if you are a DD, you can, also, be an E.  Just depends on the bra.  And the first number you got was your band size.  The band should be what gives you the majority of the support.  Don’t rely on the shoulder straps, because that will just cause back pain.  I think the one thing every bra in the above E cup size should have are slings.  That’s right, slings for extra support.  Most of my nursing bras, with Sam, had slings and they made a world of difference.  Unfortunately, I haven’t found slings in just regular bras or in a nursing bra that wasn’t sheer.  Maybe someday.

I was hoping to actually get a bra off the rack and figured I could go up a band size and down a cup size, so I humored the saleswoman by trying on a 38 F.  Nope, no luck.  The band was on the tightest setting and I still felt like I was wearing nothing, except for the pinching of the cups.  I don’t know how best to describe this, but it seems that long ago I was cutting my breasts off.  My breasts went back further, I guess to the middle part of my underarm, than I had thought.  After emerging from the dressing room and handing the saleswoman the bras, I triumphly announced that I was right; 34 was my correct size and they had nothing for me.  I don’t really blame the sales people in these stores, because I am sure they get minimal training in this area.  I just wish that they would believe me, you know the one that has lived with my breasts for about half my life, when I tell them my size.  It is really insulting to be told that you can’t possibly be the small size that you claim to be and that you must be a much bigger size.  Beside from that experience everything else was great.  Heck, if you can make me forget I am shopping with my kid, I can overlook one flaw in your system.

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Mamarazzi is a term I learned from this site.  It refers to those moms that always have the camera, and I am not talking phones or just slim cameras, at the ready to capture the most interesting thing their kid is doing at that exact moment.  Since the invention of digital photography, long gone are the days of pulling out the large cameras with the large flash cubes and running to the store to drop off film and then back to pick it up.  Also, long gone are the days where the camera isn’t brought out just on special occasions or just when you were at home.  Kids today are having their pictures taking all the time by moms who know more about photography than the ones who came before them.  And even if you don’t know much about photography, ahem, digital cameras can pretty much do all that technical stuff for you.  It is a win-win situation.  The problem comes in transporting these cameras.

Sure I could have gotten the slim camera, instead of the big hunk of camera that lured me with it’s many dials and special features, and all my problems would have been solved.  There are still some things you can’t get with a slim camera that you can get with a larger one, like zooming abilities.  I am far from being a photographer.  I am so far that I can’t see their flashes, but I do like the pictures and features I get with my Sony DSC-H50 with the 15x optical zoom.  The problem was that it didn’t fit into my diaper bag along with, you know, actual diaper bag items and my personal stuff.  So I would have to resort to using the camera on my phone, which takes okay pictures if your subject is perfectly still and patient which my kids are not, and forgetting it all together when we went somewhere I would actually like great pictures of the kids. like school activities or birthday parties. 

So when my friend sent me the above site, I thought it was perfect.  Also, by buying a couple of extra flaps you can change one bag into several.  I am all for that, since I tend to get bored with my bags after awhile.  Only problem is that I couldn’t really touch the bag, open it up, see the size first hand and determine if it would fit all the stuff I carry on a daily basis.  I hate carrying more than one bag, mainly because it interfers with me corralling my kids and grabbing things from the bag at the same time.  I thought this bag was perfect, but wasn’t quite sure.  My main concern was how it would hang on my shoulder. 

Then I came across this bag (I got the plain black one so it was only $65 at Maternity Destination) and was able to determine that it was the perfect size I had been looking for and it was cheaper.  I don’t need a huge diaper bag, even with a newborn on the way.  I have learned that there are many things I don’t need to bring on an outing.  I have been carrying a downsized Timi and Leslie bag that just fit all my stuff and Sam’s.  After putting all my stuff into the Fleurville there was room left over.  I can fit my camera nicely into one of the vacant stretch pockets inside the bag and, since, I am not a ”photographer” I only carry the camera and not extra lenses or other accessories.  If I did I would have gone for the Tracy Joy bags, because I think they fit that bill better.   

I will revisit Tracy Joy for one of the smaller, much better looking than my current camera bag, camera bags or get the larger bag as a laptop bag.  There are so many options for these bags that I can see getting one long after I don’t need a diaper bag, anymore.  Now, how to explain to my husband why I have so many bags.  Men, they  just don’t get it.

Amber was in desperate need of some tennis shoes.  Like she had grown out of both pairs she owned and will have gym next week desperate.  I have been searching for some time for a decent pair of tennis shoes that didn’t cost a small fortune, but that is hard to do once your child moves into size 12.  Apparently, this is the size that every child in my area is currently in.  I would find a pair that we could both agree on; not Hannah Montana or not blinding colorful .  The price would be right, but no size 12 in sight.  It was a, to say the least, frustrating process.  Finally, I gave up and just got her a pair at Stride Rite.  I can count on Stride Rite to have, at least, one pair that won’t blind me, Amber will agree to wear and in her size.  I am not fond of the price, but when you have run all over town and come up with nothing you take what you can get.  Saucony is quickly becoming a favorite tennis shoe that I like.  Sam got a pair in our earlier quest for new shoes.  I may have to look through their website to see what they offer for myself.  Not right now, I am all shoe shopped out.  I know hard to believe.

We were, also, on the hunt for some dress shoes to go with Amber’s Easter dress, now, dress for the May wedding we will be attending.  She wore a pair of multi-colored sandals that we found at Target for Easter, but I am not sure if I like them for the wedding.  This brought up a debate that I fear we will be having for a long time to come.  My almost 7 year old picked out nothing but heels and not those barely there heels, at least, an inch high heels.  Not to mention that most of the styles looked like they were meant for a night out on the town and not for little girls to wear with their little girl dresses.  I envisioned many trips and falls in Amber’s future if I were to allow her to wear heels, especially for an outside wedding.  So I have decided to put that little crisis on the back burner until I have recovered from the tennis shoe hunt.  It seems Amber is pushing her way to big girldom and I am pulling her back to little girldom.  One of us is going to lose and I think it will be me. 

On to some good news.  Remember when I said that you can still dress your children in style while on a budgetand the best place to do that was at the consignment shop?  Well, it is not the only place.  I did mention that if you keep an eye out you can get brand name new clothes at cosignment shop prices.  That was proven today at Gymboree.  It is the first day to redeem Gymbucks and they are having a 60% sale on spring clothes, as well.  I didn’t find much for my older kids, but I found tons for the new baby.  Thank God, for ultrasounds and discovering the sex before baby is here.  Although, if the doctor was wrong she is going to have one angry mamma on her hands and a bunch of pink clothes thrown in her face.  

I got $209.50 worth of clothes (one polo shirt, not shown, for Sam) for $60 including tax:

That box in the back is a gift box of 7 long sleeve bodysuits.  It was priced at
$49.50, marked down to $16.99, but rang up at $13.49.  That is about $2 a bodysuit.
And as you know newborns live in these things for the first year of their life.
The rest was priced anywhere from $4.99 to $11.99 plus my Gymbuck.
Not bad for a 30 minute rummage through the sale rounders and a couple of whiny kids.

A new maternity store sprung up, in my area, a couple or years ago.  Since I wasn’t pregnant, and didn’t think I would ever become pregnant again, I figured I would never have a chance to scope it out.  Since I have become pregnant again and was in need of new capris and shorts, I decided it was a good a time as any to check out the store.  The size of the store fooled me into thinking that it wasn’t a boutique (meaning not a lot of merchandise with huge prices).  I looked around a bit and when I saw the first price tag of $104 for a pair of capris that I would, hopefully, wear for only 4 months, I knew this store wasn’t for me.  I don’t mind spending on quality, but I am not a fool.  I looked around a bit more and just as I was walking out the door I fell in love.  With a diaper bag.

The store didn’t have many styles available in this designer bag, but I knew that was going to be my new diaper bag.  I knew that I could find them online and I did.  Storksak has a ton of styles and the best part they don’t look like diaper bags and, judging from the one in the store, they have tons of room and pockets.  Even insulated side pockets for bottles and sippy cups.  To me it looks as if the bag can hold a lot but won’t get in my way.  It should be easy to get to while holding a baby in your arms and trying to keep another one from wandering into the street. 

I am torn as to which bag to get, the first one that seduced me or the backpack that can be changed to a shoulder bag.  I wish I could see the backpack in person to better judge it’s size.  If it could fit a newborn and 3 yr old’s stuff I am all over it.  If not then I will wait until I need to downsize and got tired of the larger bag.  In any case, I want this bag.  I haven’t seen many storks in my area, so that means I need to work on the husband.  It is not like I am asking for jewelry, just one helluva bag.

I usually don’t have a problem with getting these types of outfits for the kids.  I mean it is nice to go looking for pretty pastel dresses and airy shorts with matching shirts, instead of heavy sweaters and dark colors.  However, this time I saw Easter sneaking up on me and didn’t know what I was going to do.  The kids needed new shoes, which was a tortuous event and not at all due to the kids.  Since we were at the mall, why not look for some Easter outfits so the kids could get pictures with the Easter bunny and I don’t have to scramble at the last minute for appropriate clothing for Easter festivities.  I looked and looked and found nothing. 

There were a few problems with picking out Easter clothing: 1. I would like to use the outfits for an upcoming wedding 2. Everything was either too dressy or too casual.  Nothing in between.  and 3. I didn’t want to spend a small fortune.  This cut out all the little boutiques that I would go to as a last resort.

We don’t do much for Easter, just church and searching for Easter eggs, but it is tradition to get a set of Easter clothes and look fresh and new to welcome Spring.  So we don’t need either dressy, but maybe special.  But since I wanted to use the clothes for a wedding I needed them to lean more toward the dressy side.  As usual there was tons of stuff for Amber.  (I got her this one.)  The problem there was I didn’t want her to be mistaken for part of the wedding party, but I didn’t want her to look as if she just stepped off the beach.  And that seemed to be what I was finding.  JCPenney’s had tons of beautiful dresses that I would have normally snapped up in a minute, but they all seem a bit too much and I wanted to make sure I had something for Sam first.  I am not into matching the kids, but I didn’t want him to look like the poor little matchboy next to his big sister.  The other side of the coin was worst.  Sam’s choices were either shorts with polos and sweater vests or to look like a mini AIG executive running for his life.  There was no middle ground.  And trust me I went to all my normal stomping grounds and they all seemed to disappoint.

After much deliberation and teeth gnashing, I sat down this morning and looked online.  Back in the early days of Internet shopping, I swore up and down that I would never shop like that.  I needed to feel, look and try on anything before I bought.  Now, it seems feudal to even go to the mall, because I can look at any store’s entire selection with one scroll, compare with other stores within seconds and best of all find things that I would never have found if I was hopping from one store, or mall, to another.  I still have a problem shopping for shoes online, because those really need to be tried on.  Other than that I think I am liking this whole sitting on my sofa, watching a little TV and maybe munching a bon bon or two while getting all my shopping done within minutes instead of hours.  The lure of the mall is still there it is just getting weaker with time.

When it came to Sam’s outfit, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I would know it when I saw it.  I thought I didn’t want a sweater vest and I definitely knew that I didn’t want a mini suit, so I looked at every option offered in the boy section.  I found what I was looking for at OldNavy.com.  I am really loving the new look of the Old Navy, GAP, Banana Republic and Piper Lime website.  You can shop all 4 stores and pay one shipping fee.  Love that, because it means that I am more willing to shop on that site than others, because of the choices and convenience. 

Simple, yet classic.
I know I said I didn’t want a sweater vest, but I like the slight color contrast
at the neck and bottom and the lion.
If this was just for Easter, I would have went with shorts, but since I want to use this
for the wedding I thought pants would be better.
Found at OldNavy.com
If you are interested these are the sandals  that Sam found on his own at Stride Rite.

I think we are set and it was all done within about 20 minutes.  It would have been less if I didn’t order the same dress twice for Amber, but a quick call to customer service and all was taken care of.  Now, let’s hope I get all the pieces before the Easter bunny hops off into the sunset. 

Sidenote:  The wedding will be held at a vineyard, which I am assuming will be an outside ceremony, so I don’t think it will be that dressy.  Now, all I have to do is find a nice maternity dress that doesn’t make me look like an Easter float that got away. 

I will be the first one to admit that my daughter has way more clothes than my son.  I have said it over and over, again, it is more fun shopping for girls than boys.  Mainly, because of the variety that girls have.  However, there is a problem in having so many options, they tend to get lost in the chaos.  I don’t know what happened this pass season, but there seems to have been tons of sales and I seem to have visited all of them.  Amber had drawers overflowing with cute long sleeve tops, jeans hanging by the mile and skirts by the ton.  What is the problem with all of this?  Well, it seems she might have been slightly overwhelmed and tended to wear the same few outfits over and over again. 

This pass Saturday, I had decided, even though I am only in my 20th week, to organize Amber’s clothes and switch around the seasons.  This is easy enough to do, especially with our weather that changes with the wind, because Amber has a fairly large closet that is divided into 2 areas.  We have a low rod, which is great for small kids to have a choice over their clothes and a much higher rod for long dresses, costumes, and storage, but readily available out of season clothes.   In my organizing mission I was determined to make room in Amber’s dresser.  Since she was the only one occupying the room for 7 years, it was easy to spread out a bit, but the upcoming birth of another daughter some rearranging was in order.  I had decided to hang all of Amber’s shirts.  And she had many of them.  Then I realized that she rarely wore what was in the dresser.  Sure she had a few items that she always went to, but she rarely wanted to sort through the stacks of folded shirts to find something to wear.  It appeared to be easier to just look in the closet and pick something from there.  After hanging all of her clothes, I was shocked at how much room was left in the dresser.  Although, now her closet is packed and I am wondering how to fit another girl’s worth of cute dresses in there.  I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it. 

I, also, came to realize that my daughter may have more clothes than me.  Like I said it is easy to buy girls’ clothes, because of the variety.  I mean how many navy shorts can one boy have?  I will soon found out, because while organizing and packing away out grown clothes in Sam’s room, I discovered the poor boy doesn’t have much for this upcoming summer.  So, I have decided that there will be a halt to purchasing anymore clothes for Amber at the moment, saved for a few special occasion dresses, like Easter and for a wedding we will be attending in a couple of months.  Besides the girl simply does not need anymore clothes.  There is another little girl that needs to be outfitted, but hopefully not to the extent of her sister.

That brings us to another dillemma.  Thinking that after my son was born we were  done having children, I did something very stupid, I gave away some of Amber’s clothes.  Stupid, because my gut told me not to and I really loved those clothes.  I don’t save many things, but I do like saving special items of the kids’ clothes for my walks down memory lane.  I don’t know if that is weird, but I do feel I put a lot of care into finding clothes for my kids that I would like to keep them.  Anyway, I have seem to have given away the first year of Amber’s clothes and it hurts.  Not just because I don’t have those memories, I mean I do have pictures, but it would have been nice to have our second daughter  wear the same adorable clothes as her big sister.  All this means, is there will be more shopping to be done and new clothes to search out.  I already have one consignment appointment marked on my calendar.  Since finding out the sex of our third and, definitely, final child I have begun saving Amber’s clothes, again.  It was getting to the point that our attic would be converted to some kind of huge memorial closet.  Not everything gets saved, but the especially cute and non-stained go right into an x-large Ziploc bag that sits at the bottom of the closet.  I am still saving Sam’s clothes, because it seems I just can’t part with them, but there will have to be a stopping point. 

The lesson in all of this is that yes, you can have too many options, especially a young child and yes, you can go too far.  The first step is admitting you have a problem…Okay, I don’t think it is that bad, but seriously I think Amber has close to 20 long sleeve shirts and we live in an area that is cold maybe 2 months out of the year.  On the bright spot we have a bunch of empty dresser drawers that are just screaming, “Fill me!”  Okay, maybe I do need some help.

I thought since today is Lundi Gras and we have been stuck in the house all weekend we would take a little trip down to the mall.  I have 2 malls that I frequent and we went with my second choice because I knew the first choice would be crazy and closing early due to parades.  You DO NOT want to be stuck in parade traffic with 2 tired kids for hours.  I have heard that many malls around the country are like old abandon western towns with rolling tumbleweeds included, but not down here.  I am not sure but I don’t think the foreclosure or recession is hitting New Orleans that hard.  I am sure there are people struggling in our fine city, but aren’t there always?  You can go to the major mall and find it packed with strollers and shoppers.  And today was no different, people needed their Mardi Gras outfits. 

I don’t know about other people, but I am really, really thinking about all our purchases these days.  ALL of them.  While President Obama would include us in the top percentage of income and the “wealthy”, our income is a third of what it use to be.  This means we don’t take vacations like we use to, have cut out the once a week housekeeper and follow the budget to a T.  I know many are you are crying a river for us. (/sarcasm)  Long gone are the days where shopping was something to do when I got bored.  And I will admit it, I got a high from shopping and I never felt bad over our purchases.  Sure I had cut down, because stuff was starting to take over the house, but that was more of not wanting stuff to occupy more space than actual humans.  Where I use to not look at prices, I am now scrutinizing every price.  Do I really want this Gymbo shirt for $12?  The answer is almost always, a resounding NO!  The kids have enough clothes, although we may need to start looking at shoes soon.  However, we will be looking at what we really need and not the sparkly shoes that catch Amber and my eyes.  I cringe every time the kids grow out of something and I have to throw it in the give away pile.  That may stop soon, because we have another on the way and I am sure I wouldn’t have to buy a stitch of clothing no matter what sex the baby turns out to be.

This phenomenon struck me today.  I passed all the regular priced goodies and went straight for the sales racks.  Since this was my second choice mall, the sales racks were slim.  The more popular mall has a ton of clearance items most of the year.  I would pick up something that was okay, walk around with it and then put it back.  Hey, that $6 I spend on that shirt, today, maybe needed for milk tomorrow.  I even went so far as having Amber trying on this cute navy sundress at GAP.  It was on sale for $24.99 and cute, but after she tried it on and it didn’t fit quite right and didn’t look exactly as I had envisioned I put it back.  I am happy that Amber agreed with me, although that is a fight I would have taken up because we simply didn’t need that dress.  A couple of years ago, I would have never bothered with the trying on and just bought it, because it was cute and I knew that Amber would grow into eventually.  Needless to say we bought nothing for the kids, today, unless you count the mall cookie they require whenever we go.  I think it is the only reason my son agrees to go to the mall.  I simply could not pass up the Bath and Body Works $3 sale on their hand soaps, but I did keep the number down to the bare minimum and we were running low.   

We have done a lot of soul searching during these economic times.  One thing that we love to do is go out to eat, but I am rethinking that.  We use to not worry about dropping $60 on a dinner 3 times a week, but even though we still go out to eat we usually choose the lower end restaurants.  I am starting to think, after a few so-so dinners, that maybe we should just cut those out and make mac and cheese at home for a quick meal.   I can cook 3 times a week and be set for leftovers far into next week, so our grocery bill has remained the same.  The point is that if we can’t do what we use to it is better to just stay home and maybe go for a good dessert here and there.  I am not so good in the dessert department. I just keeping thinking that somewhere down the road we will need that $30 we spent on dinner and how I could have bought 5 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese for the cost of it on the kid’s menu.

Logically, I know that we are not as bad off as some people, but it doesn’t stop me from wondering if one day we will be.  We continue to save and pay our bills on time, but who knows what tomorrow brings.  I know this is not good for the economy, because stores need people to spend, especially those with disposable income, which we have ,just not as much.  But how do you get pass the guilt of buying stuff you don’t need, whether on sale or not, while many are out there suffering.  I guess all the rhetoric is working, those that have are feeling guilty because of what they have and others don’t.  I guess in the long run it is a good mindset.  I mean my grandparents lived through the depression and knew how to stretch a buck, meal, clothes, etc. and it wouldn’t hurt most of us to get into this mode.  Now, if I can get pass the $2000 we just dropped on a riding lawnmower this weekend.  We could have kept wading through knee high grass until the boy next door found time to cut it, but in the long run this was on the need list.  We have gone 8 years without one and we knew that this day would come.  Trust me if we could do without a riding lawnmower we would, because Mama would have loved a new Coach bag, but alas we have to have priorities and not losing the kids in the backyard is one of them.

I have a friend that could go into any thrift store in the world and within an hour put together a few awesome outfits.  She had a talent for it, but I didn’t.  I would see used clothes and that was it.  I have another friend that whenever she was in a thrift store would go through the purses and most times would find money.  That took patience, which I don’t have much of.  This same purse searching friend could, also, find many treasures among the riff raft, like designer purses in fairly good condition.  I will admit I am jealous of these two women, but chalked it up to them having the patience and talent that I just simply did not have.  So, I just used thrift stores as a way to clean out my house of clutter and focused more on my bargain shopping abilities.  They are not as keen as others, but I get better with each passing sale.

Then I had kids and discovered consignment shops.  It was like I walked into a store that was built just for me.  The store took care of weeding out the trash and I simply had to just pick and choose which little treasures that were waiting for me.  I didn’t know there were people out there that thought used kids clothes were gross, but I guess there are some.  As far as I am concerned, kids clothes are probably on the bottom of the gross scale when it comes to used items.  Mainly, because they tend to grow fast and use things less.  Sure they are messy and don’t care much for using a napkin, but that is more of a concern as they get older.  And as I said, the good consignment shops don’t take anything but gently used items.   Infant clothes are the easiest items to find in near new condition at a good price.  A very close second are special occasion clothes.  Why should I buy brand new when someone has taken care of that for me? 

Then I hit a snag.  The consignment shops I relied on so much changed after hurricane Katrina.  I stopped in one day a few months after the storm to shop for my then not born  son.  Many of the regular stores had not opened, yet, due to damage or no inventory, but the consignment shops were overflowing.  They, also, seized their moment and hiked up prices.  I started skipping them when I found a pair of Children’s Place jeans for $10.  Hell, at a good sale I could get them new for that price or lower, if I had a coupon, and there still was the Internet.  That is when my love affair with consignment shops waned, then they started to close around me. 

The lesson when shopping for kids’ clothes is knowing the market.  Most of the well known stores (Gymboree, GAP, Old Navy) have sales that run in cycles.  Also, you need to know how your child grows, which could take some time.  I can say with confidence that my kids are small and can wear clothes much longer than your average kid, which makes it a lot easier to spend a little extra if I find something I truly love.  (Yes, I know I said ”I truly love”, because at this stage of the game my kids have a small say in what they wear.  Amber is getting more say, but I have ultimate veto power.)  Since economic times have changed and our income has changed, dramatically, I have gone with the motto “buy only on sale”.  It is easier during these times, because the stores are feeling the squeeze, also.  That doesn’t mean I still don’t have to fight a bit.  Maybe it is just my area, but if there is a sale at Gymboree you better get your elbow and knee pads on, because there is going to be wall to wall mothers shopping for their little darlings.  And since the stores have lowered prices even more than in the past, you might have to fight a little harder for that cute little top.  The Internet is your friends during these big sales.  I have discovered that I can find more choices of sizes and styles online then in the store.  I use both the brick and mortar store and Internet to my advantage.  The Internet was great during the great Black Friday Gymboree sale, especially to snag one of the highly coveted $14 winter coats.

I have learned to not only shop only on sale, but to mix in a few Target pieces.  I don’t do Walmart, because I don’t like their choices or quality, but we do love our Target.  Target use to be my go to place for play clothes, but they have had some really great choices for special occasion dresses that don’t break the bank.  I don’t feel so anxious if Amber is running and rolling around trying to find Easter eggs if her dress only cost $20 and not $60.  And unless you resell your kids’ clothes, another thing I am not good at, I would suggest you let your kids, especially your daughters, wear their special occassion clothes whenever they want to.  Amber has several frilly dresses hanging in her closet that she knows she can play dress up, wear to church or out to eat if she so chooses.  Long gone are the days where I am waiting with baby wipe in my hand to make sure to catch some wayward pasta sauce from dripping onto her brand new dress.  I have simply decided that life is too short to worry about every little stain and what is the point of a pretty dress if you only get to wear it once and your mother is constantly harassing you not to get it dirty.  I am a little more careful with the clothes the kids more often, because I would rather people not think my washer is broken.  Another great source for clothes are the discount stores like, TJMaxx or Marshall’s.  Rarely do I find things for myself, but I can find tons of things for the kids.  You can even find name brands in these stores, as well.  I have kept the 2 Plum Pudding dresses I found at TJMaxx for Amber.  If this next baby is a girl she will get the pleasure of wearing these dresses often.   

I have the same mentality with shoes.  When Amber was a baby, it was nothing but Stride Rite, then I realized that those $50 dress shoes were only worn a couple of times before she out grew them.  So my guideline is to buy the better quality, sometimes more expensive, shoes for the kids daily use and search the Target or Payless aisles for shoes they may wear only a few times before they grow out of them.  I have, also, learned to look at some of the department stores, like, JC Penney’s, for Stride Rite brands.  They are usually cheaper.  And if I find myself near a Stride Rite outlet store I stock up.  It is well worth it to stock up on the next size up shoes for the kids at half the price of the regular store.  I am not above buying used shoes for the kids, but I rarely find really good ones.

I will admit I started out buying the high end clothes for my daughter and it took some time to learn there was a better way and while I might have lost my love affair with consignment shops I am not above them or thrift stores.  There are a couple of stores I have had my eye on, but haven’t had the time to go, yet.  I am hoping that as soon as I find out the sex of the baby cooking, right now, I will be heading there, because there is no need for her/him to sleep in brand new footie pajamas, which saves money for much cuter outfits down the road.  And yes, I do have look through my high end catalogs and developed long wish lists in my mind, but I have come to learn that they have sales too.  If I can just wait a little longer, I might just get that little treasure I had my eye on for half the price.

All items from Chasing Fireflies.

Wood Nymph dress

Denim Dream dress

Rose blush jumper

Chantilly Cream ruffle skirt

Joy dress

Apple blossom dress

French fairy dress

Ballerina blossom dress

And last, but not least:

Red prima pettiskirt.