Shopping for back to school clothes..
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
August 13, 2011 1:55pm CST
Where do you do the majority of your back to school clothes shopping?
I personally tend to get a lot of things from various places. When I see something nice that is a good price, I snatch it up. But my idea of a good price is in the single digits. I rarely pay over $10 for any clothing items.
Until today, I'd only gotten back to school clothes for the kids from garage sales, and I hadn't gotten much.
So today I went out to a couple of consignment shops that I'd heard about. They sell used name brand clothing. Well I was not at all impressed with their prices. I'll admit I don't normally shop name brand stores, my typical shopping is done at Walmart or the Salvation Army and occasionally Old Navy if they're running a good sale. So I have no idea what typical prices are at Hollister or Aeropostale, but still I didn't see any sense in paying $20 for used clothing!
However, since I'd travelled so far to go to these consignment shops, I was very close by to a K-Mart, and we don't have any K-Marts nearby where I live. So I stopped in there to look around. I managed to find some clothes on clearance, and each of my older 4 kids got a brand new outfit and I only paid $40 total for 4 pairs of jeans and 4 t-shirts.
I could have done a lot better at the Salvation Army.. but at least each of the kids has a brand new outfit to start school with. The rest of my shopping will probably be done at thrift stores or garage sales and possibly Walmart (because it's nearly impossible to find decent pants at Salvation Army, especially for young boys).
Where do you shop? What prices are you willing to pay for kid's clothes? Are you thrifty like me and only hit the clearance racks.. even at thrift stores? Or are you willing to pay the high prices for quality clothes?
2 people like this
12 responses
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
13 Aug 11
No...I don't like paying high prices for anything! LOL...I am a cheapstake me thinks. I just bought some very inexpensive clothes for the school year for my little granddaughter....they had awesome sales but not alot in her size so I got what I could. She loves dresses....I didn't like one dress they had on sale.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
13 Aug 11
I have that trouble while clothes shopping too. I had to buy my son a pair of husky size jeans because that's all they had. Thankfully they have the elastic inside so I can tighten them up a bit. I also plan on getting all the kids belts before school starts too.
1 person likes this
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
14 Aug 11
I did all of my son's back to school clothes shopping at Walmart this year. All he gets to wear to school is Kahki's and polo shirts, so it made it simple. The shirts were $9 each and the pants were $11. I normally do a lot of my clothes shopping for my kids and for myself at Goodwill.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
14 Aug 11
An old friend of mine called her mother last weekend and asked her to raid her younger brothers closet for me. My son now has 3 pairs of Khaki pants that are a 36 inch waist and he wears a 34. I got him a few pairs of 34's for now and he already has a few pairs of shorts that he can wear to school. Hopefully he will not outgrow the 36's by the end of the school year.
I know that Kmart usually clearances the school uniform stuff shortly after school starts, but since he is in men's sizes now I am not sure how much they will clearance that stuff.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
15 Aug 11
Good luck. Freecycle is great too if you have that in your area. I occasionally can get some clothes donated that fit my kids. Just grabbed a bag of clothes for my daughter today. All the pants are too big, which is okay because I can save them until she fits into them. The shirts will fit now, so she's got a lot of shirts, most of them are brand names, a few Aeropostale, etc. All for free! Can't beat that! I'm definitely ready for back to school now!
@GreenMoo (11834)
•
14 Aug 11
I'm very lucky. This year I have been given so many decent quality kids clothes that I don't think I'll need to be buying anything at all. When I do it tends to be trousers for my youngest (who destroys them!) or swimming shorts for my eldest (ditto!), and shoes of course. For clothes I go to our local cheap clothes shop, but by preference I would buy second hand. Unfortunately that's not possible where I live. For shoes I am prepared to spend more money as experience tells me that cheap shoes don't last.
@GreenMoo (11834)
•
15 Aug 11
Those are really good prices for named brands. i don't look out for them specifically, but i end up buying them normally just because I hope it's a guarantee of quality. To be honest, my kids destroy named brands just as quick as non named. I will never buy the really cheap ones from the market again though. Even i manage to destroy those!
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
15 Aug 11
Boys are really rough on their clothes.. especially pants and shoes. My oldest goes through a pair of shoes a week practically, LOL. Doesn't matter the brand or style.. he's a shoe destroyer. I bought him Skechers for Christmas, they were destroyed by spring.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
14 Aug 11
I did the same thing with the shoes this year. The only ones getting cheap shoes are the younger 2 because they don't destroy them as fast. The older 3 got sneakers from Marshall's which is discounted name brand stuff. The oldest got Fila, the 8yo got Nike, and the daughter got Puma. About $30 a pair for those name brands where as Walmart sells their shoes for like $20 a pair and they aren't name brands. Might as well pay the extra $10, right?
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
14 Aug 11
I have always been thrifty and always had to plan ahead for the children's clothes. You have done so well with your shopping for the jeans and t shirts. We don't have much choice out here but I am saving for when my daughter goes to our friends in the U.S for Thanksgiving as I need shoes for work and a two pairs of work pants plus panties from Haynes
I will also try to give her a bit extra so that she can buy Christmas gifts for the grands in the sales of Black Friday.
I will also try to give her a bit extra so that she can buy Christmas gifts for the grands in the sales of Black Friday.@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
15 Aug 11
It always feels good to find such bargains!
Got my daughter a few free things today. I'm on a site called Freecycle, where you donate unwanted items that are still usable. This woman was donating a bunch of girl's clothes, so I grabbed them up. I got quite a few pairs of pants and shorts.. which are unfortunately still too big for my daughter, but so what? They were free and I can hold on to them until they do fit her which should only be a year or 2. The shirts we got can be used now.. and many of them are good brand names like Abercrombie, Aeropostale, and Hollister. She is now all set for back to school.. as are most of my boys. Think all I need now is a couple more pairs of pants for the 5 year old and we're all set.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
14 Aug 11
Wow - that is amazing and you must feel good. Last year on Black Friday Rachel got her wedding dress marked down from a thousand plus to a few hundred dollars. She knew what she wanted and then she and our friends went after it
@catof1 (683)
• United States
13 Aug 11
I know what you mean exactly! I shope at walmart, kmart (when they had then here in Texas) Old Navy and Target and even they are expensive. I tend to go for the sales or clearence racks my self and try to get the kids to see what they want in those areas. They complied with more enthusiasm than I thought they would and just took over! Then they start asking to go to the re sale shops I used to take them to last year. Man I was surprised and complied. They came out with a lot of clothes that were name brand and for less than a hundred each. They, being my brother and sister who are 12 and 15, love to shop for a deal! Try finding name brand pants for a boy that is 6 feet tall. He even got some dress pants and shirts and a TIE for chruch and dances. Can you believe he thought of that??? I was impressed; my teachings payed off so far. A blessing from God those kids are.
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
13 Aug 11
When my sister and I were in school mom bought most of our clothes at Zellers, a Canadian department store a lot like Target.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
14 Aug 11
I been in Zellers before.. never bought anything but I've been in one.
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
15 Aug 11
I'm still new to this school shopping thing lol. Even though my oldest is in 3rd grade, we just haven't seemed to make a big thing out of school shopping. I think because they get clothes over the year and for birthdays. This year we did a little bit of school shopping. We went to T.J. Maxx yesterday. I wasn't impressed. There were some offbeat styles of clothing there and the jeans were still expensive when I can buy jeans at walmart for $10. We also went to payless and got school shoes. They have shoes buy one get one half off. So now we have some new clothes, back packs, lunch boxes. We'll probably pick one special new outfit out for the first day of school yet and that will be it. My oldest has a birthday in September so she'll get more new stuff then. There is a consignment store near us but I haven't tried it yet. I used to go to one out of state when visiting a friend, it was awesome.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
15 Aug 11
I think Payless shoes get destroyed even faster than Walmart shoes. Not sure why, but we've never had any luck with them.. not even when I bought them for hubby. If I can't afford really good ones, I just stick with Walmart.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
15 Aug 11
I am really in a state over shoes for work. I am so hard on them. I usually get them from the US but the lasttw o pairs that were bought from me are really no good. one pair cannot epair and the pair that I am wearing to work have almost had it. payless is no good for me as they do not last.
Yesterday my daughter told me to go to a site called naturalize. These shoes are all leather and they had a sale! So I ended up buying leather sneakers for US$20 and two other pairs of shoes. One simple pump shoe with a heel for dressy occasions and yet another pair of sandals with a heel for work. I read all the reviews and bought a half size larger for the sneakers and a wider fitting. So I had them sent to my new SIL's cousins home in Florida and then when my daughter goes up she will collect them for me unless someone else is coming down and can bring them for me. I decided that I must pay a bit more for shoes and for what I paid I could never get the quality to buy them out here. My problem is that I really love spending a bit of money now and then
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
23 Aug 11
I'm like you I prefer to pay under $10 for each clothing item. And for the lil ones under 5 if possible. Sadly one can't afford to drop alot of cash now days and buy new outfits. This is why I've become such a rummage sale junkie! I've found the Aero and hollister brands at rummage sales usually for under a dollar.... but like any rummage it's a hit or a miss.
I typically shop at Rummage sales, Salvation Army (mostly jeans and keep your peepers open if they have any sales on holidays that stores are open like 4th of july, memorial day, and labor day ect) otherwise I buy off the clearance racks from Wal-mart, k-mart, Target, or Kohl's. Even then the items need to be atleast 75% off or I won't even bother looking.
If I ever had the money and after being so thrifty for all these years I don't think I could convince myself that I should buy a 50 top from lane bryant instead of one under 10 from somewhere else.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
23 Aug 11
Me either. I think that's why I've been broke for so long.. so that whenever I do finally get money, I'll know how to spend it right, LOL.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
16 Aug 11
Well I certainly don't go to Abercrombie and places like that. I tend to buy the children their clothing year round in small doses as they need them, instead of one large back to school shopping trip. I usually end up at Old Navy, Sears and JC Penney. And once in a while I will buy an item that is higher than I really want to pay if they really love it, but not the whole wardrobe, no way.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
23 Aug 11
Well I just went to pick up the layaway I started a few weeks ago of the older kids' school shoes. When we picked out the shoes the twins got Puma and Nike and the oldest got Fila because they were the only pair he liked that had his size. He'd been eyeballing a pair of Under Armour sneakers but they weren't in his size.
So we went to pick up the shoes and he says "Oh sure! Now they have my size!!". They were $40, and the Fila he'd previously picked out were $30.
So, I had the lady return the Fila and I paid for the Puma and Nike that I'd put on layaway, then I bought the Under Armour.
He was hugging his shoes all the way home.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
18 Aug 11
My kids wear uniforms in school, so I don't have to worry much about their clothes. They just have enough pair of shirts and pants that go on rotation.
But as far as their regular clothing is concerned, we are lucky enough to live near a Wal-Mart and a srip mall. So, when there is a sale, specially at Old Navy, and it's also single digits, I usually get a few from there.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
14 Aug 11
There is a bargain center called walls that has brand new clothes there that are real cheap.They discount the prices way down because they buy there clothes from out of business stores.Sometimes you have to check out there clothes real good to make sure they aren't damaged. I go to it sometimes.
I also go to a thrift store that is in town that has really good shaped clothes there. I'm like you and have a hard time finding pants that look new at used stores. I can find shirts that look brand new used that even are unique that I don't even see new that my kids like a lot.
When I get new jeans I get them at walmart or walls.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
14 Aug 11
Marshall's and TJMaxx are stores like that that sell either factory rejects or surplus goods.. generally name brand. But even their prices aren't so good. I will occasionally browse there though, obviously for clearance items! LOL I pretty much only buy brand new clothes on clearance unless it's something that is absolutely necessary, like when my son needed dress pants for a dance this past spring. I couldn't find them on clearance so had to pay full price.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
7 Dec 11
Thank you for the best response! I know exactly what you mean by having to buy dress pants. I know what you mean on having to buy slacks.I will have to buy some this week because of the school Christmas program is next week and he out grew his slacks that he had last year and they are hard to find used so I will probably have to buy them new at Walmart this week.
