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Thursday, April 18, 2013

How I Save Money Shopping for Clothing

In January reader Ann asked how I save money on clothing. I replied that we shop a lot at thrift stores and only buy clothing when necessary - when someone outgrows a size, for example, or for a special occasion.  

My 17-year-old son doesn't seem to be growing and hasn't needed (or wanted) any new clothes this year. My 14-year-old daughter loves to get new clothes, but she usually pays for it with her own money - received for Christmas or Birthday gifts or earned by doing chores for me. Fortunately, my 13-year-old daughter is happy to wear whatever her older sister passes along to her.

I thought I would share some recent purchases to give you an idea. Last weekend we drove up to Pennsylvania and visited a huge outdoor flea market. I found new 6-packs of bras for both daughters for $8.00 each and a new 12-pack of socks for my son that was $10.00. A new pair of Levi Strauss jeans for eldest daughter was $5.00. Total cost for items pictured below was $31.00.


Eldest daughter also wanted sandals, so we checked Rite Aid in hopes of paying with UP Rewards. They have cute flip flops on sale this week for $5.00 each, when you buy two. She tried some on, but wanted to look some more.

 Our next stop was the Blue Ridge Hospice Thrift shop. There she found 2 pairs of sandals for $8.00 each, plus a pair of jeans and a cute top for another $11.00. The total was $27.00, but I had a punch card from previous trips that took $10.00 off our total. The haul pictured below cost $17.00 out of pocket.
 
Other purchases this year included a Homecoming dress from Re-Love It Consignment Shop (pictured below) for eldest daughter and Adidas tennis shoes for my son. My son wore cheap tennis shoes from Walmart all his life, but when the last pair fell apart I gave him my credit card and sent him shopping on his own. He couldn't find what he wanted at Target, so he went to Kohl's and spent over $100! Hopefully his feet are no longer growing and the shoes will last a while.
 
 
 
I also "purchased" some new underwear, jeans, and tops for myself at Macy's this year with gift cards. Here are some ways to earn gift cards to offset your clothing budget:
 
Swagbucks - earn points for internet searches, taking polls, playing games, shopping on-line, and by printing and using coupons. You can get a $5.00 Amazon gift card for 450 points called Swagbucks.
 
MyPoints - earn points for internet searches, printing and using coupons, reading emails, taking surveys and shopping on-line. Sometimes they have deals to get gift cards for less than their actual value.
Ebates - a site that gives you cash back for shopping on-line, deposited quarterly to your Paypal account.
 
Living Social - a group buying site that occasionally has deals to buy gift cards for less than their actual value.

 
 


1 comment:

  1. I love this post!!! Very interesting--especially since we shop similarly. I bought two Ann Taylor tops at the thrift shop this morning, as a matter of fact.

    ReplyDelete