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How to Afford Expensive Winter Clothes For Your Kids

  November 5

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How to Afford Expensive Winter Clothes For Your KidsWell it happened. My kids grew again. Imagine that. 🙂

No longer can they fit in the adorable squishy winter coats I bought them last year, so I began the hunt for a new winter wardrobe once again.

It’s not cheap to keep buying nice, high quality winter gear for kids every year, but here’s how I was able to afford expensive winter clothes for both twins without breaking the bank:

Get Organized:

Being born and raised in the South, I had absolutely no clue what type of clothes we needed for winter.

Last winter, my twins were only a few months old so I just holed up in my house and never went outside.

This year, I have toddlers who need to burn off energy so I know I needed some more gear. I consulted my favorite Facebook group full of experienced moms and asked what type of winter clothes were best.

They had some great suggestions, from getting the warm winter hats with the flaps for the ears all the way down to buying them boots that could cinch at the top to keep the snow out. Once I knew everything I needed to buy for them, I made a list on the fridge with little check boxes for hats, gloves, snow suit, and boots.

Buy Used:

The first thing I looked for online were snow suits for the kids. I wanted high quality ones, and I don’t mind paying a little more for them. However, the thought of spending $80 per kid on a snowsuit that will only last me one winter was not too exciting.

I also looked at winter boots in my town, again always going for high quality because after all, these are my kids and it gets freaking cold in New Jersey. The winter boot prices made my eyeballs pop out of my head too. I don’t spend $50.00 on shoes for me, let alone for little kids who again, will grow out of them in just a few months.

So, I went to Once Upon a Child, a popular kid’s consignment store. I was able to find each child like new winter boots for around $6 each. I was also able to find my son a snow suit for about $10 (my mom actually mailed me the snowsuit I wore as a kid for my daughter – perfect!)

Go to Clothing Swaps:

The women in my neighborhood often have clothing swaps. This is where everyone brings the clothes and accessories they no longer wear and just trade them. No money is exchanged. Luckily, all of these women have kids older than mine, and I was able to get really nice gloves and hats for my kids at a recent swap completely for free.

Other than the above, I just went to Old Navy and bought the kids fleece lined jeans on sale along with a few long sleeved shirts for layering. I’m pretty sure we have everything we need to conquer the winter here, and I didn’t have to spend a few hundred dollars to make it happen!

How to Afford Expensive Winter Clothes For Your Kids

Where do you like to shop for your kids?

18 responses to “How to Afford Expensive Winter Clothes For Your Kids

  1. I love Once Upon a Child and our other local second-hand children’s stores. I love that they are organized by size and sometimes even by style and color. I found a really nice, warm Nike snowsuit for $6 and both my kids have been able to use it.

    We’ve been very fortunate to come by lots of hand-me-downs, including coats, boots, and hats. Now I am shameless and will ask anyone who has ever given me hand-me-downs if there is a certain item I need, before go shopping.

    1. Once Upon a Child is great! We use a lot of hand me downs too. Kids grow so fast it just doesn’t make sense to spend a ton of money on clothes.

  2. Smart move, Cat!!! It really doesn’t have to be expensive to clothe your children. We find, too, that the more outgrown clothing we give away, the more super deals or free clothing that comes back to us. Life works like that. 🙂

    1. That’s great karma for sure! I’ve found that with lots of things in life. For example, whenever I give up a freelance job I always find another one I love even more.

  3. Oh, do I know the woes of buying clothes every fall/winter. Once Upon a Time is definitely my go to store! This summer I scored my 5 year old daughter a winter coat (Old Navy) for 12 bucks!

    I’ve also learned to try and at least get a leg up with regards to clothes. I buy her clothes 1 size up in the winter and it will usually allow her to be able to wear them the following fall until I purchase more clothes for the remainder of the winter.

    We stay in SC so we can pretty much get away with wearing 3/4 length and long sleeves through December without a jacket, so I look for clothes that are versatile for both winter/fall.

    Once your kids are out of that major toddler growth spurt, I’m sure you’ll be able to implement more strategies like this so you won’t have to buy every season.

    Yay for consignment stores though, they are a lifesaver!

    1. Definitely! We do plan to start buying ahead of time to take advantage of sales, etc. at the end of different seasons once we have a better idea of the sizes we’ll need.

  4. Costco has some great name brand clothes at low prices, just pick up a down winter coat for my oldest son for $30. We often shop at Marshall’s and Burlington Coat Factory too.

  5. I know a lot of people don’t like “used” clothes, but we’ve gotten over that. At the consignment stores, my wife has even found things that are new with tags on. Tommy Hilfiger sweater for $3! The little ones grow out of their clothes so fast that clothes are only worn a few times anyway. We’ve also bought clothes on clearance or out-of-season for deep discounts. And of course, we have friends who give away their kids clothes that they’ve outgrown.

  6. Huh, I didn’t think it snowed much in Jersey. At least, there was rarely snow when I visiting my family there. (Then again, they’re in south Jersey.) Glad you found some good quality stuff. And please go have a TastyKake for me.

    1. Haha! I’ll have to do that. 🙂 It’s certainly colder and snowy here compared to what I’m used to since I was raised in the south.

  7. We are living in a tropical country, so winter clothes is not a problem to us. I’m a big fan of buying clothes that don’t have a brand since kids grow up too fast.

    1. We don’t buy too much brand name stuff either. For most kids clothes brand doesn’t matter much. But we did want to make sure the winter clothes we bought were warm enough for them.

  8. I think you should check out ThredUp.com I absolutely love it. Used clothes, great quality, and a great referral program. I have earned a ton of credits that I’ve used to “purchase” a coach satchel bag, a stunning red dress, etc. Am obsessed!

  9. I actually have winter clothes for my kids and I bought these for very affordable prices as I bought them off season and on sale. If I’ll be needing clothes, I’d definitely go for used ones because winter clothes are so expensive nowadays. Thanks for you tips Cath.

  10. Great Article, where I struggle is how to make these clothes look good for the long haul.

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