School Clothes on a budget!

Its that time of year again .. the time when our nation as an average spends $688 bucks PER child PER year on school clothing!  Really? That is outrageous in my opinion .. maybe because its way out of our budget as a family .... maybe because honestly its a bit much .. excessive actually.  But I guess .. if you have it, spend it.

We have 5 children and this fall I will have 4 in school.  7th grade, 6th grade, Kindergarten and PreK.  I will admit Kindergarten and PreK  ... not a lot of shopping will happen for those two - they have clothing, it looks nice .. done.

My older girls need cloths ... and cute ones to boot.  Typically I am the mom who would say "this is what you have, wear it" but I would rather pay for the clothes they want now then pay for therapy in a few years because I forced them to wear sweaters all winter.

So from now until September I am on a mission to fill their closet with something in style, fashionable, modest, cute and CHEAP. 

My goal this year is to spent just $200 bucks, not counting shoes on my two middle school girls .. $200 bucks total.  Not each.  It works out good that they both wear the same size .. but it will still be a challenge! 

School clothes shopping on a budget is a long process.  I cant just head to the mall and do it all in one day.  But what I can do is hit all the summer sales at my favorite consignment sales, hunt yard sales and visit Goodwill each Monday. 

My first stop was Once Upon A Child.  They were holding a clearance sale and after 6pm everything marked with a red line was 75% off!

I spent just $36.28 and saved $187.99 off their marked prices!

A few weeks later I stopped at a VIP sale at one of my favorite consignment shops! Shes on Facebook and once a year the first 10 to comment get to come shop her $1.00 sale a day early!  This is the 2nd year I have made it to this preview sale!  Remember everything I bought was just a buck!  I will list her selling price to see how much I saved!
In the end I paid just $27.78 including tax!
Forget retail .. even if I had paid her prices it would have cost me $384.44!  A savings of 84%!!

For 4 weeks straight we stopped by Goodwill on Monday Mornings.  In NY our Goodwill's have a points program, each dollar spent is 1 point, 100 points is $5.00 your next trip.  Monday's are double points!
Each week we stopped at Goodwill I only bought the color tag that was 50% off.  My daughters size are normally $3.00 each so I bought them on sale for $1.50 a piece plus tax. I ended up spending $97.84 at Goodwill over the course of 4 weeks. Even if each item retails for $5.00 I would have spent $300.00 at Goodwill (and I am pretty sure $5.00 is a low-ball estimate!)

In the end here is what I ended up with:

12 skirts
8 dresses
13 jeans
10 other pants
7 leggings
9 long sleeved shirts
27 short sleeved shirts
5 hoodies
4 shorts

95 items! (average price of $1.70 each)

I spent $161.90 and saved at least $872.43 that's 82%

I think we are done!  Both girls have at least a weeks worth of outfits before I have to do laundry again!  Good enough for me!  They also still a lot from last year that still fits!  In a few weeks I plan on showing you how I change over closets and weed out what needs to be donated!

Click Here to see a few of the outfits we put together!

These are the parties I link to each week!  Check them out. 

Monday: Alderberry Hill,, The Gunny Sack, The Dedicated House, Adventures of a DIY Mom, Home Stories A to Z, Making the World Cuter, Mad in Crafts, C.R.A.F.T., Keeping it Simple, Craft-O-Maniac, Lines Across, Polish The Stars, I Should Be Mopping The Floors, Rain On A Tin Roof

Tuesday:A Diamond in the Stuff, Elizabeth & Co, Romance on a Dime, The NY Melrose Familyt, The DIY Dreamer, Coastal Charm,, Not JUST a Housewife, Chef in Training, Sugarbee Crafts, Bowl Full of Lemons, Me and my Boys, Kammy's Korner, Lil' Luna, Madcap Frenzy, A Stroll Thru Life, Yellow Bliss Road

Wednesday: Polkadots on Parade, Southern Lovely, We Like To Learn As We Go, Sew Much Ado, Craft A La Mode, No Minimalist Here, From My Front Porch to Yours

Thursday: Adorned From Above, Live Laugh Rowe, A Glimpse Inside, Seven Alive, 52 Mantles, Bloom Designs, House of Hepworths, Stone Gable, Shabby Creek Cottage, The Girl creative , Craft Scrappy Happy

Friday: Shaken Togerher, Simply Designing, 504 Main, Redoux Interiors, Craftionary, Simply Sweet Home, The Grant Life, Just Us Four, Thrifty Handmade Days, My Romantic Home, Dakota Creek Chic, The Jenny Evolution

Saturday: Too Much Time On My Hands, Tutus and Tea Parties, Classy Clutter, Its Overflowing. Debbiedoos

Sunday: Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes,  Its So Very Cheri