To save money on children’s clothing, I make sure to shop the large children’s outgrown sales (also known as consignment sales). There I can pick up a fancy Easter dress for $5, boys jeans for $2, and an assortment of other clothing to outfit my three kids.
I’ve been shopping at outgrown sales and taking advantage of community swaps for a long time now, ever since my now middle school child was a baby. I have the say that things have certainly changed with outgrown children’s sales since that time.
First of all, the prices are much higher. What was once a sweater for fifty cents now costs three or four dollars. Perhaps some of that is just that everything costs more.
While I’m still seeing about the same number and type of toys, the selection of clothing is much better. There are many name brand items, and plenty of stock in all of the sizes. More people are motivated to sell off their outgrown items and make back some cash. Also, consigners generally get first crack at shopping, before the rest of the public does.
The number of people who are shopping is much, much larger than I remember it once to be. As a result, many outgrown sales are adding extra days, sometimes as many as three, in which to shop. The sale I visited today, for example, got started on a Thursday morning and will run through Saturday afternoon. The lesson here is to not assume that all of the sales start on a Saturday morning.
On the way to the sale I visited today, I saw a sign for yet another outgrown children’s sale, and a friend just told me about a third. Both these latter sales are being held next week.
So spring really is the outgrown sale season here. Usually these sales carry only seasonal items, spring and summer, especially if the sponsor or group hosts another outgrown sale in the fall.