March 29th
How can you save on clothing?
Purchase Separates
Buying clothing separates will stretch your budget. Skirts and blouses, instead of dresses. You can then mix and match and have many different looks for the same price as a few dresses. Add pants in
the same color as your skirts and suddenly you have a huge wardrobe. If you purchase just 4 blouses, 1 sweater or jacket, 2 pairs of dress pants, and 2 skirts you will have created 32 different outfits. You could wear a different outfit every day for a month!
Clothing Exchange
Organize a clothing exchange with friends and neighbors. There may be clothes you and your children can no longer wear or some you are just tired of. These may be just perfect for others, so invite your friends - and have them invite friends - and trade. Think creatively. Everyone has clothes that are just not right for them and are hardly worn. Swap and trade, and what nobody in your exchange wants, give to a charity like Salvation Army.
Learn to Sew
This is becoming a lost art that can save you lots of money. We learned this during the pandemic. Some people made good money making masks. It is not at all difficult to make curtains, pillows, bed skirts, crib bumper pads, and many more items. Find a friend who sews, and they will not only help you learn, but they will also know where to purchase fabric at the best prices. Clothing is not always cheaper to make, but many other items can be made for half the cost of purchasing them. Sewing is also valuable to make simple repairs that would cause others to discard perfectly good clothing.
See, then Sew
Now that you know how to sew, look at old clothing, curtains, and tablecloths, as fabric, not clothing. Years ago, when my children were small, we were struggling to make ends meet and Christmas was coming. I got some very inexpensive solid-color fabric and some fabric crayons. The kids drew pictures with fabric crayons, and I ironed them onto the fabric. I took down the curtains in our basement and used those as backing and made lap quilts for all the grandparents. Now that those children have children of their own, those quilts are real treasures. I recently made my granddaughter a princess dress out of an old lace curtain. Another obvious trick is to cut down old clothing and re-sew it for the kids.