Clothing the Children

If you are a parent, you are well aware of the necessity to clothe your children…every.single.day. It’s not cheap! Especially when they shoot up 2 inches towards the end of winter. nbsp;Suddenly you are faced with “Do I go ahead and spend money on new jeans or can he eek out the last few weeks of winter in high waters without crushing his self esteem?”nbsp;i{Not that I would do that…I’m just sayin’… *ahem*}/ibr /br /With my first beautiful child, I did not have to buy a stitch of clothing for her for a couple of years! nbsp;She was the first grandchild on both sides and we were a poor military family trying to make it on an enlisted salary. nbsp;Perfect excuse for the grandparents to buy oodles of frilly, girly things.br /br /When my second beautiful child arrived, I got a few boyish rompers then….n.o.t.h.i.n.g. nbsp;It was not that he wasn’t as loved as my first, but I think the whole “I’m a grandparent!” euphoria wore off. nbsp;So off I went to buy my baby boy clothes and oh how I LOVE baby clothes. nbsp;They were cute and i{most of the time}/i cheap.br /br /Throughout the years I discovered a stunning fact: as children grow, so does the cost of clothing. nbsp;As my little children got into big kid sizes, I was blown away by the cost of ONE pair of jeans or a winter coat. nbsp;And let’s talk about shoes, people….their feet NEVER stop growing!!!br /br /Enter the Consignment Shop. Last July I wrote a post about a href=”http://daveramseyroad.blogspot.com/2010/07/consignment-sales.html”Consignment Salesnbsp;/anbsp;and how you can make some money selling your kids clothes, books, toys, etc. nbsp;You can also find GREAT deals on…well…clothes, books, toys, etc. nbsp;Last August I sold approximately $250 in clothing and bedding and bought about $150 worth of clothes for my 3 kids. nbsp;Not too shabby. nbsp;i{Instead of putting holes in the knees of $20 Levi jeans, my oldest son is putting holes in $7 Gap jeans.} /iThe only problem with consignment sales is they happen only twice a year. (We are talking about consignment sales not consignment shops…BIG difference.)br /br /A few days ago, I got a link to a deal for a company I NEVER heard about but immediately signed up with i{after proper research, of course}. /inbsp;The company is called a href=”http://www.thredup.com/Herring134158″ThredUp/a. nbsp;Basically it is a swap system between moms across the US. nbsp;It is a great way to swap clothes inexpensively. nbsp;You can swap any season at any time. nbsp;I just picked my first box today and am excited to see how this all works out. br /br /iWhat’s the catch?/ibr /br /There isn’t any catch that I have discovered, but you do want to be aware of a few things:br /br /ulliA box of clothing cost $5 plus shipping. nbsp;The total is $15.95. i(I believe they use a one rate box so the sender can pack as many items as possible.)/i/liliBecause it’s a swap system, you only get to pick 2 boxes and then they would like you to pack a nbsp;box or two of used items to list and ship if picked i(they send you the boxes after you sign up AND the shipping label when your box is purchased)/i./liliThey go by the ThreadUp Golden Rule: Don’t ship out something you wouldn’t be willing to receive. nbsp;(iBasically it is an honor system between moms)/i./liliThere are no pictures, only descriptions of the content i(but there is a rating/comment system)/i./liliBoxes go FAST! nbsp;I had purchased a deal where I got to pick a box for only $6. nbsp;As I looked for my youngest, I found that many of the boxes were picked.nbsp;/liliThis is a newer company (started Jan 2009) so they are looking for people who have clothes to swap./li/ulI will let you know what is in my box when I get it. But if you would like to try it out and get a discount on your first “Pick” sign up through the link above or ba href=”http://www.thredup.com/Herring134158″HERE/anbsp;/band you will get $5 towards your first purchase i{You only pay shipping}/i.br /br /Hey, with the cost of clothing the children these days, a discount of anything doesn’t hurt. nbsp;Happy Hunting!br /br /a href=”http://www.aghdesigns.com/images/blogs/siggy4.png” target=”_blank”img alt=”Anna” border=”0″ src=”http://www.aghdesigns.com/images/blogs/siggy4.png” //a