Shopping Kids Resale

One of the ways our family saves money is that I shop resale shops for kids clothing.  My daughter will be wearing size 2T this summer which I believe is an ideal age to find some great clothes at amazing prices when you shop resale.  My boys are in sizes 6 and 10 now, so it is much more difficult to find good, quality clothing at resale shops for them.  I believe the ideal age group is from newborn up to size 5.

There are a few outlets I use for resale clothing:

1. Online Facebook Garage Sale Sites: I have some some great bargains on these sites, the only downside is you have to be careful you are not running all over town to pick up items.
2. Organized Children Resale Events:  This is where space is sold to hundreds of people to sell used clothing items.  We have 2 events a year at our community recreation center as well as events hosted by local PTA groups.
3. Traditional Resale Stores:  I have 2 stores in my area that I love to visit a couple times a year to see what bargains I can find.  I also take clothes in twice a year for store credit on a new purchase.

I realize you normally cannot get your child's entire wardrobe on resale, but I truly believe you can put together a decent amount of clothing for a season and minimize the new clothing you need to purchase.  Yesterday I stopped into my favorite resale store and man did I find the items!  You have to remember timing is everything, and you have to be patient to go through racks of clothing to find the gems!  I prefer to go alone also, so that you are not distracted.  I hit the Gymboree jackpot!

All three of these outfits were from the Gymboree Spring/Summer 2013 line.

 I also managed to find an additional 3 outfits for this summer.  All of the outfits are in like new condition!

With my discount and tax, I walked out with 6 new outfits for a little over $23.  I was quite pleased with my quick shopping trip.  Now if the weather would just warm up so my little girl can wear her new clothes!

Five Ways to Save Money on Friday

1. Don't use your high value coupons right away , chances are a sale will come and it will make it an even better deal!

2. Use credit cards to your advantage, if you can pay them off every month. My 4th favorite card is my Old Navy Card. You earn a $10 off coupon with every $100 charged!

3. Use your left overs to make soup! Extra roast or chicken? Freeze the cooked meat and throw it into a soup. You can even do this with leftover veggies!

4. Insitute a "meatless" dinner night once a week. You can save a lot of money just by making a simple pasta with no meat!

5. I always use Tide for our clothes, however for our rags and rugs, I buy the really cheap detergent and wash them in it!

Five Ways to Save Money on Friday

Its Friday, that means, 5 more ways to save money:

1. Use EBATES! Ok I was skeptical at first, but I got $11.77 deposited in my Paypal account yesterday. When you sign up you get $5, then anytime you shop online go to EBATES first and you earn a percentage of your purchase in your EBATES account. Then EBATES pays quarterly to your Paypal account or sends you a check! Go here to sign up and tell them khess02@yahoo.com referred you!

2. When a recipe calls for 1/2 an onion, cut the whole onion up and freeze the unused portion. How many onions do you waste by putting half back in the fridge? When you make something in the crock pot, throw in your frozen onions!

3. Use credit cards to your advantage if you can pay them off every month. My 3rd favorite credit card is my Giant Eagle Card. I earn an extra 4 cents in fuel perks for every $50 charged to it!

4. If you use Pampers, sign up for the Gifts to Grow program and redeem you codes on line. I have earned a photo calendar, on-line prints, and even a coupon for a free pack of diapers.

5. Grow your own garden. I just picked my first tomato today!!

Five Ways to Save Money on Friday

It's Friday, so that means it is time to share 5 more tips on ways to save money, here we go:
1. Use credit cards to your advantage if you can pay them off every month! My 2nd favorite credit card with rewards is my Target Visa. For every $1000 charged to your Target Visa you earn a 10% off shopping trip. I manage to get about 3-4 of these during the year and then do one monsterous trip!
2. If you have an infant and get formula checks from companies, sell them on EBAY, you can make around 50% of the value of the checks.
3. Shop re-sale shops for kids clothes. Kids go through clothes so fast, and often you can find brand new items at re-sale shops.
4. Buy ground meat in bulk. Last week at Giant Eagle they had ground beef for $1.79/# for 3+ pound packages. I bought 2-3# packages and came home and split it in 1# packs and put it in ziploc bags in the freezer.
5. Plant a garden and reap the benefits. When all my tomatoes come in I dice them and put about 2 cups into a ziploc bag and freeze. All year long whenever I make chili or spaghetti sauce in the crock pot, I throw a bag in!

And those are my tips on saving money this Friday!

Five Ways to Save Money on Friday

Ok - I am going to try and start a new feature every Friday. I am going to post five ways in which I save money on everyday things!

1. Rent movies from the Libray! I use to have Netflix which cost me $13.99/month. Over a year that is $168. Since I was a Netflix subscriber I have put my account on hold but I can still access my "Queue" and add movies to it. Now I just reserve through the libray and pick them up when ready!
2. I love to eat out! So to save money I always try to buy gift cards from Giant Eagle. When the have double fuel perks (like now!) you get 20 cents off per gallon per fifty dollar gift card. When we use out fuel perks we normally get 25 gallons, so essentially I got $5.00 off of my dinner!
3. If you can pay off your credit cards on a monthly basis, make them work for you. My favorite card is Discover. About every 3 months I earn enough for a $50 gift card to Long Horn Steak House (I'll share more of my favorite cards soon)!
4. Use those nice $0.75 off coupons at your grocery store that doubles them. I always buy baby wipes from Giant Eagle because my coupon doubles to $1.50 and then the wipes cost me $0.75.
5. Instead of going out to dinner on the weekend and then coming home and playing in the yard with the kids, eat at home and then take the kids to the park for a fun night out!