1) Schoola – I will start with this one simply because it is the easiest way to get free clothing by mail. When you sign up they give you a $15 free credit which is easily enough to score a freebie or two. Refer some friends to get a freebie and you have earned yourself another $15 (so more free stuff). They have both new and used clothing. With kids clothes, even the used ones often look new simply because they are worn less than most adult clothing.
2) Garage Sales and Facebook Groups – If you haven’t already discovered the joy of garage sales and Facebook Garage Sale Groups, this is a great place to get children’s clothing. You can usually get clothes (and sometimes brand new ones) for just $1 or $2 a piece. These are great to pick up, because you can use them and usually you can resell them when you are done and get all of your money back making this FREE.
Many people have asked me about Garage Sale Pages (Facebook groups). Most cities now have them if you search for something like YOUR CITY Garage Sale or YOUR CITY Buy Sell Trade they will come up in search. The groups are mixed with users, but I have noticed they are mostly moms and I see a lot of kids clothes come available. Sometimes they are individual items, and sometimes they are sold as lots, so you could buy a whole bunch of clothes at one time.
3) Thread Up – I mention this one now because while you can buy kids clothing on this site at a discount (and you get a FREE $10 credit for signing up), you can SELL clothing to this site too. If you are purchasing clothing at garage sales for cheap prices, this is a place to look if you want to sell them when you are done. Just note that they can be picky about what they take.
4) Hand Me Downs – Have friends are family members with children who are a bit older than yours, see if you can bargain for their hand me downs. This is a great way to get childrens clothing for nothing. A lot of people do not want to hassle with selling stuff, and they will probably be happy with you taking it off their hands.
5) Second Hand Shops – here in my area we have many second hand shops for childrens clothing. Most of the time these shops also buy second hand clothing in good condition. One thing you could do with these stores, is when you come across really good deals at garage sales (Like $1 or $2 for a bag of clothing) is just buy them even if they aren’t right for you and take them into the second hand shop in your area and trade them in for store credits and use those credits to purchase the clothing that you want and / or need.
6) Thrift Stores – Thrift Stores are another great place to get cheap childrens clothing. One thing that I love getting a thrift shops is jeans, they are usually around $1 or so and when the kids inevitably get a hole in the knees, I don’t get upset about it. I just toss them and move on.
7) Craigslist – Every Craigslist city has a FREE section where you can often find Children’s clothing available. Just note that you may have to act fast on these as other people will be trying to get the free clothing as well!
When shopping for children’s clothing at a regular retail store, always remember that the Clearance Section is your friend! Kohl’s, Target (my favorite), Old Navy and Gap all usually have some great clearance sections where you can really save the money. Keep the clothes you do use in good shape and when you are done, sell them off to the next person and make some of your money back!
Great Clearance Shopping Tip: Some times you may find that the clearance stuff that is really marked down at your favorite store is for Winter and its about to be Summer. Think ahead and buy next years winter clothing. If you can get a jacket that is usually $30 for $3 on clearance, buy ahead and save it for use later!
Leave a Reply