This morning I took my semi-annual load of stuff to sell at a children’s consignment sale. This sale has been such a financial blessing over the years. I discovered it almost 7 years ago when my oldest children were 3 and 1. This sale is HUGE. The owner has 2 sales per year: one for spring/summer and one for fall/winter. Consignors (those selling things) get to shop the evening before the sale is open to the public. They have so many clothes it’s overwhelming. I have found the majority of all the clothes I have purchased for my 4 children at these sales. I usually make enough money from the clothes I sell to pay at least half of the amount I spend. I typically spend under $200. There are also tons of toys, games, books, and baby equipment.
I enjoy the hunt for great buys at this sale, but I think the thing that I enjoy the most is that I can go, shop for several hours, and be basically done for the season. (No kids are allowed at the early sale, so it’s also an evening out for me!) For me, that is one of the benefits of a consignment sale over garage sales. There are some magnificent deals to be found at garage sales, but you have to spend more time looking at them. The same is true for Goodwill and consignment stores. You have to frequently stop be those stores to see what is new. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I don’t like to shop anymore. I try to avoid it as much as possible by making buying a lot of stuff at once. That overall saves time and money in gas.
So, here is my list of places to find good deals on kids’ clothes, ranked from my favorite to least favorite.
1. Kids’ Consignment sales
2. Consignment stores
3. Sales at department stores
4. Discount stores
5. Goodwill
6. Garage sales
It does take so much time to look! I usually don't go unless there is a specific thing like in August we need white shirts to show for Fair. Then I'll stop just to get those specific things. The sale sounds neat, I don't think we have anything like that by us?
Gina
I love my local Goodwill! 🙂