Our haul from Value Village - *5* big bags full!
As I mentioned in my last clothing update, my boys had outgrown many of their clothes and I knew we were going to have to buy quite a lot of items for them for the upcoming fall and winter seasons. Despite scouring local yard sales every week, I had yet to come up with anything for them except a pair of excellent winter gloves and a couple of pairs of running shoes. So I was watching closely for the next 50% off day at Value Village, which was yesterday here in Canada. There was also a 50% off sale at the Salvation Army thrift store this past Friday. We hit both of them, and came home with a ton of booty:
At the Salvation Army:
-four T-shirts (3 for Nathan, 1 for Noah)-a turtleneck for Noah
-a hoodie for Nathan
-two pairs of sporty pants for Noah
-a long sleeve T-shirt for Nathan
-a swimsuit for Noah
A total of 10 articles of clothing for $14.45, or 1.45/item
At Value Village:
-a pair of New Balance runners for Joe
-a pair of New Balance runners for Nathan
-a pair of Adidas winter hikers for Nathan
-THREE pairs of jeans for me (super ecstatic as I have a really hard time finding comfy ones!)
-super soft V-neck sweater for me
-pair of grey cotton Docker-style pants for Joe
-six pairs of pants for Nathan (2 camouflage, 1 pair jeans, 3 pairs of sport pants; one of the pairs of camos were brand new Faded Glory brand with the tags still on!)
-hoodie for Nathan
-turtleneck for Noah
-four long sleeve T-shirts for Noah
-a hoodie for me
-a pair of shorts for Nathan (to carry him through the last of the warmer weather; these should still fit next year)
A total of 22 items for $91.05, or $4.13/item
Grand total for all: 32 items for $105.50, or $3.30 an item.
This just goes to show how invaluable those 50% off days can be if you need to buy a lot! Since we paid $105.50 at half-price, we saved another $105.50 by shopping on discount days (i.e. the total would have been $211 if we'd shopped on normal price days). This is a huge factor in keeping our annual clothing budget to around $300 or so. We went to the sales knowing exactly what items of clothing we all needed; the week before we went shopping I'd already sorted through the boys' current fall and winter clothing and knew what items each of them required to have a full fall and winter wardrobe. This helped keep us focused; we didn't waste any time or money looking for or buying items that were unneeded.
We also purchased some non-clothing items at Value Village: a few pieces of hockey equipment for Nathan, and a small sconce-style wall lamp for the side-entrance reno we're working on right now.
Our whole family is pretty well set for clothing now until spring. Thankfully, the boys' winter jackets and ski pants from last year still fit, as do Noah's winter boots. Nathan needs a pair of gloves and I'm still on a quest for a pair of black leather Mary Janes and winter dress boots, but that's about all we still need!
I'll do a final year-end clothing budget summary the last week of December; so far it looks like we're on track to land right around the $300 mark for the year; although if I have to end up buying a pair of shoes at retail price we may go slightly over (I *really* need new shoes!)
I get most of our clothing at either yard sales or thrift stores too. My husband is very well dressed and nobody would even guess that he did not buy his clothes from a retail store.I just cannot see spending $60.00 on a pair of men's slacks when we can buy the same thing at a thrift store for $3.00 or less a pair.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know what you mean, Rose! Although I can't usually find pants for my dh for quite that cheap - we often pay $10-12 unless we hit the 50% off sales. Thrift store prices have gone up a lot around here in the past few years, but obviously they're still a lot cheaper than buying retail. And we have found some lovely items! I'm sure no one would guess how little we pay for clothing by looking at what we wear :)
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