This post is sponsored by Giving Assistant and Socialix. I was compensated for the post, but all opinions are my own.
Can I just express how much I love school?! I love the excitement of August and September of the first few days of school. I also love school supplies. It make me happy to walk down the aisles of Target and check out all the cute pens, notebooks, sticky notes (I’m a huge sucker for sticky notes), paper clips, folders, etc. I got my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education – I love school. And my daughter is starting kindergarten this year! Finally, my kids are getting into elementary school and I am so excited for them! And let’s be honest, I’m excited for me too in more ways than one.
And with the beginning of school comes back to school kids clothes.
I remember every year going shopping with my mom and getting new clothes for school. I love getting new clothes. Honestly, I hate the shopping part. I hate digging through racks and I hate trying on clothes. I’m a curvy girl and I’ve had 4 babies. So some things look good and some things just don’t. And it’s hard to tell how something looks on a hanger. Am I right?!
But shopping for my kids’ clothes is fun because they are all still at the age and size where everything is going to fit. My oldest does have some sensory issues so I’m careful about what I buy – or it just won’t get worn. But overall, it’s fun to buy my kids clothes. And I love getting them at a good price.
Guys, I just bought a bunch of clothes for my daughter at an amazing deal. I have some great tips for you to help you save on school clothes too.
Save with Giving Assistant
One of the easiest ways to save is with online shopping. Which, by the way, is the best way to shop. Who wants to take all their kids to a store with neatly folded clothes for their kids to throw all over the place and to run and hide under the hanging clothes? Trust me, I’ve been there and done that. It’s not a good idea. So yeah, online shopping. And lots of the major department stores have free shipping when you spend a certain amount and free returns. Worth it!
Giving Assistant is amazing because all you have to do is a few extra clicks and you save money, just by going through their website! You earn cash back while you shop. It’s a free digital loyalty program with over 1,600 of the largest retailers and you receive an average of a 5% cash reward after each online purchase. Let me show you how easy this is.
Sign up with Giving Assistant and then search the name and click on the online store you want to shop at. Some of my favorite places to shop for kids clothes are Old Navy, Carters, OshKosh B’Gosh, Kohl’s, and H&M’s clearance. When you search, it will tell you how much you cash back you’ll get.
Once you click on the store, then this memo comes up. I know a lot of us have ad blockers, but you have to turn those off while you shop so it will work. You also need to start with an empty shopping cart and you need to stay in the same browsing session or you’ll have to start again. But it’s ok if you have to start over because it’s only a few clicks. I know sometimes I start online shopping and get distracted by other things then need to go back later.
Then it takes you right to the website you want to shop at. Then you shop as you normally would. That’s it! After your purchase you can go back in 2- 7 days (some businesses take longer) to the Giving Assistant and it will show you how much cash back you’ll get. Then you can cash out with a minimum of $5.01 which is awesome!
You can get paid via PayPal or a mailed check. And something I haven’t seen at any other cash back website is an opportunity to make a difference. You can automatically donate a portion of your cash back earnings. How cool is that? You can also refer friends and when they sign up, they get $5 and when they make a purchase, you get $5. So it’s a win for everyone!
Use Rewards Credit Cards
I know some people are against credit cards. But you need to build credit it you ever want to buy a house or a car and don’t have enough cash to pay for it all. And credit cards aren’t bad if you pay them off right away. They’re bad when you spend more than you have and can’t pay them off because then they build interest. And some credit cards will charge you 30% in interest. Yikes! So if you can avoid it, don’t carry a balance on your credit card.
All the credit cards I use give me some type of rewards back. I have an Amazon credit card that I get Amazon cash for, an Old Navy Visa that gives me rewards to use at Old Navy, a Capital One card that gives me cash back on all purchases, and a Target Visa that saves me 5% on every purchase. I love my Target card because it pulls directly from my bank account and I still save 5%. I’m not sure how that works, but I love it.
So after using Giving Assistant to save 4% at Old Navy, I also had $30 in rewards for using their credit card. A lot of rewards credit cards will also have special deals to get you to use their card. So Old Navy’s was if I used their credit card 2x in other stores, then I got $20 in rewards. Done. Here you can see my back to school purchase from the other day.
Shop the Sales
I hate buying kids clothes at full price. And you shouldn’t have to unless you really need something fast like orange suspenders for a wedding. But seasonal things go on sale. Stores are having their back to school kids clothes sales right now prepping for school starting. And for having an Old Navy Visa card I got a special 40% off everything coupon code. See, sometimes having a rewards card gives you benefits. And all their uniforms were 40% off. I’m just using Old Navy as an example because that’s where I did my online shopping recently, but there are lots of places having online sales like one of my other favorites, Kohl’s. And you can also get 4% through Giving Assistant at Kohl’s as well.
Stack your Rewards
There are lots of ways to get multiple discounts at once. So with my Old Navy purchase I used Giving Assistant for 4% cash back, I had a 40% discount code, and that day only Old Navy gave an additional 10% off your purchase. So I saved 54% on almost everything (there are always exceptions) and that didn’t even include my $30 rewards and I got free shipping for spending over $50. Score! I gave myself a little pat on the back for that one.
Shop Clearance for Next Year
Stores like to clearance out their current seasonal clothes in order to make room for the next season. Sometimes they do this early in the season. Carters was clearancing out their summer clothes mid-June and my baby was growing and needed some more summer clothes in a size up. So I bought a few things at a great price. A lot of stores are putting their summer kids clothes on clearance now which is a little late for most of us who live in colder states – we have a little less than 2 months left of warm weather, but we don’t talk about that…
But it’s a great time to buy summer clothes for next year. A great rule of thumb is to buy a size bigger for next year. This is easier for the older kids who grow more slowly. My 5 year old wears a size 6 and she’ll probably wear a size 7 next summer. But babies are harder. You never know when they’re going to get a growth spurt. My oldest completely skipped 18 month clothes and every fall and summer she jumped a new size! She’s finally slowed down a bit.
Shop at Second Hand Kids Clothes Stores
My favorite place to buy snow clothes and boys suits for church is at second hand kids clothes stores. It’s tons cheaper and they usually aren’t used very often so you can find them in great condition. Kids are usually pretty hard on things, but some things they don’t wear out as often. Same with baby clothes. Babies grow so fast and aren’t running around yet so you can find some gently used clothing that’s still in great condition for a way cheaper price.
Save in Advance
One of the best ways to be frugal is to save your money in advance. Try to plan out how much you’ll spend on clothing and save it throughout the year so it isn’t as big as a blow to your finances before school starts. Hopefully you’re keeping track of the money you spend. If not, I highly suggest you start now. We love using YNAB if you need a program to help you get organized. For example, if you plan on spending $600 a year on clothing, divide it by 12 (which is 50) and put aside $50 a month for your clothing budget. So when you need to get those back to school clothes, you’ll already have the money saved.
I love a good deal. I don’t go crazy and shop at 50 stores to get the best deal, but as a mom of 4 with a limited budget and limited time, I feel like I have a system that gets the job done and saves us some money. I hope these tips help you too.
What are your best tips for saving money on kids clothes?