I firmly believe that frugality and minimalism go hand-in-hand. The focus of minimalism is only having those things that bring you joy or utility. The focus of frugality is using your time and money efficiently. What's the best use of your hard-earned money? What's the best use of your time? Not drowning in payments or a house full of stuff you don't even love.
Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, the founders of The Minimalist website described it best, "Though they had achieved the American Dream, they worked ridiculous hours, wastefully spent money, and lived paycheck to paycheck. Instead of discovering their passions, they pacified themselves with ephemeral indulgences—which only led to more debt, depression, and discontent."
The way I approach acquiring our kid's clothing is, I believe, the perfect blend of minimalist and frugal! And it only takes 3 steps! Buying, Organizing, Storing.
First thing, we decided how much clothing we need for our kids. When I did this, I didn't think how much clothing would I like to have? The question was, how much clothing do they need? I was going for a bare minimum number! This way, we could be sure that our kids wouldn't be lacking in the clothing department and if we got above that number, from gifts or hand-me-downs, then great! It also helped us to reign in our spending. If we found a good deal on kid's clothes we could decide if it would fill a need or if it would be in excess of that.
To make sure we stayed within those decided numbers, I created a simple spreadsheet on Google docs (now called Drive). Now that we have smartphones, it's even better because I can access this spreadsheet when I'm at the store actually seeing the great deals! It's super easy to pull it up and decide whether or not purchasing the clothing item will be a smart use of our money.
Now that you know how much you need to buy, it's time to go shopping! I try to keep the cost of my kid's clothing to a minimum. They're still growing and they're rough on their clothes so for me it's not worth it to put top dollar into their clothing. Maybe once they're done growing!
I get most of my kids clothes on clearance or closeout usually with an additional coupon to make the deal even sweeter AND if it's an online sale I'll go through a cash back site like ebates to get some money back on what I'm buying anyway! I'm also able to get some of my kid's clothes as hand-me-downs from my older sisters and some friendly neighbors. Letting friends and family know that you're open to taking their outgrown clothes can really keep your clothing cost small! The last place I look for my kid's clothing is online marketplaces and local thrift stores.
Once you have all their clothes purchased you need to organize it. My daughters share a dresser and my sons each have their own, although Jack is only using three drawers! I like to fold my kids shirts, pants, jammies, exercise clothes using the Konmari folding method. There's no way I could describe what this is - so here's a great guide on how to fold the various clothing items! We also use Ikea clothing organizers in everyone's dresser to corral socks and underwear. We bought two of these and have split it between 5 of us!
My children's dress clothes, winter coats, and shoes are all housed in one closet.
Lastly, we need to store the clothes that the kids don't fit in yet. When trying to save money you buy clothing ahead of when they need it at the lowest price. That's where the spreadsheet comes in once again. For my older two, Mikaela and Tafton, I have a large storage tote each where I keep the clothing they don't fit into yet. When they do outgrow their pants, I'm able to go to the tote and pull the next size out!
Then I take those outgrown clothes and put them in another storage tote. Once that tote is full I go through the clothes and put them in a smaller storage tote that only holds one size of clothing. Now I have clothing ready for when Jack and Jill get bigger!
By doing these three things; buying, organizing, and storing; I'm able to keep my children clothed and at the lowest cost and it doesn't take over our space!
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