The Cost of Clothing Babies

Last week, at just over 2 months of age (literally, 2 days past), my daughter Spaceghost graduated to 3-6 months jumpsuits for sleepwear. We could have continued to clothe her in 0-3 sleepers, but only if we left the crotch snaps undone to leave room for her cloth nappies (diapers) and cut off the feet. Despite the rolls on her thighs and wrists, and the Mega-Cheeks (tm), she is quite slender for her height (90th percentile height, 50th weight at her check last week. Critter is the same, only even more extreme - he needs size 4 or 5 for the length, but only size 1 around the waist), so separates still fit her in 0-3. In fact, her jeans are constantly falling off because the waist is too big for her, even though they look like capris, ending halfway up her calves.

My first thought? This girl is going to cost me a FORTUNE in clothes!!* My second? OP-SHOPS ROCK!!!

I try not to buy my kids' clothes full price if I can help it. There are times when its unavoidable. Like when they've pooed all over their clothes, and then vomited all over the spares, and the blankets got dirty too, so you HAVE to buy something so the poor little thing doesn't freeze. Critter did that to me a couple of times when he was tiny. Spaceghost hasn't. Yet. And I do like to buy them new clothes. I become overwhelmed with the cuteness of some of the little clothes I see in Kmart or Target or BigW.. like the two little tops I bought Spaceghost at Kmart the other week. Totally adorable. But honestly, theres nothing wrong with second hand, either.

At my local shops, there are three second hand stores. An Anglicare, a Vinnies (St. Vincent de Paul society), and a Smith Family. When I went by the other week, the Anglicare was having a 3-2-1 sale, to get rid of summer stock so they had room for winter stock, and everything in the store was $2.00 - thats 2 pair jeans and 1 overalls for Spaceghost, and jeans for Critter, for $8.00 - and on Saturday, everything was going to be $1.00. A shirt in Vinnies for Spaceghost at $2.50, and my shopping trip was complete. Not only that, they were in different sizes, so I already have things for when she grows, and she won't be dressed in the same thing as all the other kids her age, because they are previous seasons stock.

Even better, there is an Anglicare depot a few suburbs away from me, where they just have bins of clothing to go through yourself. Nothing is sorted in any way shape or form, but they sell the clothes BY THE KILOGRAM. This resulted in me picking up 12 items for the girl and 4 for the boy for $9.00 - went shopping with a friend, ended up with 3kg between us, and just split the cost. Some of the items were ever so lightly stained, but for 50c each, when they'd cost about $9.00 each new, who cares?

At the rate she's growing, clothing this girl of mine could cost a fortune, but it isn't going to. And anyone spending $20 for a shirt that will be outgrown in a matter of weeks needs their head examined.





*This would be even more true if I shopped at Pumpkin Patch, where a t-shirt for a 2 month old costs more than $20.00 - and they arent even the most expensive kids clothes around! Totally adorable, totally worth it at op-shop prices, never being bought full price in this house.