New to Me- Great Deals and going green with clothing

So if you know me, you know I love a good deal.  I previously worked at a Frenchies store and I accustomed to paying dirt cheap prices for clothing.  It causes me great pain to pay full price for clothes when it's really just a waiting game.  I live 2 minutes from the mall and within 15 minutes of about 6 second hand stores and those are not consignment prices.  Being so close to the mall, I can  stop into The Children's Place on a regular basis to watch for their Monster sale.  I have an Old Navy connection who likes to share Friends and Family discounts or sends out an alert on a good sale.

This summer a new used clothing store opened and it's owned by a guy from dh's hometown.  The Clothesline is much neater and I would say has better quality than most Frenchies stores.  Hannah needed new black pants and so we went tonight on a mission to find some.  It was our plan to go to The Clothesline, Superstore, Super Frenchies and then Old Navy.  I like to pay the cheapest price possible but I'm  not opposed to paying for a specific item.  We struck gold tonight at the Clothesline.  I found her mint condition black cords form the Children's Place.  They fit perfectly and the embellishments on the pockets are stitched on and can easily be removed.  As soon as we walked in the door, I saw a white blouse for her.  A plain white blouse in her size is hard to find so we grabbed it.  I also found black dress pants for Parker, a red Children's Place top for Lydia, A sweater for me, a great quality sheet from IKEA and a sleep sack for a friend.  The grad total was $20 and change.  Sweet.

Next stop was Old Navy.  I used my Friends and Family discount and got 30% off the jeans and dress I found for Hannah on clearance.  I paid $15 and change.  Woohoo.  Although nothing beats the year I hit a .97 sale just before her bithday.  She got 10 pairs of jeans, tops, pajamas....  She's just now hit the end of that pile.

I think that's just about it for holiday clothing for the kids.  Parker could probably use a sweater but it won't be the  end of the world if I don't find one.

A Green Halloween

It was a green Halloween in our house.

Growing up we never bought costumes.  We always found what we needed to make them and we were never allowed to be scary.  Them's were the rules.  Pretty much the same rules apply in my house.  I have mixed feelings about Halloween.  Do I want to encourage celebrating a holiday that is associated with evil and gore?  Not really but do I want to ostracize my kids my not allowing them to have fun with their peers?  Nope.  There will be many times during their lives when they will have to stand for their beliefs.  I'd rather let them have fun and be kids while they can.

So Hannah went as a Recycled Halloween Costume.  She had bits and pieces from different costumes and a recycling sign around her neck.   People though it was clever.

Parker went as Indiana Jones.  I started working on his costume in June as he was into Indiana Jones with the movie coming out.  He had wanted to buy a whip at Walmart for $25 so I made him one for $1.   He had the coat, boots and pants and in the summer we found the scout shirt and water bag at Value Village.  The hat was my grandfathers hat.

Lydia wore the same costume Hannah wore when she was three.  Little Red Riding Hood.  It's a nice warm fleece cape that Aunt Sarah brought back from Turkey.  When Hannah wore it, Parker was a baby and he went as the Big (little) Bad Wolf. 

I went as the Big Bad Wolf.  I used my butt ugly fur coat that I usually wear with my butt ugly owl hat.  (purchased 5 years ago on Halloween day when I was working at Frenchies)  I wore the same wolf ears that Parker wore.  That fur coat has kept me warm on halloween for five years now.  I'll have to re-purpose it again next year.

Make a Smilebox slideshow