After the delivery of your little precious, the real game begins. Apart from food, what else could drive you crazy is their clothes. You can’t imagine the types of clothes you would need to raise your baby comfortably and safely. And the price, say no more. It could take a large chunk of your paycheck if you don’t pay heed to how your money is flowing towards buying these clothes. You need to have onesies, pajamas, full sleeves, hat, hand gloves, socks, and so many others. So where to start? Sounds overwhelming, right? Should be. Let’s dive into this.
I was always an outgoing person. I had many friends even though I was an international student. I had my lab mates who were super excited about my pregnancy, I had my community friends who were always there by my side when my husband was not there, I had my supervisor who seemed more concerned about my wellness than me throughout my journey. And all of them, at any stage from two months before the delivery to one month after the delivery, gifted me so many clothes, shoes, and other stuff that we didn’t have to buy much during my baby’s initial three months. I also noticed an interesting fact that my male friends were less aware of the fact that baby clothes are categorized according to their ages of every three months; like pajamas for newborns, pajamas for three to six months old, six to nine months old, nine to twelve months, and so on. But I’ve got many gifts which were appropriate for my baby when she is 12 months old. So I hardly bought any clothes during her first 3 months. But after the first three months, we realized there were not enough clothes for her. So we began to search online for baby clothes for three to six months old. Mostly we looked at Walmart, but we also searched for clothes at Ross and Burlington. To my observation, clothes from Ross and Burlington are better in terms of price and aesthetics. Walmart’s clothes are also nice, but they get pricier once you pass the nine-month bar. Shein could also be a wonderful option if your budget is tight, but the quality will not be the best of the best. If you want to take a look at more pricey ones you can buy at Gerber, Carter’s, Ralph Lauren, Macy’s, etc. H&M could be another good option.
If you are looking for clothes at very cheap prices, the first place to look should be the Facebook marketplace. Search with the keywords, order by price low to high and set the radius 10 to 15 miles from your place. It should give you quite a handful of options. Cause there are so many moms like you who are buying and selling; and you could also be in the same pool most probably after at most three months buying those. However, before agreeing upon a price, don’t forget to negotiate but don’t overdo it. I have seen many sellers who don’t reply back once you start over-negotiating. You can meet up at a public space like a gas station, or they can also invite you to their place. Make sure you have cash, cash app, Venmo, or Zelle; because these are the most convenient methods of paying for this kind of transaction. If you like something very much, I’d suggest you to pay a very small amount beforehand because this is not going to last for long in the marketplace. If you like it very much, there are probably many other eyes watching it. So don’t lose it. Once you get the clothes, don’t forget to wash them before you put them on your baby.
One of the cheapest options could be Goodwill. To get the best out of it, you can talk to the store receptionist and ask when usually they get the newest lot. So, if you can plan to arrive at Goodwill right away, the possibility of getting the best product at the cheapest price increases. There are also different tags like green, yellow, or blue if I’m not mistaken, and each of these tags has a different discount on it. While checking out, it will be automatically adjusted with the discount. There is also a specific day in a week when the clothes are sold at an even more discount. They call it discount day or something. Are you a military or senior citizen? Voila! You just got more discount.
Apart from these, you can also keep an eye on Yelp or this sort of social sites. People often have garage sales and you could hit a bulk amount at a very cheap price.