I try to keep up with the kids and their clothing needs. With the girls now, this is somewhat easy. They just about wear the same size. Even when they were younger, clothing was not really a problem to keep up with. Shali and Jordan wore just about the same size all the time or were just a size apart. Shali would wear the clothes, pass them to Jordan to wear, and repeat. I would pack them away and get them out again for Paige to wear.

It was a good system. An easy system.

Then the girls started to go through the change. They start to go through shoes and clothes like they are disposable items. They started needing more in the undergarment department. Have you seen the prices of girls’ undergarments? Talk about ridiculous!!!

Since I am on my third girl going through this, I have started getting smarter about buying this stuff. Although this girl has given me new challenges that the other girls did not. I kept some of their stuff for Paige to start out with. Problem is, Paige is already almost as tall as Shali and almost the same size as Jordan in everything but jeans. Not a lot of this fits her well if it fit her at all.

I should have been a little more suspicious when all Jordan was doing was cleaning out the clothes she didn’t want anymore and giving them to Paige directly. Translation: Jordan was tossing them onto Paige’s room floor saying “Here. I can’t wear these anymore. You should be able to wear them.” And Paige does wear them.

I like to be ahead of the ballgame when keeping the girls in clothes. If possible, I like to have the next size or two on hand for them to grow into. This just makes my life and theirs easier. This is not so much about being prepared as it is about avoiding the last minute “But it doesn’t fit me anymore!”. 

In our household, your undergarments are your own and no one else’s. Especially if you have stopped growing like Shali has. Although Jordan may be done too. I am giving her a few more months yet. I know Shali and Jordan borrow a few things from each other, but I don’t want to think too hard about that. However, clothes can be and have been freely borrowed between sisters.

We do have some clothing issues. I cannot distinguish whose socks are whose. Shirts I try to keep up with, but that is almost impossible. Fortunately they all wear different size jeans yet. All three girls and myself wear the same shoe size as of right now. I think the Duggars are onto something when they came up with the idea of a community closet. This would make my life easier.

So what is a Mom to do to keep up and be ahead? I got my tax refund and went shopping. I started out by myself hitting Dollar General and Kmart. I wasn’t really impressed with their selection, but did pick up some good deals on clothing and undergarments. Then we went to Walmart. (I know, please forgive me.)

First off, I thought they may have been closing the store. It seemed like everything was on clearance! Woo hoo! We found a lot of shirts for only $1-$3 a piece. We stocked Paige up on almost everything. We found a lot for the boy of our house. He was happy. At the same time, though, I was really disappointed in Walmart. Their sock and shoe sections were very, very poor. We need both of those very badly for the girls and got nothing.

My girls are smart shoppers. They know when a price is too high. All of them are pretty frugal by nature. I think even they have been shocked lately by the rise of cost of different items. After Sunday, I know I was.

Clothing manufacturers certainly know how to gouge you for something your child may only wear for three months. I won’t go into too many details as to not embarrass my daughters, but I was appalled. A three pack of socks was $7.00. They were not good quality socks either. They were the kind that fell apart after walking across the floor sock-footed twice. Ouch!

We still need to get things to be ahead of the game for the year at our house. I am just not sure where I want to go after this. Maybe Target, Kohls, or something similar. I usually have some good luck at Target. I just need to be careful not to overspend, but to get good quality items that will last. Even if they will outgrow them in a few months!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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