Thrifty Baby Clothes Tips

There are tons of expenses with babies, but clothes can be really low on the list, if you follow a few simple tips.  Here are my best ways for cutting costs on baby clothes:

1)  Buy second-hand, accept hand-me-downs, or save baby clothes if you are not positive you're done having children.

This is a critical way to save money on baby clothes.  I saved a lot of clothes from my first son, even though there would be a 12-year gap between he and my next child.  It was mainly for sentimental reasons, but it served me well.  I have used his clothes on both of my babies after.  I have also bough clothes for my babies at thrift stores and gladly taken hand-me-downs.  Babies wear clothes for such a short time; it's practically new clothes.  They really don't need new things.

2)  Turn "boy" clothes into "girl" clothes.

Now, if you know me, I don't really believe in girl and boy clothes--I'm all about my boy rocking purple or pink and my girl sporting tractors and tools (who decided any of that was just for boys, anyway?).  So, for me, this isn't strictly necessary.  I understand that there are more of you out there that do want your baby girls in the more-embellished things, though, and that's fine!  You can so easily turn things more traditionally geared toward boys into girly clothes.  I've worked up a refashion here to show how simple it can be. You can use the principle I used here to dress up a more masculine shirt. Pair a bright skirt with a more "boy" top.  You can also take a onesie and add a skirt to the bottom, using this tutorial, if you have basic sewing skills.  Add lace the bottom or jeans.  Think outside the box and you can easily turn your "boy" clothes into "girl" clothes.

3) Use an old trick: cut off too-short jeans to make shorts.

This is a very old idea, and it works.  Kids outgrow pants so quickly, even when the waist fits fine.  Just cut them to your preference (capris would be cute for girls, too) and hem.  If you can't sew, you can buy hemming tape at any sewing store.  This would work for other pants too--fleece or knits.  

4)  Don't discard too-short dresses!

Did you know that most dresses that become too short for your baby can easily become a top?  As long as the shoulders and chest area are still fitting fine, make that dress a top for baby or toddler!  This is an example of what I mean:

At 4 months old, this fit Eve perfectly as a dress (it was even a little big):

And today, at nearly 9 months--see how fast they outgrow things--it's too short.  Add a pair of black pants, though, and it becomes a top!  Yes I know it's not Christmas, but it was on-hand, and when you're just hanging out around the house, a Santa tank top is just fine.

Fold those dresses up and see if they can double as tops.  Saves so much money!

I hope these helped.  I know some are no-brainers, but it's nice to have all of these ideas in one spot for easy reference.  Have fun, dressing up your littles!