Save Money by Making a Children's Clothing Inventory

If you read my previous post about girl's fashions you probably gathered that I am bit obsessed with children's fashions.  I love dressing our kiddos, especially Emma, but it is super fun to dress our handsome little man too. 

As much as I love dressing them and finding cute clothes the thing that makes me way giddy is finding deals on clothes for them!  That is why I love shopping at resale events! Have you ever been to these?  They are amazing and they are popping up all over the country. If you are interested in finding one there is an amazing website called Consignment Mommies that has a directory of resales around the country. 

The resale that is near and dear to my heart is getting ready to launch March 12! 

At our sale I am selling items this year and I will also be shopping. The sale is a Spring and Summer sale only so I am only shopping and selling things for those two seasons.

Since our sale is coming up I am currently getting items ready to tag to sell.  I realize that everyone does this differently but I thought I would share with you what I do to get our items ready to sell and to prepare myself for some serious shopping!

A couple of months before the sale I make a list of every type of clothing and shoes the kids have. As you can see I am clearly an old-school, write it down kind of girl.  You could always type it out and print it or just keep it on your tablet or phone.  But then you don't get to write with a purple pen so seriously, where's the fun in that?  :)

This serves as my master list for two different purposes.

The first way I use it is that we go through it and try on clothing by category.  Emma is old enough that she knows the way the list works, will look at it and decide what category to try on.  If she's feeling it we'll try on a two or three categories just to get through it. 

So here's what we do: We're at the stage of the game right now that they try on at least one category every day, we put everything that doesn't fit in a bag, and those things go into our guest room which is where I stage everything that needs to be tagged to sell. Some items get donated or I separate for family members but regardless, the too smalls go to the guest room to clear space. 

The things that do still fit get written down on the list so I know what clothes we have for the upcoming spring and summer. 

I then cling to this list like Rose to shipwreck. I mean, this sucker goes with me everywhere.  So when I am at the resale and I am looking at shoes I can pull out my list and see if Calvin already has a pair of leather flip flops or if he outgrew his.  Or with sweats.  Or bathing suits.  Or whatever. 

And I don't take the list with me just for the resale but also to Target or Gymboree or when I am looking on Zulily, or wherever.  I can pull it out and see what we need and what we don't.  I circle categories I really need and that reminds me to focus my attention on looking for items in those categories. 

These are the categories I use for a girls wardrobe (I'm assuming you can't read my chicken scratch in the picture there):

• sandals
• flip-flops
• flats
• Athletic shoes
• Slippers
• skirts
• Jeans
• Athletic pants (think track pants)
• Leggings
• Shorts
• Capris
• Tank Tops
• Short Sleeve
• Light Long sleeve
• Cadigans
• Sweatshirts
• 3/4 sleeve shirts
• Jackets
• Outfits
• Dresses
• Ballet Tights
• Ballet Leos
• Swimsuits
• Swim cover-ups
• Tights
• Camisoles
• Underpants

Of course you can alter this any way you see fit.  As I'm writing this I'm remembering that she will be in tennis this year and softball so I will need to add categories for tennis skirts, cleats, etc. As you can see on my picture above, I leave spaces based on what we have more of.  She has a ton of outfits, that's the way I prefer to dress her, so I left more room to list those.  You can tweak it however you want. 

For a boy's wardrobe these are the categories I use:

• Sandals
• Flip-flops
• Slip Ons
• Church Shoes
• Jeans
• Athletic Pants
• Pants
• Shorts
• Tanks
• Short Sleeved Shirts
• Polos
• Oxfords
• Long Sleeved Shirts
• Cardigans
• Jackets
• Sweatshirts
• Outfits
• Ties
• Swimsuits
• Swim Shirts
• Underpants
• Under shirts

So if you are planning on shopping at our resale or any resale, or anywhere for clothing for the upcoming seasons, you should make a list and write down the inventory you already have!  It helps you see what you already have, what you need, and how blessed you are by what you have!  It also helps you to not overspend because you won't be overbuying in areas where you already have enough. 

As an example yesterday I visited a Once Upon a Child and with the list I knew that Emma needed a new pair of sandals so I was able to snag some super cute ones for a song. 

Also as you can see I have these written right now on a pretty beat up old notebook which is perfectly fine.

I had this genius idea though!  I've been carrying a new journal around since September and I LOVE it!  I write everything in it...meeting notes, lists, business goals, etc.  So I will be transferring the lists over to the journal since I carry it with me anyway.  You can get your own here.  I LOVE Molly & Rex products, their illustrations are so sweet.  In my journal the pages are all decorated and so inspiring.  Love, love, love it. 

Happy Inventory Taking!

Vote Now: Outfit Combo



So I need your opinion pleae!  Not that I am winning any awards for fashion or anything but I always like to think I can at least manage to dress myself in a way that will not invoke laughing.  Snickering and the like. 

But here I am with a fashion question.  In the Spring Nick and I are going to get our pictures taken.  Our 10 year anniversary is coming up so we want to do something really special.  For those of you who don't know, we don't really have wedding pictures.  Or any nice pictures of just the two of us.  So we are going to have a photo shoot with just us and then some family ones, and then some of just the kiddos.  I am so, so super excited.

So excited in fact that despite it being 6 months away, I am already planning away.  Mainly because we are going to get our pictures taken by this amazing vintage photographer, Annie.  She's good friends with a good friend of mine and I just couldn't be more thrilled.  You can see her work here.  See, what I mean?  Amazing! 

So anyway, I am looking for a vintagey dress that I will just love.  I've found this one I am thinking of buying:

 

 

 

 

Source: shabbyapple.com via Lindsay on Pinterest

What do you think?  It's called the "North Shore" dress and is from Shabby Apple.  Love their site and if you haven't heard of the site, don't say I didn't warn you...their site is addicting!  I could spend hours on it imagining the soirees I would have with all of these dresses.  Anyway, the dress... which I figure is appropriate seeing as I'm Hawaiian and all :).  So this is the dress I am planning on cutting off arms and legs to buy. 

And here comes my fashion question.  Drum roll please...

I know, the suspense is just killing you, right? 

My question is, can I wear that dress with these shoes? 

Source: kohls.com via Lindsay on Pinterest

I already own these shoes, so if I didn't have to go out and buy new shoes too, that would be swell.  And in case you haven't noticed...I kind of have this thing for pink.  I like to incorporate pink into my outfit at least somewhere.  And I know, I know...they kind of look like stripper shoes.  But I bought them at Kohls, not poledancing r-us or something. And if you think mine are glam, my sister has the pair that is norhing but the glitter on the heel.  Oh, lalala :)

I think they would be cute but maybe I am wrong.  And if I am wrong, I would love for you to advise me on what kind of shoes I should buy.  The polls are now open to vote and share your opinions! :)

Nick's Jeans

Yesterday I thought I had linked up to Lands' End so you could buy some jeans for yourself and I didn't...so sorry about that!  The link is below...and the link to the uber cute shoes I bought for myself!   I'm hoping they are comfy as my flats are about on their last legs...the poor dears!

Click here to go to these jeans :)

Here are the shoes I bought too :)

The original/semi-new me

Photo courtesy of girltalk.com

Back from the weekend I decided to have a new outlook on life, or rather Nick kind of forced me to have a new outlook. I am going to go to bed at 10, not an option anymore. I am not going to be a slave shackled to the washing machine all weekend, and I am not going to worry so much. My primary problem lately has been that I have been so tired. Going to bed at 11:30 and getting up at 4ish is not a good idea for a busy mom. So 10 I will be in bed. I did it last night and amazed at how renewed I feel. My other complaint has been the house…it is just so dirty and messy. So no more to either one of those. I have a monthly cleaning calendar in place to make sure every part of the house is covered and is adequately cleaned. My third problem has been the laundry. I have been trying to cram doing a week’ worth of laundry into Saturday. My problem with that is that it hardly ever gets done: we are either running around somewhere or I am just too busy with the kids. What then happens is that I wake up Sunday to clothes in the living room where I was folding the night before. And I am really bad at all or nothing: I either do it all in one day which is what I want to do or I do nothing and the clean laundry will sit around the house all week rather than be ironed and put away. My mom when I was a kid had a system where she washed one person’s laundry a day. I have decided to try this technique. Unlike my mother I however will not have the rule that if you don’t bring your laundry to the washing machine it won’t be done…that’s just mean, kids forget things. I started this yesterday and I think I am going to like it. I had Nick bring his basket down the night before and the next morning when I woke up I sleepily shoved the first load of laundry in the wash. When I came home from work I got that drying, put the next (and last!) load in the wash and was done! I had all of his clothes folded for him by 6:00 and I was able to play with the kids while he went and put them away. Another one of our problems is that even when the laundry does get done and folded we just get too busy with the kids to put it away. Those of you with kids can attest to how they love to pull things out of the laundry baskets…who cares if its already folded? So that’s my plan of action…how are things in your neck of the woods?

Snowman PJ's

I may find that this is going to come back and bite me but I thought I would post a picture of myself in my snowman pajama's so you can all get a laugh. No laughing outloud if you're at work or are involved in sometype of hostage situation (besides work). My Aunt Jan gave me these PJ's when I was a freshman in college and everytime I wear them Nick makes fun of me. They must be a "no sex tonight" beacon or something. Or maybe you just don't want to get it on with someone wearing purple pajamas made out of long underwear material with snowmen printed on them. Regardless, I love them as they are the most comfortable things own. That and it gets so wicked cold around here that you need something warm you can depend on. So these are my snowman pj's...have yourselves a good laugh at my expense. Oh yes and that is Roscoe in the picture...I know she's small and can often be confused with the dust balls in our home!

The Consignment Finds

These are the items I got at the new consignment shop on Saturday. I only spent $10.00! Some of the clothes are from Coldwater Creek, Abercrombie, and Talbots! As the little kid on Little Einsteins would say (which is now stuck in my head on a perpetual basis) "I can not believe it!" I think in total I got four sweaters, a button down shirt, a leotard for Emma when she is in ballet, an embarrassing sweater with reindeer on it for Calvin, a pair of jeans for myself, and a homemade baby blanket. A good deal? I think so my friend! If you live in our area and want to know what place I am talking about just comment me and I will give you the 411!

Don't Forget Your Wedding Shoes

I thought I would post this for those of you who are like me and were told this when they bought their shoes and then completely forgot. If you purchased the shoes you were married in at David's Bridal and never had them dyed you can have them dyed for free! We were married four years ago and I just ran across my shoes in my closet. (Above are the shoes I chose, cute, right?) I was never going to wear these shoes again in the condition they were in, especially since the toes were stained pretty badly by the sand in Hawaii. So I had them dyed black and they are so cute! Now I will be able to wear them out on the town or to a wedding or something. Just wanted to remind everyone who bought shoes at David's. You bought 'em, might as well use them, right? The only problem is if it has been a little while since you got married (read four years) it may take a little prodding at the store to get them dyed. However, they are the only one who sells their brand of shoe and most of their shoes have not been discontinued (unless you got some butt ugly shoes or something). So go ahead woman and get those shoes dyed!