Nifty Thrifty

Baby E is growing out of her clothes. At 6 1/2 weeks, she weighs in just shy of 13 lbs. She's wearing a size 6 months sleeper right now and it fits her perfectly. If I blink it will be too small.

Unfortunately, I loaned out almost all of my 0-6 month sized baby clothes and they never found their way back home. Judging by the other girls, I figured I had plenty of time to get the 3-6 month sized items and had just focused on replacing the 0-3 month clothes. After all, MM was still wearing 3-6 and 6-9 month sizes when she started walking and talking at 11 months.

So when Baby E immediately grew out of her newborn and 0-3 months size clothes, I had about 4 sleepers and just a few outfits that actually fit her. My wardrobe wasn't much better off, since my body has decided it would be fun to try morphing into a completely different shape after the birth of my third child.

So, what do you do when you need two complete wardobes all at once? With caviar tastes on a peanut butter budget, my solution is garage sales, thrift shops and consignment stores, along with outlets and deep discount sales on new items.


A careful and knowledgeable shopper can get high-quality items in excellent condition or sometimes even new with tags at the smallest fraction of their original cost. I've purchased $80 and up clothing items for $5 or less pretty regularly by knowing what to look for.

A gently-used Oilily or Hanna Andersson is going to look much better after 3 or 4 washes than a brand-new but cheaply made item from a big general merchandise store, so buying clothes second-hand doesn't bother me in the least. Since I can't afford to pay $95 for a pair of pants, I'm thrilled to find them in near-perfect condition for $2 at a tag-color markdown sale.

I went to two thrift shops and a garage sale on Saturday. It was the most amazing thrifting expedition ever.

It felt like I had the Midas touch. Every time I turned around, there was another fabulous item priced at almost nothing. I was looking for cheap kids' clothes and blouses for myself, but I kept coming across items I wasn't looking for but couldn't pass up.

Brand new high-end Italian leather shoes for $1. An antique Russian pram for $10. St. John and Eileen Fisher sweaters and Coach and Bruno Magli shoes. I kept thinking surely I'd found my limit of amazing items for the day, and then there would be another one. Most of these things I found all at one store. I'd never visited it before, but most certainly will be going back!

I was running out of time and figured surely there couldn't be yet another fabulous item in that store, so I headed for the exit. I thought about going down the sweater aisle to get to the checkout, but at the last moment decided to just go down the main aisle instead.

I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of a gorgeous, unique fabric hanging into the aisle. It was the sleeve of a blazer and split skirt suit set with an equestrian/military look.

When I took it off the rack I was blown away. The quality and condition was unbelievable. It looked like a gorgeous brocade with greens and golds in the pattern. The colors were both muted and vibrant. It felt almost like brushed silk, but was actually a very fine leather. Seriously, it's the type of item I would have expected to get a chance to see nowhere but in a museum in the course of my life.





I'd never heard of the brand before, but I knew immediately that I had to have it. It's a Roberto Cavalli suit, made in Italy. You have to feel it to believe it--the leather is silky-soft and drapes like satin. It needs a very minor repair and is in otherwise almost perfect condition.

It's my pre-pregnancy size, too, so I'm really tempted to keep it. But when would I ever actually wear it? And, more pressingly, can I afford to keep it when I could probably sell it for a small fortune?

And here I didn't think I was shopping for stuff to sell on eBay. I guess I'll be brushing up on my powerseller skills and knowledge of clothing. I absolutely must go back to that thrift store and go through the rest of the racks.

Oh, by the way . . . I did find the items Baby E and I needed at the right prices, too.