Styled by Sloan :: Budget Edition

I make it a point to have my baby dressed in “Sunday Best” every time she leaves the house. While I may dawn milk stained athleisure on a regular basis, my child never leaves the house without being fully dressed, shoes and bow included, since the day she left the hospital. But let’s be honest, dressing a baby is expensive, especially when they often only wear items once before growing out of them. Over the years, I’ve created personal shopping habits to keep a large variety in my closet without breaking the bank, and I want to share how those have transitioned into buying for my little girl.

I shouldn’t be sharing all my secrets on such a public forum because my husband reads all of my blog posts, but I will because I believe that every child should be dressed to impress at all times. Of course this will focus on girl clothing since that is currently my area of expertise, but a lot of these principles can be used for boys or girls. Grab a pen and paper and write down all these tips; your wallet will thank both of us later.

Quality over quantity

One of the keys to having a great wardrobe is to buy quality items. Some people believe that they need to have a large variety and spend less and while that is great, I’d rather purchase 2-3 pairs of good quality shoes that I know she will get great use out of (and maybe a baby or two in the future), than continue to purchase the same sized item over and over because their quality did not last during the time of expected use.

Mix and match high dollar items with low price items

As a southern girl, I LOVE a smocked or applique outfit for every single holiday or season, but those monogrammed shirts start to add up. To even out costs, I like to spend more money on the “focus item” and then “cheat” with the other items. Let’s take my daughter’s St. Patrick’s day outfit. She, of course, needed, a personalized shirt. To ensure I didn’t break the bank, I splurged on the shirt and picked inexpensive options for the other aspects of the one off outfit.

Amazon is your friend

Remember the outfit I mentioned above for St. Patrick’s Day? I went on Amazon to find the $3 dollar leggings that matched her shirt. I don’t know if you’ve been on there, but they literally have them in every single color you can imagine. Another pro tip: buy your bows from there. You spend less than $10 for a pack of bows that has about 20 different colors included! A bow for every outfit and occasion at about 50 cents each. You can’t beat it!

Never pay full price for staple items

Most brands have  really good cycles of sales – I’d say some as frequently as monthly and some 2-3 times a year. If you have a little patience and wait it out, you can easily get 30-50% of your favorite brands, and therefore justify the price a little easier. That brings me to my next point.

Favorite brands

Some of my favorite brands for my baby include Baby Gap (cute dresses and outerwear), Freshly Picked (moccasins), Baby Bling Bows (hair bows), Kickee Pants (the softest pj’s you’ve ever felt!), Ruffle Butts (swimsuits and fun outfits), Mudpie (cute rompers) and Carters (everyday and play wear).

Sign up for email lists and reward programs of your favorite brands

Back to that St. Patrick’s Day outfit! The bow is from Baby Bling Bows, but I definitely didn’t pay full price! I’m on their email list. They had a flash sale one day on that specific color so I was one of the first to be notified that their green bow was on sale for about a third of its full price! Rufflebutts is also really good about that! I’ve purchased a couple of monogrammed swimsuits for about a third of the price by being on their VIP list.

Alright mamas, those are my tips and tricks for not breaking the bank but still keeping my little girl stylish at all times! What are your tricks and which ones did I miss?

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