Not Dreading School Shopping

With school quickly approaching for my girls I was dreading the thought of going shopping plus the added expense of school shopping is never fun.  Last year I shopped sales all summer to save time and money when it came time to go school shopping.  This year the lack of time to shop had left me wondering what we were going to do for school shopping.  I think I hoping that their clothes would just magically appear....

...And they did.  Just look at this drawer full of school clothes!  The best part is they didn't cost us a penny that and they are new with only a few "almost" new hand me downs.  This left me smiling and relieved at the same time. 

With two children going to school both girls and my little guy still too young for school all needing clothes I was dreading going shopping.  They needed clothes not only for school but for the coming colder weather and some that were bigger sizes too it was not going to be cheap this year.  With some great luck we wont be spending quite so much time or money shopping.  Here is the story of our great fortune and how it didn't cost us a fortune!

My oldest daughter also my neatest had a birthday in the spring and got a nice combination of warm and cool weather clothes.  Thankfully this summer has been HOT and she didn't need to wear any of her new warm clothes so they were packed away in storage still new.  The few outfits that she did wear are still in nice shape as she rarely ruins her clothes and any that wont work for school are in good enough shape that she can still wear when she changes out of her school clothes.  Her downside on birthday clothes has always been that she has grown every year and never really reused her clothes after they were stored away so they were always handed down to my other daughter sometimes with tags still on them.  This year she will be lucky enough to keep those clothes because when everyone asked her size I would tell them a size bigger thinking ahead so to speak.  That and I always felt bad that she didn't get wear some of them before.  So although we will need to buy her a few things as she doesn't get hand me downs from a bigger sibling we will not be replenishing her complete wardrobe this year.  Yes I am smiling again just typing this :)
My younger daughter's clothes "magically" appeared from hand me downs (some still new) and her most recent birthday.  The clothes we stored that her bigger sister outgrew two years ago are a perfect fit for her this year.  This year instead of adding to our toy supply I asked everyone to get her clothes and some school supplies for her birthday.  She still got toys enough to make her happy and the clothes made me happy and saved us tripping over even more toys.  It was a win, win!
My little guys clothes were the issue.  We could hold off buying him clothes as he wouldn't be going to school but he needed clothes the more then the girls going to school as he has grown so much this summer.  We have already started cooling down here and he need sweaters and pants that fit as his that were left from last year are now two sizes too small, literally.  He had even already out grown some of his summer clothes.  Believe it or not like "magic" his clothes appeared too.  A friend of a family member was looking for someone who would like some boys summer clothes their son had out grown so they took them thinking of our son, not even knowing we were looking for some too.  As for the need for warm weather clothes that was quickly solved too.  Someone who works with the hubby said he had some smaller boys clothes from his son who is much older then ours but figured we could just hold them till we needed them.  Well apparently they have been storing them longer then he knew as the clothes are the perfect size.  Plus we will have some that are both warm and cool clothes in bigger sizes we will store till needed.

Yes we will still need to buy shoes for everyone, some supplies for school and a NEW outfit or two for the girls we were so lucky for all that we were given.  Now I cant wait to take the kids shopping as they will have fun trying on shoes and clothes and I will be able to share in their excitement knowing it won't be a three day process and we wont be breaking the bank to buy them clothes.