So I sat down to write a post on Consignemnt sales and how to get the most bang for your buck with reselling your kids clothes and I realized that there is a lot more information to what I do than just the reselling. So I give you part 1 (the background) of how we clothe our three girls on a limited budget.
Raising three girls on a tight budget has definitely led to some creativity when it comes to clothing. This especially started coming into play as we added each additional girl to the mix. Clothing girls is waayyy different than clothing boys. First, there is the sheer number of things that girls wear. You have tops, bottoms, capri's, shorts, skirts, dresses, jammas, nightgowns and shoes to match each (did I forget to mention hair accessories?). Second, there is a ridiculously large selection. Third, it's harder (and more expensive) to coordinate girls without them being too matchy-matchy. This third point has become a major budget point in this house.
You see, for some reason, Jeff is actually more picky about their clothing than I am. I am perfectly happy to hand down clothes, and we definitely do, but there are still those outfits that become each child's favorite and fit them uniquely. Also, Jeff loves when I dress the girls super "cute" and he likes them coordinated (again, not matchy matchy) - whenever we're going somewhere out of the ordinary and often for church on Sundays. Yikes!
So, just how do I coordinate three girls across multiple clothing sizes and seasons?? Especially when they don't change sizes together. All it takes is one of them changing a size and the whole coordinated set is thrown out the window. Well, the solution I've come up with is Consignment Sales. No, not shopping them (though I do shop them) - SELLING at them!
There is a new awesome trend in the selling of baby items. I used to rely on Kid to Kid or HissyFits or Hopscotch resale shops to sell my kids stuff. Or if I gathered enough of it together I had a garage sale. But I was ALWAYS disappointed in how much I made. Really, I only get to keep 40% WHEN it sells? Or I get 50% store credit? Or even better - $0.50-$1.00 per item at a garage sale? There's got to be a better way! So, I started selling on my girls clothes on eBay. While I was much happier with the amount of money I was making on the clothes, the time it took to take pictures, create auctions, manage auctions, answer questions, ship items...it just became a headache and more time than I could dedicate.
THEN I discovered bi-annual consignment sales. These are sales that are hosted by an organization and take place in the Fall (for winter clothes) and the Spring (for summer clothes). All you do is put your clothes on hangers, enter them in the sales database, print and safety pin their (auto-created) tags to the clothes and drop them off the day before the sale. That's it! You get to set your own prices AND you keep 70%. Plus if you're a net-worker and you refer a friend to sell, you keep 80%!
At the last sale I participated in, I was able to make over $400. It was sooo exciting and so worth it.
Wanna do the same? Stay tuned for part 2 and how to shop with reselling in mind :)
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