How To Get Your Clothes For Free Or Cheap

Learn how to get your clothes for free or cheap to cloth your whole family for almost nothing. Follow my favorite fashion on a budget tips and tricks to look good on a tight budget.

This may be a little off from or normal natural living and real food recipe posts, but over on Instagram, y’all said you wanted some saving money tips, so here you go! You can find 90+ ways to save money here.

The outfit above was less that $2o for everything, if you don’t include shoes, than it was $5.

Over the last 8 years I have really learned how to clothe our family for basically nothing. I wasn’t always like this. 

In fact, I have had at least 3 coach purses in before the age of 22 and thoroughly enjoyed shopping. Don’t get me wrong I was still a deal finder back then, but budgeting wasn’t really on the radar and neither were kids.

Now a days, I spend less than a couple hundred dollars a year to clothe myself and the kids, including shoes.

Here is the thing, kids don’t need a ton of clothes, and they grow so fast (unless your my children) that they don’t stay in them long.

Don’t waste your hard earned dollars on something that won’t last.

My husband is a little different story. Since he works at a more corporate like job, he has to dress nicely and boogers aren’t a part of his accessories like they may be for me. But he still finds a way to get clothes on a tight budget.

Honestly, because of this, we really haven’t had a clothing budget for the kids or I in a long time. I’m forever grateful and feel super blessed.

Tips For Fashion On A Budget:

• Don’t be afraid to ask: whether it be local town groups, friends, your parents.
• Only keep things you really love.
• Become minimalist when it comes to clothing.
• Set your standards lower. Do you really need name brands?

How To Get Your Clothes For Free Video

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How to get your clothes for free or cheap:

Clothing swaps:

Plan a little party where your friends get together and bring over some clothes they plan on getting rid of. Everyone get’s new clothes for nothing. I got a purse from a swap 4 years ago that I still use every day. Best pick ever.

Check out swap pages or local town group pages:

Especially with kid clothing and maternity clothing, people are always trying to get rid of their stuff. Go onto local swap pages or town pages and ask for specific items you may need. My friend did this on our local town page when she needed some shoes for her kids. 

Ask:

Whenever I go in to town to visit my parents I always just ask my mom if she has any yoga pants she is planning on getting rid of. She doesn’t like when her pants start to fade, I just don’t care since I’m usually just wearing them around the house.

She will hand me a giant stack of yoga pants. Since I can only wear the capri style, shes like 5-7 inches taller than me, I take the long pairs and offer them to my taller friends.

Than she will usually hand me another pile of clothes to go through that she is planning on donating.

Ask for holidays and birthdays:

We are a huge fan of minimalism, not having a lot of extra clutter, including toys makes me a happier momma. You can read about how getting rid of most my kids toys saved my sanity.

So instead of just getting a bunch of random toys (especially junky toys) we will ask for things the kids need.

They will still get some fun things including a nicer toy, an experience (zoo pass, museum pass, we went to a hotel for my daughters birthday), but they will also get things that they need like shoes and clothes.

How to get clothes for free or cheap from Kohl’s:

This also works for adult clothes, and I’ve gotten good deals on things this way too.

Throughout the year, we shop at Kohl’s for random things when they are doing their Kohl’s cash promotion, because they seriously have such a huge variety and pretty great prices.

When we get the Kohl’s cash we head straight to the kid’s clearance section. 

I browse through the clothes (only picking out things we actually need), make sure it is actually a good deal and for real clearance. Everything I purchase should be like $2-3 in my opinion. Then I use the Kohl’s cash to purchase it. I’ve walked out with like a big bag of clothes for just a few bucks.

Shop the clearance section:

Rarely ever will you find me browsing the regular section. The clearance section is where it is at to get good deals. Make sure you are buying only things you actually love and plan to wear and that it is actually a good deal.

Better yet, shop the clearance section at outlet malls:

This is where my husband buys all of his clothes. He’s a big fan of name brands, but refuses to pay the price for them. Usually, he will score $80 work pants for like $10. If they don’t have any that day, then he will try again in a month or so. 

Many times they will be running sales on top of the sale price so you can extra bang for your buck.

Stop thrift stores and yard sales:

I find not all thrift stores are created equal, and some places I could buy brand new clothes for the price they are charging for used (not even name brand clothes). 

Shop at the really thrifty thrift stores if you have them in your area.

Find great yard sales and stock up. Before my son was born, I saw a mom post that she was having a big yard sale of baby boy clothes. I stocked up on really cute, name brand clothes in all different sizes, he is still wearing them today.

Wear your clothes out and don’t be wasteful:

I’m not one to dress just to be fashionable. I like to look presentable and cute, but only purchase or even get for free things I love and know I will wear a lot. 

Then wear them until they are done. Fast fashion is a huge problem and creates a lot of trash. This is a great way to be more eco-friendly.

Bonus Tip:

Buy more gender neutral clothes and shoes.

We have finally started doing this! We have started buying our oldest girl, some but not all (because the girl likes pink and glitter), more gender neutral shoes that can be passed down to little brother. This also works for some pants.

My son looks like a hipster in skinny jeans, but hey it’s in style right now. Will they have a complex? Maybe, but I’m sure we will ruin and embarrass them in 5000 more ways.

Okay, there you have it: how we get our clothes for free or cheap. Since we have been so blessed in getting great clothes for so inexpensive, we then can bless others by letting them have or lend them our clothes.

It’s full circle and I love it. Much more eco-friendly that way.