• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
SavingFreak logo

Saving Freak

Learn to Save, Make, Invest, and Protect Your Money

  • Save Money
  • Make Money
    • Make Money Fast
    • Paid Surveys
  • Manage Money
    • Budgeting 101
    • Insurance
      • Identity Theft
    • Taxes
      • Tax Software
  • Invest
    • Bonds
    • Commodities
    • ETFs
    • Mutual Funds
    • Peer to Peer
    • Robo-Advisors
    • Retirement
    • Small Business
    • Stocks
    • Low Risk
    • Short Term
    • Long Term
  • Credit
    • Credit Repair
    • Loans
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Ultimate Guide to Free or Cheap Kid’s Clothes

Last Updated: May 29, 2020 By Paul Moyer

Advertiser Disclosure ▼
SavingFreak.com has an advertising relationship with some of the offers included on this page. However, the rankings and listings of our reviews, tools and all other content are based on objective analysis. For more information, please check out our full disclaimer. SavingFreak.com strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. The information in our reviews could be different from what you find when visiting a financial institution, service provider or a specific product's website. All products are presented without warranty.

I know kid clothing. We have three kids all under the age of ten, but that is not where I get all my experience.

Between mine and Amy’s side of the family we have 16 nieces and nephews ranging in age from two years old to 24. So I draw from the collective wisdom of six different families of parents and that doesn’t even count our parents.

how to get kids clothes for free or cheapAmy and I have a three step strategy to getting kids clothing at the best prices we can. Those steps are:

  • Clothing Acquisition
  • Storage
  • Selling/Give Away

My hope is that using this strategy you can save money on kids clothing for the least impact on your budget.

Buying the Clothes

No matter what you get out of this article, nothing is more important than the initial price you pay for kids clothing. The lower you can get your average cost of purchase the better off you will be when it comes time to sell that clothing.

Be prepared to spend more replacing items for boys for girls. Why? Because boys DESTROY clothing. Think about grown men. We wear our clothes until they disintegrate off of our bodies. Boys do the same thing they just expedite the process by playing rough in them.

Now that we know where we are, I have organized all the places where I get free or cheap kids clothing by order of least expensive to most.

Hand Me Downs

I have to say, when it comes to hand me downs I am truly blessed. My sister April has passed down hundreds of dollars of clothing and shoes from her three kids.

My oldest child is three years younger than her youngest and both are boys. So the gravy train of kids clothes just shows up at my door about every 3-6 months.

Also, keeping clothes from one child to the next will save you a ton of money. The more kids that can get use of one piece of clothing the more value that clothing has.

If you have any way of getting hand me downs then this is the way to get kids clothes. Not only are the clothes free, but you know the family they are coming from. It truly is the best way to get free clothes.

Clothing Swaps

If you do not have access to hand me downs or there are gaps in your hand me down supply then clothing swaps are a great way to acquire quality clothing for just the cost of getting rid of clothes you no longer need.

Garage / Yard Sales

We have gotten great girl and baby clothing at garage and yard sales. As we mentioned above boy clothing is usually beat to kingdom come but you can find a gem from time to time.

The key to yard sale shopping is being willing to haggle. People who put on a yard sale are expecting you to ask for a lower price so if you don’t ask you are just giving them free money. Even if it makes you uncomfortable ASK FOR A LOWER PRICE. The worst they can do is say no and you can walk away and find someone who will haggle.

Thrift Stores

Shopping at thrift stores can get you great deals on all types of kids clothes. You can get even better deals if you shop at the “Golden Thrift Stores”. Golden thrift stores are stores that are located close to wealthy neighborhoods. The wealthier the better. This is because the people that donate to thrift stores usually live close to that store.

I can tell within 5 minutes of looking at the clothes, whether or not I have hit a jack pot or a dud in a thrift store.

CraigsList

The great thing about Craigslist is that it easily connects local people to sell their old stuff. I have gotten great deals on kids clothing and even bought a riding lawnmower off of Craigslist. You want to meet people in public places and be willing to walk away if it isn’t as good of a deal as what you saw in the picture. And just like yard sales be willing to haggle.

Facebook Groups

Similar to Craigslist, there are local facebook groups that allow people to sell things locally. The Facebook groups are actually more targeted than Craigslist so if you live in a smaller town this is a great way to get cheaper kids clothes.

Consignment Stores

Consignment stores geared toward kid items tend to be a little more expensive, but they also tend to do a better job screening their clothing and toys. So if you are having problems finding boys jeans without a hole in them, a consignment store may be a great way to get you through without buying new.

End of Season Clearance

If you have to go with new clothing your best bet is to get end of season clearance and buy them big. This way you get the clothes at the best new prices and have them ready for the next year. My favorite is shopping the Target Clearance and Kmart.

Sewing

While making clothes for your kids is not time effective it can be very cost effective. Having some sewing skill also makes it easy for you to mend clothes, like patching the knees in boy pants.

Storing the Clothes

kids clothes organization binsThere are a lot of different ways to organize your kids clothes. We like to use large clear bins like the one you see here. I like the bins because it is harder for dust and other stuff to get inside while we store them in our attic.

I have other friends that use cardboard boxes and have received a lot of clothes from my sister that were stored in garbage bags. No matter what system you use the important thing is to stay organized. You don’t want to go through the trouble of storing these items well and then not knowing what size or type of clothing you packed away. When we put our clothes away we label them with:

  • Type of clothing – clothes/costumes/shoes
  • Gender
  • Size

This allows me to go up in the attic and pick out exactly what we need when we are ready to part with a certain group of clothing.

Completing the Circle by Helping Others or Selling Old Kids Clothes

Amy and I have received so many clothes from my sister and other family members we feel it is the right thing to do to hand down as many clothes as we can (mostly boy clothes right now). 

If you can it’s a great way to bless someone and you will feel great about it.  If you don’t have a person to hand down your clothes then selling them makes it much easier to buy new clothes.

For the clothes you do sell here is how we handle it:

The Best Stuff

Anything that is top quality we sell individually through Craigslist, a local Facebook group, or, if it is a little more high end, we sell it on Poshmark or Mercari. Lately we have noticed the Facebook group getting the best prices with the least amount of haggling, so we always start there.

The Nice Stuff

If you have several items that are in good shape but there isn’t anything special about them then we usually put them in a bundle and sell them through the same channels as the best stuff.

Our area has a consignment sale that goes on twice a year. We will frequently take a load of stuff and sell them at the sale. This includes toys and anything else that our kids have outgrown.

Everything Else

Anything that doesn’t make the cut can be sold in a yard or garage sale. You are going to get the lowest money back at garage sales so don’t waste your best stuff here.

Anything that doesn’t sell donate to charity so maybe someone else can get a use out of it.

There you have it. Once you resell your clothes you can drop your prices to almost free. If you have any other ideas for kids clothes leave them in the comments so we can all share in the wealth.

how to get kids clothes for cheap or free

Save

First Published July 14, 2016

About Paul Moyer

Paul Moyer is the owner and Founder of SavingFreak.com. He is a licensed insurance agent, personal finance blogger, and financial coach. With the help of with his wife Amy, Paul has been debt free since 2006.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Saving Freak

Copyright © 2025

  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Recommended Resources
  • Disclaimer
  • Cookie Policy (US)
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}