How do I?

How do I dress Petey cute on a budget?

My daughter came out of the womb with a huge headband and bow on her head.

Just kidding. But kind of. That flower and headband cost me probably $6 all together which didn't seem like a problem at the time. I quickly learned, though, that if my girly was going to BE as girly as I wanted her to be, we needed to find another solution.

So I started making my own bows and headbands. Instead of buying them for $3 a piece, I can make a bow for $.50 or less...easy. It takes more time and effort but when you have to budget, time and effort need to be your best friend.

When Petey's hair was long enough, I started practicing on her hair. We could easily get through hair do's like this daily with no complaining on either end---and I was working full time at the time. It is just something Petey was trained to do. I learned that when attaching rubber bands in her hair like this, braids in between gave her hair a much neater look. (and of course, homemade HUGE bows).
I am always trying new things with her hair. Some turn out really cute and others don't. It actually isnt as hard as it looks to get her hair this way. I have always done Petey's hair during breakfast time, while she is occupied eating and not really paying attention. Onto her clothes: In MY opinion, my daughter is usually pretty well dressed. As I said in Friday Confessional last week, I probably spend too much time deciding what she will wear. But she doesn't wear expensive clothing. Ever. Unless it was a gift or hand-me-down. I do the majority of my kid's clothes shopping at Target, Walmart, and Goodwill. And sometimes Target is too expensive for me. I don't like spending more than $5 on most items of clothing for my kids. That isn't always true but for the most part, I stick to that rule.

You can also do well at places like The Children's Place or Dillards if you shop sales and get their online coupons. I don't do that as often since their clothes start off at a higher price but sometimes, I can find just as cheap clothes there as I can at Walmart...still havent found a store that's cheaper than Goodwill. When people offer to give me clothes, I never say no. Hand-me-downs are some of the best things to get. Absolutely free and usually from someone you know. Both of the sweaters my kids are wearing in the above picture are from a friend. Petey's jeans are from Goodwill (that's usually where I buy kids jeans since they are like $12-15 in other stores). Spidey's pants/outfit was on clearance at Target for $4. His shoes were $6 at Walmart. And Petey's shirt is from Old Navy (one of my favorite stores but way too expensive for kids usually) and we bought it as a dress when she was a year old.

One of my other favorite things to do is to buy the plain shirts at Target that are $5 a piece. They have many different solid colors and I will bring them home and begin a project of making them cuter. A little bit of fabric goes a long way on a solid colored shirt. Petey has many shirts that I've added to and they are all adorable to me.

Goodwill. If you've never been there, or to another second hand store in your area, please go now. Their clothes are so cheap and even though it takes effort to look for things, I can almost always find cute, nice looking clothes there. For cheaper than the Walmart Garanimal brand clothing---which doesnt fit my kids very well at all.

Why I got so lucky: Petey is petite. When she grows taller, she doesnt gain a lot of weight. Her shoulders/chest/stomach are very slim and so she actually wears certain types of clothes for over a year. There are many (seriously, so many!) dresses that Petey wore from the age of 6-12 months that she now, at 2 1/2 years old, wears as shirts. This makes my life easier because in the winter, I just buy a pack of Gerber long sleeve onesies in her size and she wears that under the shirts she wore during the summer.

If you're like me and stubborn---even though you don't have much money to work with---try these tips out. It may be just me but that girl up above is always lookin' cute! And her clothes are cheaper than most other kids her age.

And that's how Suze sees it.