Do you advance buy clothes for your kids for the next couple of years?

[GingerBreadTeddy]

I’m an avid secondhand shopper & can’t resist a bargain!

My DD is 3 but I already have some (not loads) clothes for ages 5/6 - I don’t specifically look for them but if I see a bargain or something I love I sometimes buy it and put it aside. She’s very tall so to be fair is already in age 4 clothes.

Appreciate not everyone could afford to do this, but wondering if it’s common or if I am a bit crazy?

I won’t buy too far ahead as appreciate she’ll reach a point where she wants to choose for herself.

If I spot a second-hand bargain or something I absolutely love, I'll buy it regardless of its size - when DD was just a baby I had boxes of clothes all the way up to 3-4 years in my loft. She's tiny for her age, so at 3.5 years old she still wears 12-18 months! I'm certainly getting my money's worth out of the clothes...

I did this with my sons. Only with sale items (usually Next). Unfortunately my planning backfired when they got older and dared to have opinions on what they wanted to wear! So many items went unworn/under worn.

While it was a waste of ££ in hindsight, my loss is charitable donation gain elsewhere. At least that's what I tell myself!

I will hang on to hand me downs if given, and store clothes to go to a family member when she needs them for her child (we have more storage space). But I don't buy ahead as I don't have any more cupboard room, and couldn't guarantee that DS would like them anyway (he is 11 now so has opinions about such things now!)

I didn't have enough space when DD was younger so I stuck with adding some basics next size up when I got them in the sale.

Trousers, fleece jumpers, T-shirts, coats and socks/underwear. Stuff she wore all year round basically.

I found that DD would grow to unpredictable so buying a sommerdress or shorts meant she would be in the right size in winter.

Yes, I try hard to buy secondhand (Covid interrupted this but back to doing this now) and if I see something good I will get it so long as it is good quality and neutral-ish.

This is what makes charity shopping work well imo - you can;t assume you will be able to get a certain colour item today, but by buying in advance you can get really good stuff. e.g. my children had to have a certain colour of t-shirt for house sports, so I would get them when spotted. Things like football boots - definitely, they are hard to find.

Not now as my children are far too old but at younger ages of course, I assumed everyone did that as it was totally normal amongst my friends

Surely everyone is sensible enough to take seasons into account and not waste money on the wrong stuff

This is one of my favourite things to do! I buy lovely brands second hand and in the sales for the following year so they have loads of nice stuff at bargain prices. Have 2 dds so even if it doesn't get worn loads by first one, then DD2 can also have them.

No. Because I'd prob buy the wrong size for that season.
My dd is 3 and wears age 6 for the height. Where as my ds is in a size smaller than his age.
Plus I'm a sucker for what's 'in' as in color wise /style at the time for certain things.

I'd prib pick p things like leggings, jeans etc for them though and underwear.

I do. I buy the next size up for DS who is 3.5. I buy him a brand that is a bit more pricey and I wouldn't want to pay full price for. But it's great quality, wears really well, lasts ages and cones up big. Also the t shirts suit him because they have neck buttons which keep him happier when it comes to taking them off. They're also bright colours which I prefer over the muted 'boys' colours of everywhere else . He's currently wearing a mix of 2-3 and 3-4. The 3-4 will easily do him next summer too. I've got trousers in 4-5 put away, but only a few pairs because he'll be in school uniform during the week in a year's time.
I have a bin bag in every age for the next 5 years put away for DD of hand me downs from my sister's children I don't like clutter but am happily putting away clothes that will save me a fortune she will also have some of DS' hand me downs, so I'll wait until she's in that size to know what we need. Probably just pants, socks and any dresses that I can't resist

Oh and unless it's something that other people like to provide for them. My dad loves to provide winter coats and mil loves to knit for them, so I wouldn't buy costs or jumpers ahead of time.

Kind of but it's bit me in the bum before because DD toilet trained way earlier than I though making bodysuits and dungarees pointless and then also she seems to have developed an aversion to loads of clothes so won't wear a lot of the stuff she has

I have all their uniform in the next size up, because polo shirts and jumpers in obscure colours are hard to come by in February. I usually have a stash of generic basic stuff that I know will get worn like socks in the next size or two that I buy in clearance sales. I buy good coats ahead when I see them deeply discounted too - good waterproof winter coats in standard colours. There’s one particular brand and type I like and I bought about six of their coats from toddler sizes up, all at a quarter of the rrp - I’m down to the the last one/biggest size!

But “proper” day to day clothes, no. They like to choose, their tastes change and those things are more fit dependent.

I have until now. DD is 9 and has started to be a bit more particular about what she wears. We saw something in the sale she liked but has enough of for this year and neither of us are sure if she would like it next summer. DS 11 is easier and always tells me to choose his clothes anyway!

I do this and it saves me a fortune!

Yes I don't do it for DS1 any more and haven't since he was about 9/10 - his tastes just change too much plus I need him to try things on as he's extremely picky about fit now. So if you buy too early then it doesn't work for him.

I have just had DS3 and although he's a very similar weight to DS2 he's longer! So already at 3 days old he's too long for some of the sleepsuits DS2 was wearing at birth. And the things that drowned DS2 fit him better. So it may be a lot of the hand me downs I've kept won't fit anyway.

Only 1 year ahead although I have a few coats and very pretty party dresses that are 2 years ahead, those were second hand gifted.
DD about to go in to 2-3 so I’ll start buying 3-4 bargains then.

I only bought even numbered sizes after age 4 or 6 (had some in a 5 but not a lot). There is hardly any difference between sizes so by the time they have grown out of one size two sizes up isn't too big, just has a bit of room to grow really. Tshirts, in particular, last years. DS wore a favourite age 6 tshirt from 5 to almost 11 years old.

I did at the start, but quickly realized that there was no way to predict size by season. I’m sure it works for some kids, but it just didn’t work for mine.

Yes I have always done this, saves me a lot of money

As a rule, no I don't. Mine never just shoot up though. They seem to grow gradually and I'm local to an M&S and H&M in an emergency.

As well as a boy, I have 6yo and 3yo girls so I hang on to anything I like of older DD's for the younger one.

Me and my sister pass clothes between our kids though and my SIL's (who have lots of girls) always hand me down stuff for both girls.

I have a variety of sized knocking about at the moment

I did get stung in 2019 (M&S swimwear sale) when I bought quite a lot of swimwear in the sizes up for our holiday abroad in 2020.

(Lost holiday once as it was with Thomas Cook and then again with Covid)

At least they looked nice in the garden

I bought 7 month old DD Boden trousers gor £1 in the charity shop

They are 3-4 years, she'll grow

I do as I look in sales in shops I wouldn’t buy full price in (Boden etc.) John Lewis is good for this too, their sales are often v good esp on winter coats, tops and pyjamas.

I thought it was only me until I joined a few preloved / nearly new Facebook groups and people would often sell on new with tags things because of a “stash fail” - when you buy something in advance and either the kid doesn’t like it when you eventually take it out, or it doesn’t fit in the right season!

Then I realised there are loads of obsessed women out there like me, stashing sale clothes for future years! 🤦‍♀️

Glad it’s not just me then!

For me I’m lucky enough to have a spare room with a wardrobe where I keep it all so I’m not going to forget about it hidden away somewhere.

Also I accept there will be things that don’t get worn - I bought a beautiful pair of hardly worn Clarks winter boots that she grew into just as summer began - but I paid £4 for them from a charity shop & sold them for £8 on eBay

For me this system means she’s kitted out in Boden, Joules, Cath Kidston, JoJo etc for the same price I would pay for supermarket clothes if I bought brand new.

Re coats I tend to buy thinner costs like Hatley or Joules right as rain waterproof ones and gilets and we get loads of use out of them as we mix and match them by layering. She obviously has a snowsuit for proper cold days but it rarely gets that cold where we are.

Same here - I like being organised ahead of time and having the next season’s clothes sorted, but just for myself I enjoy it too, because I just like picking out clothes for DD, so when I see something lovely in a sale, it assuages the guilt if I buy it in the next size up 😂

So far she isn’t that interested in choosing her own clothes, and says she likes the ones I buy, but I’ll probably stop with the 9-10 size stuff as I expect that by then she’ll be more interested in choosing her own. She’s 8 now. So I only have a couple of years yet to indulge myself 😩🥲