Umm, this is hard to admit…

Well, it’s official and I must say, it’s hard to admit. I mean, extremely hard to admit. But, I’m going to do it, I’m going to come clean. What’s the big secret you ask? This tomboy, gulp, actually likes to go shopping, however, it’s not the shopping for myself that I’ve fallen in love with. Nope. I’ve fallen in love with shopping for stuff for Ryan!

Okay, I guess it’s not that big of a deal to admit that I like to shop, yet, for me it kind of is since I never really like going shopping before I had Ryan. Now I can’t get enough of it and I think it’s because I like seeing him in all the cute little outfits that I get for him. And yes, this is the proud mommy coming out in me for sure! The cutest outfit to date that the little man has been seen in definitely has to be this one:

His daycare teacher said he looked like he was all ready for the big dance that night!

I mean come on, just look at the little guy! :) A Facebook friend also bought a similar outfit for her little man and what I thought was nice about it, aside from it being completely adorable, was how it was a pretty reasonable buy at Target. When Dave and I bought the tie onsie with the khaki pants to match, we also bought another onsie and another pair of pants and the total was $20 for all four. Sure, not a super steal, yet, it was way cheaper than some of the outfits that I’ve come across and believe me, if you are not careful, you can spend all sorts of money on clothes for newborns and babies only to have them wear them only a few times. That's basically a waste of money and something I try to avoid at pretty much all costs, which is why I've learned to become really, really thrifty when it comes to how I shop.

A brand new onsie I found at Once Upon A Child!

For example, one way that I’m thrifty when it comes to getting Ryan clothes is to go the second hand route and skip buying new all together. In Green Bay, Wisc., I’ve found all sorts of awesome clothes for him at Once Upon A Child. It is a second hand clothing store for children where people can buy and sell their gently used clothes. One day, I walked out of the store with a huge bag of clothes that included onsies, sleepers, sweatshirts, shirts, and pants for like $40. It was really cool, especially since the majority of what I got for him that day was actually brand new and was never worn before. I also found his bath tub there for $8.50, which I would have paid at least $20 for brand new in the store.

Another thrifty shopping habit that I’ve picked up is to get his clothes on EBay. As you've probably noticed, I love putting him in name brand clothes. And yes, the first outfit he wore out of the hospital was made by Nike, but let’s face it, if I paid full price for all of his stuff we would go broke and not be able to eat regularly. Thus, I’ve gotten pretty good at getting things for dirt cheap on EBay for him. You could call me the master of the online auction. I see what I want, I wait to make a bid on it, and at the last minute. I get the deal. Case in point, I bought his first pair of Nike shoes for eight bucks on EBay and that included shipping since I had a coupon. (Side note here, it's easy to find coupons, just do a Google search and all sorts of options will pop up. You just need to make sure they are legit and that they actually work, which takes some time to figure out, but once you do, it's totally worth the effort.)

Ryan's first pair of kicks! Awesome!

Now sure, the Nike shoes I got him for eight bucks were used, yet that’s not that big of a deal since they look brand new and the kicker is, if I would have got them new from Nike.com, I would have paid around $50 for pretty much the same exact shoes and would have paid for shipping on top of that. I have also found great deals on Nike onsies and other outfits too. Yeah, I guess I’m a little obsessed with Nike, but that’s just how I roll. LOL. 

Along with going on EBay, I’ve discovered that I can save money getting his clothes at different online department stores instead of actually shopping at the stores themselves. You think it would be the other way around, yet, that is not the case at all. Like, the other day I went to Kohls.com and bought him a Nike track suit for Christmas. If I would have driven to the store, I would have spent $45 on it. However, online I was able to get it on sale, plus, I had a 20% off coupon. So, it was like $20 and I didn’t even have to pay for shipping. Oh yeah! I also found some decent deals at Target.com too when I bought him some other clothes and some of his baby stuff like his Boppy and his swing.

Needless to say, I think I’m becoming a bit of a shopaholic when it comes to getting stuff for Ryan. At least I’m getting everything at good prices though, so, it all evens out then, right? :) Until next time, this is Carla the tomboy and new, thrifty mom, signing off!