saving money on kids (realistic)

I have 3 small children 4, 3, and 1 saving money on food and baby needs is a must.  We by no means make a lot of money (I wish), I Have been a stay at home mom for 3 years now and my husband works as a chef at a local restaurant.  It wasn't until just recently I was able to really get into a groove of saving money.  I shop sales and clearance and use coupons whenever possible.  I started couponing about a year or so ago.  The couponing has reached the point now where if I know I have a coupon but I don't have my coupon holder it makes me sick to think about actually paying full price!!! I do not go crazy with the coupons and I only buy one newspaper to get my coupons.  The most I have ever saved on a shopping trip was $65 with coupons and bonus buys at our local grocery store (Giant) but my total was still in the $200 range!  I rarely get things for free but saving $1 is great to me!!

I also make a little extra money for myself selling formula coupons on eBay ( no kidding, similac coupons fly like hot cakes!) and consigning out grown kids clothes at a consignment shop.  It's only a few bucks here and there but it adds up.

So anyways I will get to my favorite and best part, saving on kids clothes!!!

This is what my shopping list looked like for each kid for the most part:
(I always aim high price wise)

Shirts:
long-5 at $10
short-5 at $6

Jeans - 7 at $12

Jammies- 6 at $14

sweatshirts - 2 at $15

socks/undies - $20 total

winter coat - $20 

sneakers - $20


Saving on clothes for my kids is very important to me.  I will shop anywhere.  My favorite being JC Penney, Old Navy, Children's Place, Target, and our local consignment shop.  This year I went shopping all over the place.  I ended up finding deals at Gymboree and Gap which NEVER happens I don't usually have luck with the high end name brands but I went shopping during a Presidents Day sale and they had awesome clearance.  I do the same for summer so sometime in September  I will shop end of summer clearance sales.  My 1 year old is getting hand me downs from my 4 year old so anything I have that isn't stained or in bad shape I keep and then I will fill in any gaps as needed..sometimes I will just not like something anymore and donate or consign it.

Each of my kids have a bin with their next season of clothes all ready to be taken out.  Nothing is worse than it all of a sudden being super hot (we have crazy weather in PA sometimes) and not having any clothes for a random hot day or vise versa. I have the size and season labeled on the paper and on the back I have an inventory list of what is in the bin, in case I need to get something that I couldn't find at the time I went shopping

If you are EVER shop online anywhere head over to Retailmenot they have coupon codes for just about anywhere you can shop online, so never pay full price there is likely a coupon code.   They also have printable store coupons to take to the store and use as well so check them out before a shopping trip.

Diapers and wipes :  I don't really save a whole lot here but I shop at SAMs club for diapers and wipes when we get our tax refund I stock up for the year.  If you need to exchange diaper sizes its not an issue. This year I got 8 huge boxes of diapers and 12 boxes of wipes. My total was just under $500 so that left me a little over $1000 to shop for clothes for the kids.