Bargain Shopping at Department Stores

I am a bargain shopper. By bargain shopper, I mean that I frequently buy new things at the same price a thrift store would charge. Basically, I can get new items for the cost of used ones. Awesome! For example, today I took my kids to JCPenney's and ended up buying 10 items of clothing (cute t-shirts, capri leggings, etc.) for around $30 total. My receipt at the end said that I had saved $118.18! Woohoo!!!

I often prefer to shop at places like JCPenney's and Kohl's for my kids, rather than Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc. My reasoning for this is that often times, the clearance at the nicer department stores are priced better than what I could even get at the other places, plus I end up with higher quality clothing for my kids. And lots of times, Kohl's and Penney's have extra coupons that I can use on top of the clearance discount. I have also found plenty of nice, quality clothing for myself and my husband at steep discount prices at these stores.

I have a method to how I shop the department stores. Most importantly, the only things I ever really look at are on the clearance racks. If I have a specific item I need, I always check the clearance items first. Most of the time, the stores will have the clearance sorted by percentage off. I usually stick with the racks that say 80-90% off, or "final clearance". By doing this, I have been able to keep my kids clothed in fashionable items for rock bottom prices (OK, some of the stuff on the clearance racks I question whether anyone would actually wear, but I also find *plenty* of very cute clothes).

One of the biggest drawbacks to shopping this way is that sometimes you have to shop for your kids out of season and estimate what size they will be in when, say winter, rolls around again. Amazingly, this has always worked out for me. If it doesn't end up fitting, you can always donate the item/s or try to sell them on Ebay. Today I purchased summer clothing for my kids, but since we will still have several more months of warm weather, my kids can start wearing them now. My kids have nice things to wear, and I really haven't spent a whole lot of money.