Clothes for 10

Image via Wikipedia The most frequent question I get when people see/hear of how many children I have is "How do you do it?" Of course, I usually respond with a blank stare....Well this is an all encompassing question. What do you mean? How do we get around? How do we feed all 8 kids? How my husband and I ever get "me" time? Or how come you're not locked in a closet crying right now?


This is really an all encompassing question. Though I know most people look at the financial aspect of a larger than normal family.

I read, follow, many blogs, most of which involve some level of frugal, cheap, buy it for less type thinking. I am not a coupon queen, not in the least. It is actually an area in which I know I could grow in. However, I still find my share of deals. I constantly sign up for the frequent buyer cards, member cards, get on email/mailing list of stores I frequent. I usually check clearance areas first and most importantly I am a lover of all things used!

I am working on getting a season ahead. Meaning, buying next year's winter clothes around this time. I'm not there yet. This shopping trip detailed below got me a lot closer to that goal.



I receive daily emails from Land's End announcing sales and new arrivals. This was a recent sale. 25% off anything plus free shipping - no minimum. Our toddler was in need of some shoes. So I purchased these shoes which are regularly $34.50. I purchased them from their Overstock section, applied the coupon and the total, including tax and shipping was $7.45.







The other store I shopped at (via computer of course) was Famous Footwear. I am part of their members program. This programs keeps tally of points. I earn 1.5 points for every dollar I spend, once I reach 100 points they send out coupons worth a certain dollar value quarterly. My family shops here about twice a year. We will gather summer shoes and maybe winter boots. That is about it. I have fallen behind on how we usually do things, so this time around I was looking for just said toddler again. Well here I purchased a pair of sandals and some tennis shoes, used our $25 coupon and a 15% + free shipping promo code that was active for that weekend. Total cost for those shoes including shipping was $15.37, it should have been $40.39 plus shipping.

That means I spent roughly $7.73 on each pair of shoe. Not too shabby. I wonder what I may accomplish if I try a little harder. Better get my scissors sharpened. What tricks of the trade do you use?