What are 3 words that kids leer at and parents cheer at? "Back to school". Being a parent of 2 (boy 16 and girl 11) I now dread back to school shopping. As they get older the cost of their clothes/shoes go up and the bank account goes down, down, down. Thankfully my dad was, as he calls it "thrifty or frugal" and taught me a few things that I hate to admit, still work today. I have found a few ways to save money and make the kids happy at the same time. Not an easy thing to do!

     There are a great deal of places you can get name brand clothes at a huge discount  or ( hold on to your coffee)  FREE! Lets start with the discount places....

     Try stores in your area that offer discount prices. You always have Wal-Mart, but I have found others too! Gabriel's, TJ Max, Burlington, Ross, and Value City. These offer great name brands at a fraction of the cost! For shoes I have found that Payless Shoes is cheaper than Super Shoes in many cases and offers great sales like the buy one get one half off or (BOGO). If you are MORE "frugal or thrify" try your area Salvation army, rescue mission,  yard sale or thrift shop! I know many people are leary of used clothing but I have found many clothes that still have tags on or are in wonderful condition. And if your kids are anything like mine, they wear most of them a few times and then move on to another style or just stain or shred them in a month or two.  So a trip to one of these places can save you money on clothes that won't make it until next year.

     Ok Free.... Yes free! There is a website called freecycle.com that you can sign up for in many areas. You can request clothes or whatever you like and if it's out there, people reply and let you know where they are and when you can pick them up. You can also offer things you want to get rid of! This site is what I consider a "green site" as the service is used to keep items out of our landfills. As the saying goes "One man's trash is another man's treasure!" It is a wonderful site!

    I hope you found some of this information as useful as I have over the last few years. It sure has helped my pocketbook! Enjoy your shopping and remember, "A little sense saves a lot of cents!" :o)