Avoid the Cost of Designer Clothes for Your Kids
15 August 2006Many parents find that their kids get sucked into the desire to be popular by wearing designer clothing - kids compete with each other, just like their parents, trying to one-up each other by all wearing designer-label clothing. So what do you do if you find that your kids are bugging you constantly to spend money you don’t have on expensive, name-brand clothing?
1) Talk to them and teach them about money. If your kids are focused mainly on getting designer clothing, it’s a sign they don’t understand the value of a dollar. In general, teaching them about money and budgeting can go a long way towards making them understand that it’s not all about showing off to other people.
2) Give them choices. If you give your kids an allowance, they should be able to buy all the designer clothes they want to with it. It’s their money - but if they want clothes you’re not willing to pay for, they should have to work for them. And it’s really best if you make it a choice. Give them enough money to get either the clothes or a video game (or whatever else they’re interested in) - and over time, they’ll see that it’s really not worth it to waste money when you’re on a budget.
3) Fake it. It’s actually surprisingly easy - if you or your spouse knows how to sew. All you need is the label. Get used designer clothes from a garage sale, and clip off the label (the polo guy or the leather tag on the back of the jeans or any other identifying mark). Then just sew it onto the generic clothes you bought at K-Mart that are the exact same thing. Don’t tell the other kids, and yours can be cool without having to pay for it.
Discuss this on the Free the Drones Frugal Forums here.
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