Where do you normally get a good bargain on clothing? Often, its not worth spending a lot of money on tween fashion, because they tend to grow out of them quite quickly. There is a bit of a fallacy too that you can’t get good quality and fashionable clothes at a bargain price but you definitely can!

A few of the most common places to get a bargain include:

• your local used clothing store
• big chain shops – Walmart, Kmart, Big W etc.
• shopping the sales
• online!

Tips for Shopping at a Used Clothing Store

When you go shopping for second hand clothes, there are a few things you need to keep in mind to get the best possible experience.

1. Know the size you are looking for – there is nothing more disappointing than looking in the wrong section, finding something amazing and then realizing it doesn’t fit…
2. Find out when they get new stock in – often they will have a weekly cycle and you will know when to come in and look at all the fresh stuff.
3. Go in with a plan – Don’t get distracted! If you get sidetracked easily by flashy tops or nice shoes (I know I do!), try to keep to the task at hand. Refuse to look!

Tips for Shopping at the Big Shops

You can get a great deal in tween clothing from the big department stores like Walmart, Target and Kmart and they are even quite fashionable. You will often find celebrity fashion lines in these stores for fairly affordable prices. For example:

• Walmart has Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s fashion line and Miley Cyrus
• Target is going to have Harajuku Mini by Gwen Stefani (they also have Hello Kitty!)
• Kmart has Dream Out Loud by Selena Gomez (Big W in Australia) (they also have Rebecca Bon Bon)

Most of the clothing sold here is between $5 and about $26. That seems fairly affordable for new clothing.

Now on to the actual tips.

• Shop in the right section – this might seem like a no-brainer, but the lines between teen and childrens fashion are getting pretty blurred. If you are seeing thongs, leather and animal print mini-skirts you are probably in the wrong section (but sometimes it can be harder to tell than that!)
• Know the tweens likes and dislikes – don’t buy a Justin Bieber t-shirt for a tween who doesn’t like him, I don’t actually know any that don’t, but you never know!
• Trends to follow, or not – some trends are worth following, and some aren’t. Take care in choosing clothes you think your tween will wear for at least the next year – highly trendy tv or character items may not hold their appeal and will not be worn once it becomes uncool and yesterday’s news.

Tips for Shopping the Sales

Do you love a good sale? I know I do. Just about everyone else does too, if you’ve ever been to a huge Boxing Day or Black Friday sale, you know how passionate people can get about finding a great discount! If you are organised, you could probably schedule all your clothes shopping around the big sales. One word of warning – make sure that you are getting a better deal, sometimes shops will put up SALE! signs to get you to come in and buy and the price will be the same or only slightly lower. Make sure its worth it!

Sales to watch out for:

• End of Financial Year Sales
• Black Friday
• Boxing Day Sales
• Seasonal Sales (end of winter or summer)

These are just a few! If you can think of other sales you love to go to, let us know below!

Tips for Getting a Bargain Online

Ok this is a big one. You can get almost anything online for a great price and you can often find a better price internationally.

Websites of note:

• eBay – new, second hand, bulk lots, everything you could possibly want can be found at eBay
• The15DollarStore, Inc. – just like the name, everything under $15 – men’s, women’s and children’s clothing.
• Amazon.com

Keep an eye on boutique websites too – they often have change of season sales where last seasons top dollar outfits are heavily discounted.