Hi Everyone,
If you have read my past posts, you can may tell I love to shop. I prefer to buy things with a reputable brand or have high reviews and pay the extra money rather than buy something which can break easily and needs to be repaired to thrown away. My parents migrated to Australia when I was very young so money was tight. Back in the days, we don’t have the luxury of going to after school sports, music lessons, free range food because there were limited options. Even trying to get Asian grocery back in the days in Sydney you would need to drive 20 - 30 minutes from where we live to get the basic stuff. Apart from the limited options back in the days, wages were also not very high especially for my parents who have limited English skills so money was tight. From moving to a semi decent job and housing in Hong Kong to a new place with a huge pay cut, my parents particular my mum needed to adjust very quickly.
Over the years of buying clothes for myself and siblings, the first thing she realise we grow very quickly. Funny thing is our relatives would send us stuff from overseas but it will never fit us as we are taller than the average kids in Asia. They either be worn as PJs or mum would donate them to charity. To work around us growing so quickly and saving money at the same time, she would wait for the sales at the local Target or any stores when the season is over and buy a size bigger in prep for the following year. If you have seen these end of season sales, stores will take at least 50% - 80% off on clothing. That is when she will stock up, bring them home and box them up for the following yet. The only thing she doesn’t save is shoes, she would buy us reputable branded shoes so they last and ensure we get the comfort when running around at school.
Thing that I admire her is she thinks ahead. She doesn’t buy many with a print on it so people can tell they were last years print/style, she would opt for plain coloured clothing so it will be situation for any time of the year. Pants were normally the most expensive item so she would stock up extra during the sale as we tend to get them so dirty at school or daycare, there were enough to go around for the season. So now when I have kids myself, I have taken that habit of hers and so far have worked very well. I bought a whole bunch of stuff online from the clearance section and two boxes came delivery to my doorstep. These are all winter clothes as we are approaching summer. Winter clothes tend to be more expensive than summer clothes in general. I have to admit it is much easier to find bargains now online compared to pre internet days for her but the concept is still the same. I also bought some extra toys for upcoming birthday and Christmas as they were on sale as well, get them before the Christmas rush. People might think it’s little money we are saving but when you have kids, everything adds up from new pants, singlets, shoes, undies and the list goes on …
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