Broke and Barefoot

There is a time to spend and a time to thrift. 

As learn how to budget our tight monthly allowance I am discovering that there are certain things that deserve/require the "splurge." Today I splurged on a pair of Riley Roos shoes from my son. (How far we've come from the double income days when a $30 purchase now qualifies as a splurge!) 

Nearly all of Landon's clothes are thrifted. Or they are hand-me-downs. I rarely, if ever, buy him anything new. Particularly now that I am used to thrift store prices. I just can't image spending $40 on a pair of Baby Gap jeans when I just bought the exact same pair for $3. And kids grow so fast it's easy to find quality clothes at the Salvation Army, thrift store, or a consignment shop. I think the last new outfit I bought Landon was his Christmas pajamas; and before that it was a $5 pair of pants from Target.  Oh, and I need to mention, we never sacrifice style for expense. My boy is always looking stylish. Particularly since I heard from a friend once: "If your baby is looking good than you don't have to!"

However, shoes are very difficult to find second-hand. The ones I have found are in terrible shape or they aren't the correct size. We have some great hand-me-down pairs but b/c Landon isn't walking yet its best if he doesn't wear hard soled shoes, and the one lovely pair of soft leather soled shoes he owns cuts into his fat little ankles. So my son has been barefoot for more than a month. His socks are destroyed from playing outside unprotected. I finally bucked up and realized it was time to spend some money on the poor boy. 

I was hoping the local children's consignment shop would have some used pairs but they didn't have anything with soft soles. So I bought the boy his new blue and orange kicks and he looks adorable in them. Not to mention how much more comfortable he must be toddling behind his push cart. But, I couldn't completely help myself, and I bought them a good size too large. 

Since time is money it's important to realize then its worth your time to bargain shop and when you should just head out and get what you need. In the case of children's shoes (and adult shoes for that matter) you need to just bite the bullet and spend full price.