A Frugal way to Save

One of the points of this blog is to hold me accountable for being frugal, which in turn is usually better for the environment (also one of the points of the blog, cause I love our planet :).  So, I thought I would share one thing I have been doing and an adjustment I have made that helps me to be frugal and use less resources. 

Since, I have two boys I am lucky in that the oldest can pass his clothes down to the younger one.  This allows for huge savings for my husband and I.  But, the problem is that they are BOYS, yes those rough and tumble creatures who like to wear out the knees of pair of jeans in three short uses.  So, it is easy to say that jeans were not always passed down in our household.  Well, at least before I went all "Little House on the Prairie" about our clothing and started to patch the all the jeans that had holes.  But, who wants their child to run around in nothing but jeans with holes/patches?  

A short while after I started putting patches on the pants, I read a post somewhere that talked about being proactive with patches.  What a great idea I thought.  You put the patches on first and they serve as reinforcement and hopefully they will last through both kids without a hole.  So far so good. 

Did you also know that you can get patches for vinyl outdoor wear.  You can and here is why I know this...
We really don't buy expensive things for the kids to wear.  They usually get stained way too quickly for that.  But "C" had outgrown his snow pants and I couldn't find a pair anywhere.  I had been looking at Target, Wal-Mart, Goodwill, etc., but there just weren't any.  I also had to get the kids some nice gloves and "C" new boots.  I was on-line, Kohls was having a sale and I had a coupon (recipe for financial disaster!!!!).  So, I bought him some very nice snow pants and by very nice I mean $30 (originally $50) and they had better last through two kids at two years each.  They were quickly delivered and the snow arrived shortly thereafter.  I got the kids all bundled up with new gloves, new snow pants, new boots and sent them out.  Not ten minutes later I glance at "C's" brand new $30 snow pants that have to fit him one additional year and his brother two more and to my utter horror there is a huge slice down one of the legs and there is white filament hanging out!  I really thought they were trash, but a trip to Wal-Mart several weeks later made me realize they were not.  Below you can see the pants and the weather resistant patch I placed on it.  I don't know how well it will work, but I do know that right now I happy my kid's snow pants have been rescued.