I'm with you on this one. I hate spending more than $10 on any piece of clothing, for me or the girl. Luckily both my mom and MIL love to shop so they mostly keep us clothed. And DH has fewer problems dropping a pile of money if he feels something is really needed, like when none of the pants in the girl's drawer meet his winter-warmth standard.

The adjustable waist pants are great. I scour the sales racks whenever I'm in any standard kids store. It helps that I am willing to buy "boy" clothes if they are the right size and don't have goofy pictures on them.

On boxing day, DH talked me into a pair of jeans since my old ones were sausage-tight. $70 and a seam came loose the first day I wore them. An important seam, too, just below the zipper. Luckily I wasn't out! So I returned them and found 2 pairs of pants on sale and got a few dollars back even. But then one of those pairs *split down the back* when I crouched down on the floor. At home, lucky again. So I need to go back again and ask Talbots why they are charging premium prices for crappy stuff these days.

Sorry for the world's longest and most boring comment. But I'm very glad to hear I'm not the only one with a comfortable life but no desire to spend that much on clothes!

I'm cheap too. We live on 1.5 income, so we have to be, but I don't mind. I buy almost all our clothing (except socks and underwear) used, and find very nice stuff. My boys don't look like little boutique Hollywood babies, but they sure don't look like raggamuffins either. Is this an option where you live? I know that in the Netherlands, where most of my family lives, good-quality used clothing is not widely available, so they're kind of shocked. I'm glad for you that your finances are getting better. We've been a little stressed too, and just made out great on our taxes. Even in the U.S., there are some benefits to having kids, and twins accounted for a pretty nice deduction. While I hate the thought of paying taxes to support this awful war, I wouldn't mind paying more to support the greater good, such as education and social welfare. What a concept, right?

You're not cheap, you're frugal. I.e., you know what you need to be spending your money on (food, shelter, health) and what you don't need to be spending it on (expensive jeans when cheaper ones will do just as well). I buy almost all of AB's clothes at Old Navy, which is quite cheap, yet the quality of the clothes is excellent.

Madeleine: And now I know to never shop at Talbots. Yikes!

Emmie: It's an option, yes. It isn't one I exercise much because I like an orderly and efficient shopping experience, as opposed to hunting through racks looking for something in my size. It's part of that not liking to shop thing--I want to walk into a store, see a blue top at a good price, find it in a medium or large, pay for it, and walk out.

APL--thanks. I'm not sure whether this is good or bad but I, ah, avoid Old Navy for kids' clothes most of the time because here, they are more expensive than the Children's Place. Scarily. I've often wondered how much pricing differs over the border; I think for some stores it's significant.

Old Navy is almost always cheaper than The Children's Place here - at least where I am, it is. Old Navy is like Target - cheap, but at least it's not Wal-Mart.

I'm almost pathologically cheap when it comes to shopping. As long as it fits and doesn't make me look like my mother, I'll wear it. I draw the line at holiday sweaters or kitty sweatshirts, though.

And I with you on the thrift store shopping. I don't mind for the kids because there isn't such a huge crush of clothes on those racks, but for me, forget it. It drives me nuts. I will purchase furniture and housewares from a thrift store, though. I got a very nice maple chest of drawers from the Salvation Army. For $40. Sweet.

Hey Andrea, I don't know your taste in music so this might not ring a bell, but my iTunes just shuffled up the Cowboy Junkies singing "'Cause Cheap Is How I Feel." How's that for appropriate! Or not, really.

Your comment "Is everyone but me in serious debt?" got me thinking and googling.

Since our wonderful retail prices are in some way related to our friends to the south (and I couldn't find an equivalent Canadian reference), I draw your attention to this:

http://www.toptips.com/debtclock.html

So, after looking at that, I'd like to say that you're not cheap. You have your head on straight and you know the concequences of spending money that you don't have. Therefore, you don't spend beyond your means (if you don't have to) and you're better off.

I commend you for being "cheap"!

I feel the same way, Andrea--in fact I just posted about an incredibly frustrating trip to the mall. I hate shopping--and there is no way I have the patience to go through the racks at second hand stores. I know lots of people enjoy shopping, and they often look a lot nicer than I do--part of me envies them. But I hate how expensive everything is. I do have to admit, though--last year I bought a pair of $100 blue jeans from Guess, because they fit me well, and I felt extremely guilty about it. However, I no longer feel bad, since I have worn them at least 300 days of the last 365 and they haven't worn out yet.
Blech. I wish I had a personal shopper to do it all for me.

I feel the same way too. The Gap only gets a visit from me when I have a gift certificate. I wait until the sales to buy almost everything.

I'd be willing to pay more if the manufacturers were paying a living wage to the people who actually make the garments.

For the little guy, we buy at Old Navy (which here is cheaper than The Children's Place), Target (which has fairly nice kids' stuff), ebay, and Lands' End Overstocks, which I adore. I do sometimes get him pants at the Gap for the adjustable waist, though! But Target and Old Navy usually have some with the adjustable waist, too. (Very necessary for a slim-waisted boy -- without it, his pants sometimes fall down.)

For me, Lands' End overstocks sometimes. Otherwise I get stuff on sale, usually (though not always). But I would never pay $200 for jeans or $50 for a T-shirt.

We are also cheap since I stay at home and Hubby has the job with financial benefits. We usually only buy underwear and socks new from Target, and everything else is a hand-me-down, gift, or from goodwill. I must say it does help that Buddy's birthday is in June because we receive new clothes every six months (June-birthday, December-Christmas).

I'm cheap too. Hence on my list of 100 things about me, I love a good clearance!! I am constantly buying clothes that are on sales racks at the end of the season for Aaron. It helps, that way whatever I save I can use it for other stuff for us like toys and games. Like if I have to spend 20 bucks for sneakers, yuck!! But I'm happy to pay 5 bucks for a pair of pants for little boys. I usually buy clarance stuff for myself too, but this spring I splurged. It feels nice to do that now and then. With all the clearances that I do find it all balances out. There's cheap and there's frugal. I consider you frugal and not cheap. *wink*

Happy belated birthday, by the way!

Even though I love love love clothes shopping, I am also cheap. A friend of mine works in the rag trade and the markups on stuff are just so obscene, I can't see paying them.

I feel like one of those old people lamenting the price of bread (I remember when it was a nickel!) but I remember when really good jeans like Edwins were like $60 or maybe $80 (which seemed outrageous). The other day I saw a pair of jeans in the Whole Foods mall for $600, which made the $200 ones seem cheap (and my $19.99 Kikit jeans from Winners -- which fit like a dream even though the pockets are a little funny -- seem positively disposable).

It is insanity. You are not alone in thinking this. I think the media wants us to feel poor. So that we do what their advertisers want and spend spend spend.

I rant - great thought provoking post.

I'll repeat what everyone else has said - you're not cheap, you're frugal. As someone who was raised by fiscally responsible parents, I rebelled a bit when I was younger (I still lament the relatively minor credit card debt I acquired over items as frivolous as CDs and books - some of which I still haven't read; I just got caught up in the culture of consumption and I somehow rationalized that I wasn't being materialistic b/c it wasn't clothing), but I'm forever grateful for the way that I was raised. I'm willing to pay a bit more for non-sweatshop made clothes (as in $18 for a well-fitted, brightly coloured top from www.americanapparel.net - yeah, I know they have other issues, but it's still better than the alternative) but otherwise, forget it. I always think in terms of how much I earn in an hour and how many hours it will take to pay off something or I try to figure out how many movies/cheap concerts I can see for the price of one expensive shirt. It almost never ends up being worth it.

Ah, I feel less alone. Thanks, all. :)

Snafooey--I remember talking to you about that at the baby shower for Frances years ago.

Jen--$600? $600? I'm feeling dizzy and I didn't even see it first-hand. How can they justify it? Has it been woven with special nanofibres that confer immortal youth? And I'm glad you commented, because I know you do like the clothes shopping adn I was nervous about offending.

Genevieve--I hear you. Frances is also very slim, as well as short, so her pants all fall down too. I have a nice collection of diaper pins I use to narrow the waists by pinning in the back--that's the cheap solution--but I broke down yesterday and got her a pair of adjustable waist pants b/c hte daycare is starting to complain about the pins. Which I can understand but dammit, those jeans are too expensive. At least as big as they are she'll be able to wear them for 18 months at least before they're outgrown. And I didn't know Old Navy has them too. I'll have to watch for them.

Amy--I do that, too, sometimes, when I know it makes sense. I mean, one $100 pair of jeans that lasts for five years is better financially than four $40 jeans that last for one year each. I tend to put more into shoes, for instance, because I've found that some of the less expensive ones fall apart on me awfully quickly, and because I tend to buy one pair of shoes and wear them to death for three years before I replace them. I say this while wearing a four-year-old pair of black leather flats that have been worn almost every dya for those four years--including through the pregnancy--they cost $120, I think, which is still not bad for shoes, and they are only now getting to the point where I need to replace them. BUT at the same time, I've bought expensive shoes that fell apart on the first wearing, and cheap shoes that lasted for two or three years--so I try to pay attention to the quality instead of assuming that more money means better, because it doesn't always.

I'm cheap, too, especially when it comes to clothes for myself. I am not cheap with clothes for the girls because they are impossible to fit.

The GAP jeans with the adjustable waist are worth every penny. I bought Baby H 2 pairs in August or September. They still look great and are the first pants she has been able to hold up since learning to walk.

I'm so with you on this one too! I don't think I've ever paid more than $20 for a pair of jeans. I hate to go clothes shopping because I always balk at the prices - I try to only go when there are sales going on. Good for you for not putting yourself in debt over a $100 pair of jeans! You're definitely not alone in this line of thinking!

I'm with you on this, too. I am shocked by food prices. I keep trying to get our weekly food under $100 but unless we eat rice and beans exclusively, I can't see how to do it. Since when is the cheapest non-frozen orange juice $3.50? Gimme a break.

I have been lucky with my daughter -- a good friend with a daughter age 4 has just given me all her old clothes. So except for a few pieces here and there, Sasha is outfitted until she outgrows 3T, which at this rate will probably be quite a while. I don't imagine your daycare can set you up w/ someone who can hand you down clothes? Would it be too weird to ask?

I haven't seen clothes for girls with the adjustable waist. My son wears those exclusively because otherwise, as you say, they all fall down. What size is Frances these days? Is she size 24 months yet?

Jennifer, we get lots of hand-me-downs. LOTS. But they're all quite big--over size 2T--so by the time they fit Frances they'll be all moldy and gross, so I've been giving them to people who can actually use them right away. Or Goodwill. Wherever I can.

Frances is just outgrowing her 9 month size clothes and is wearing mostly 12 months right now with a few 18 months thrown in, but the 18 month ones are huge on her. She's got at least three years, I think, before she can wear size 24 months or 2T (so you can imagine how long it would be before she could wear anything sized 3!).

Andrea,
Here is the New Yorker cartoon for you (if you are able to squint at the screen enough to make out the print)
http://www.thenewyorkerstore.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=542BJ4872EFT9JPA60ELS9KDGW225LSF&sitetype=1&did=4&sid=122102&whichpage=1&sortBy=popular&keyword=%22ultra%2Dpremium+jeans%22§ion=cartoons

That did involve some squinting, but it was worth it.