Wise Bread Picks
Recently, WC Porter shared 3 super ways to get by on a smaller budget when purchasing pregnancy duds. As someone who just gave birth to her 5th child, I’ve gotten pretty efficient with spending less for maternity wear. Here are four clever tips you may not have known about!
Pregnancy Bands
It had only been 3 years since my last child was born, but my pregnancy jeans from that era were sadly outdated (and fit strangely…have you seen how large the caboose can be on some styles?). Instead of pulling out my credit card to buy yet another 3-4 pairs of maternity jeans, I improvised with a few different brands of maternity “bands.” These clever accessories fit over the waist of any of your regular jeans, and helps hold them up and together when you grow too large to button them. They work great for women who are too small to fit into most maternity jeans, and I was able to sport one over my baggy pairs until my 8th month of pregnancy — saving $100 or more on jeans I didn’t have to buy. (I reviewed two of the major brands and compared the features of each.)
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Dress Rental
Remember the movie 27 Dresses? The recurring joke was that the brides seemed convinced that the bridesmaid dresses could be worn again after the wedding (as if). The only thing worse than being saddled with an expensive bridesmaid dress after the event is being saddled with an expensive maternity bridesmaid dress after the wedding. As someone who was an attendant in a wedding with a significant baby bump, I’m aware of the added cost that a formal wear shop will attempt to bestow on the mom-to-be, and how I will NEVER wear my chocolate tulle elephant dress again. That’s why companies like Rent Maternity Wear are so appealing. You can rent a dress for a fraction of buying new, and you can even pay extra to be guaranteed that your dress will be brand new when you get it! (Likewise, each dress only gets rented out a few times, which means you get a pristine outfit for your next event!) Moms who aren’t sure what size they will wear can get the next size larger or smaller for no extra charge, provided they send it back if it doesn’t fit. How cool is that?
Non-Maternity Gear
Just because you feel like a house, it doesn’t mean you have to shop in the house department. Some of my most comfy maternity clothes aren’t maternity clothes at all! Long flowy dresses with drawstring waists, stretchy tees, and yoga pants with low waists kept me comfy and stylish for casual outings well into my 7th month. If you find yourself popping out beyond the limits of even your most forgiving clothes, go ahead and buy new. But don’t confine yourself to maternity alone. A plus-sized outfit or something in a few sizes larger may look better on you than a maternity piece in your own size. Play around with it, and look for bargains in every department.
Shop Online
Some of my favorite maternity retailers also have online outlets (Motherhood Maternity, for example). The exact same pieces were sold in store as on their website, but the site was consistently sale priced at 20% less than the brick and mortar option. I would frequently visit the site, pick out a few clearance items that I could wear year-round, and then visit the actual store to get a good idea of how it fit. Then I would go home and order online for a greater discount. Paying $12 for a nice dress instead of $20 feels really good!
What about you? In addition to consignment and garage sales, asking a friend, and those tips I mention above, do you have some secrets to getting fabulous maternity clothes at a deep discount (or even free?).
