Maternity Clothes on the Cheap

Maternity clothes! I realized I have A LOT of clothes today. But do I? Granted we just unpacked from living in Germany so some of my clothes stayed in Texas and some went with me to Germany. I acquired new clothes in Germany because of the COLD weather. Once we moved back here, I acquired quite a few new items because I was pregnant and it was summer time. I didn't start to need maternity clothes until I was about 5 months pregnant the first time, and wasn't totally in maternity until a month or so later. I was working the last time I was pregnant, so spending some money for clothes wasn't that big of a deal. This time, I needed clothes the minute I hit 12 weeks and I was going through summer into fall into part of winter needing clothes. This presented me with a need for a much larger wardrobe even though I now stay at home. Thankfully, my mom took me on a little shopping spree for the summer clothes. I know she would have taken me shopping for the other seasons, but I like being thrifty and getting more for my money, so I went another route for the rest of my clothes.

There are some thrifty ways to acquire maternity clothes I discovered this time.

First idea -

Borrow from friends!!! I couldn't do this with my first pregnancy because I didn't know anyone who was pregnant, but this time everyone I know has kids! As soon as my first trimester passed, I started thinking of everyone who was about my size who had kids during the winter time and therefore would have clothes that fit the season. Besides being thrifty, this idea is fun. You may get clothes to borrow that aren't quite your style, but are cute nonetheless. A friend from church lent me some clothes and I never would have picked out some of them on my own, but they are ADORABLE and I really like them.

I also found that when asking friends, you may run into one who may not be having anymore kids and may just give you their clothes. Again, you may get things that aren't quite you, or may not quite fit, etc. but hey, who can argue with free clothes? Again, I had a friend from church that wanted to purge her closet after the birth of her second kid. She had been given maternity clothes from other people so there was quite a mixture of sizes and styles, but again, I got some great pieces that I really like.

Second idea -

Shop around in the regular sized department first. I got some cute skirts from Old Navy that were made out of knit and had a wide waist band. Super comfy and cute and fit for quite awhile. Skirts with elastic waist bands in a size larger than normal are always a great go to as well. I've heard of people who are able to just buy bigger jeans their whole pregnancy and never get into the maternity ones, but I have never had that luck. Plus with going to the rest room so many times, I get so tired of zippers and buttons by the end of the first trimester. Shirtss these days are very gathered and flowing. I found a shirt at Ross in the jr. department for $7 that I wore until I gave birth the first time.

Third idea -

Make your own. I didn't actually wind up doing this like I planned because I had some great friends and mom who supplied my every maternity need this time, but I did find some great websites that teach you how to turn regular clothes into maternity clothes. Here are a few that I found:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Maternity-Jeans-Using-Regular-Jeans-an/

http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2010/04/kojotutorial-girly-ruffle-y-maternity.html

http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-maternity.html

http://modestmaven.blogspot.com/2009/11/converted-maternity-pants-tutorial.html

http://pinkpicketfence.typepad.com/pink_picket_fence/2009/04/thriftstore-refashion-maternity-edition.html

These are just a few links. There are quite a few out there, but you get the idea.

Fourth idea -

Husband's clothing. This one I didn't really try, maybe a t-shirt here or there, but some people are able to do this. My problem with this one for starters is that once I get into my second trimester I weigh more than my husband. So I've already outgrown my clothes and his! I can wear his pj pants under my belly and his t-shirts around the house, but that's all. My other issue with this at least for out of the house is by the third trimester I feel huge and I want to look cute and not frumpy because, well, if you've been pregnant you've been to the third trimester, you know how it goes!!

Fifth - consignment sales!! I got a great Old Navy trench coat for $6! Granted its pink and not exactly a shade of pink I would have paid full price for, but for $6 its great. Bottoms are harder to buy at these sales since you don't know which ones will fit well, but tops and coats are easy to estimate.