Building a Winter Wardrobe on the Cheap

With summer ending, it's time to start thinking about getting ready for winter. If you have growing children to clothe, have changed sizes, or have moved to a colder climate, you'll need to build a winter wardrobe to stay warm and healthy. Rather than rush out to the mall as soon as the winter clothes hit the rack and spend a paycheck or two, make a plan and shop around to build a winter wardrobe for less.

Evaluate your clothing. Will last year's coat work? Can you pass down clothing from older children to younger children? Make a list of everything you'll need before you go out shopping.

Generally, you'll need a warm coat, some thick shirts (sweaters or flannels), thick socks, warm boots or shoes, a scarf, a hat and at least one pair or gloves/mittens. If you live in frigid areas or spend lots of time exposed to the elements, you'll need extremely warm gloves and a pair of long-johns. Tights/leggings can make looser fitting pants or even skirts appropriate for winter wear.

I would invest the most in a good pair of winter boots. While you can layer clothes under a thinner coat, there's not much you can do about an inferior pair of boots. Get a good, warm pair, especially if you/your children spend much time outside in the winter. Frostbitten toes are not worth the savings on buying cheap boots. If you see a great pair of boots on clearance in late winter/early spring, stockpile them for the next winter. A couple of years ago, I found a $100 pair of boots for Trucker for $19.99 and he still wears them.

If you are buying a new coat, consider buying a coat with a removable lining. My dad has a coat that is a medium weight coat with a jacket that zips together for a warm winter coat for frigid days. On warmer winter days he can wear only the medium weight coat and he can wear the jacket alone in autumn and early spring. It helps a lot during these weird winters where the temperature can go from 10 to 60 within a week.

Layering helps a lot. Where I live there are some frigid days, but generally speaking it's cold but not unbearable. I wear a long sleeved t-shirt with a short sleeved shirt over it on most days. On really cold days I'll also wear a flannel over that. This keeps me from needing to buy an expensive heavy-duty winter coat that I'd really only need a few days a year, and I can wear the coat for more months of the year. When I lived up North and lived without a car (aka spent hours waiting in below-freezing temperatures for a bus), my winter coat wasn't the warmest, but it was slightly loose so on the worst days, I'd wear 3-4 flannel shirts under it, with a thin scarf wrapped around my neck under the coat and a thicker one over the coat. By layering your clothes, you can wear items for more months of the year, so you need fewer items.

Call the thrift stores in your area and ask them about sales. All of the thrift stores in my area have at least one day a month that everything is half off. Go early on those days and be prepared for crowds. Go straight to the winter clothes as they will be picked over quickly. Most thrift stores have a tag sale, e.g. everything with a red tag is 50% off. One thrift store in my area has a $.50 sale each Monday on a particular tag color. Sometimes smaller thrift stores will have bag sales, say everything you can fit in a paper grocery bag for $5. Go then and cram in everything you can. Start by cramming in a coat, then work your way to cheaper items (flannel shirts to thick socks). Roll items to fit the most in one bag.

Thrift stores usually have a respectable selection of winter items. In late fall there are lots of winter coats to chose from. You can also find various styles of winter hats and more scarves than you can believe, from the dollar store junk to name brand to crocheted by a cute old lady scarves. Look for leggings and thick socks too, just make sure you wash them well before wearing.

If you need business or business casual wear, check mid- to upper-level consignment shops for winter apparel appropriate for the office. Consignment shops are especially good sources of nice looking winter coats, especially if your local thrift shops only have ratty coats. If you like the shop (and their prices), but don't see a coat you like, leave your number and size with the owner and ask for a phone call if something comes in.

End of season yard sales are an option for buying winter clothes at a bargain, especially sweaters. People are desperate to sell items so they don't have to store them overwinter, but shoppers are not thinking about needing sweaters when the temperature is over 80. Look for coats, sweaters, hats, gloves and flannels. If you find a sweater in a color that you like, but hate the style/size, check it over to make sure it is not pilled or felted. You can unravel that sweater to make scarves, hats, mittens or even another sweater. Here's a great article on unraveling sweaters.

If you are crafty, look for wool yarn at thrift stores and yard sales. There's still plenty of time to make scarves for the whole family. You can also make hats, mittens, arm warmers, leg warmers, socks, etc. Generally, it costs about the same to make a scarf from thrift-store yarn as to buy a thrift-store scarf, but you get more control of the end product. However, if you would be crafting anyway, you may as well make something you can use and avoid needing to purchase an item.

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How to Have a Lower Gas Bill

Shortly after the first winter gas bill arrives, many people vow to keep the thermostat set lower to avoid paying a third of their income to the gas company. If these lower temperatures are too uncomfortable, the thermostat will quickly be adjusted back up to its normal setting. Even if not, no one should spend an entire winter feeling cold, uncomfortable and possibly sick. There are some ways that you can feel more at ease in a lower temperature.

Drink lots of warm beverages. Hot tea, coffee, hot chocolate, hot cider, and warm lemonade are all great beverages to warm your insides. And a shot of whiskey is wonderful on a frigid night.

Crochet/Knit an afghan. Working with the yarn will keep your fingers warm, and you can snuggle under the work in progress as you go.

Move your bed. Move your bed to an interior wall, rather than an exterior wall. The exterior wall puts you closer to the elements, and subjects you to drafts. By putting your bed on an interior wall, you are closer to another warm room instead. If you live in an apartment, this can be a great way to lower your bill. My neighbors run their heat constantly, so I move my bed to a wall next to their apartment and make use of the heat wasted. One winter, I only had to turn my heat on three times.

Switch your bedroom. During the summer months, I sleep in one room of the apartment that has lots of big windows so I don't use the air conditioning. During the winter, however, I move my bed into another room that has smaller windows. There's fewer drafts and it is upstairs which works great as heat rises.

Wear socks constantly. Cold feet are one of the greatest trials of winter (besides digging your car out of a snowbank, catching a cold, and paying the gas bill), so by keeping those toes warm, you can bump the thermostat down a bit. Get thick wool socks for the greatest benefit. If you are a knitter/crocheter, you can buy wool sweaters when you find them cheap, unravel the yarn and make your own!

Eat appropriate foods. This is not the season to eat ice cream. Period (unless it's your birthday, then it's a judgment call). You also should avoid any frozen blended drinks, cold cut sandwiches, jello, pudding, etc. Soups and stews are perfect as they are warm and yummy, and you can cradle the warm bowl in your hands.

Bake lots of goodies. During the summer, baking isn't very pleasant as it requires excessive use of the air conditioning to compensate for the heat lost from the oven. In winter however, that heat is wonderful! So plan a day of baking and enjoy the warmth of both the kitchen and the yummy breads and sweets. You can freeze some to eat during the summer when you don't want to bake.

Try to stay active. You may be stuck inside, but you can still be productive. Tackle those tasks you mean to do all year long, cleaning out the closets, organizing the pantry, high dusting, caulking around windows, cleaning out closets. You'll warm up quickly, and by staying active you'll be better able to battle the winter blahs.

If you have to be still, cuddle under a blanket. You can find afghans and lapghans at thrift stores for a few dollars.

If you have a big house, use a space heater (while you are awake and in the room) close to where you are, so you can turn down the thermostat significantly. Your electric bill will be a bit higher, but if you use it correctly, your gas bill will be lower. Turn down the thermostat for the rest of the house down significantly, say to around 45-50 degrees. Don't run the space heater on high constantly, turn to low or medium as you can. If you live in an apartment, this will likely not be of much use to you. If you work from home, this can be a great way to stay comfortable.


Turn down the thermostat significantly when you leave the house. If you'll be gone for more than an hour, turn it town ten degrees or so. The house will be a bit uncomfortable when you first arrive home, but the savings on your bill will more than compensate. The U.S. Department of Energy says that for each degree you turn down your thermostat for 8 hours, you'll save up to1% on your bill.

Exercise. Winter tends to lead to weight gain since you're cooped up inside all the time. Battle this by lifting hand weights, walking up and down the stairs, doing pushups or situps or jumping jacks/rope. You'll not only save money by not buying new clothes, but you'll feel warmer.

Dress for success. If you think that you can wear shorts and a tank top in winter, you deserve to be cold. Instead, wear warm pants, a long sleeved shirt or two, thick socks, and maybe a hat.

One of the great, beyond money benefits is health. I've found that when I keep the thermostat set at a lower temperature for a winter, I get sick fewer times than in previous years. I am not walking out of an 80 degree house into 5 degree weather, which is definitely less shocking on my body.

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