S/o financial life and toddlers

amother

OP ↓

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 8:56 am

Dear Israeli posters,

we are planning an aliya with babies and toddlers.
Those of you who are young and saving on down payment, how much do you do toddlers fashion? Do you use hand me downs?
If you buy new clothes, what is your limit for an outfit? For baby or toddler
Do you feel your kids styles influence your social standing? Would be nice if you specified your affiliation and location

essie14 ↓

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 8:59 am

amother OP wrote:

Dati Leumi
My toddler wore tons of hand me downs. In our community there's a huge hand me down culture. Everyone passes on clothing. Also lots of very good, quality thrift stores.
I spent very little on baby and toddler clothes.
I did love the onesies from Next.
There is Carters here and Childrens Place.
My kids style is "toddler". Her clothes in no way affected my social standing.
We live outside of Jerusalem.

amother

Acacia

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 9:21 am

Chareidi in an Israeli area of Neve Yaakov.
At the beginning when they were babies I would buy in bulk when I visited family or family came from cheap stores. I still get for underwear as you can't compare.
I then got used to buying cheap and nice style like from Kiwi especially when on sale.
Kidichic or Hadas very rarely but when on sale and I need.
Now I mainly buy from leader and kiwi/yiddishkeit and my kids get alot of compliments for wearing nice clothes that the whole community isn't wearing.
I personally don't love the European style so I don't buy the rompers and winter shorts even when on sale.
My DD 3 is know wearing alot of hand me down from DD7 but they are mainly classic styles. I try to supplement with one or 2 newer styles if I find cheap.

I'm also very lucky since we have quite often in the neighborhood 10-40 Nis sales from Kiwi, kidichic and sometimes Hadas.
I've bought very stylish sets in those sales for very cheap.
You can get tottini here but it's so expensive even when they do a sale it's usually the price I pay full cost in other stores.
They did have recently a sale of American brands like tottini and the prices were meant to be very good but I didn't need anything and you do need patience to go to these sales as they are usually a mess of things. I can only go on days I'm in the mood or desperate for clothes or shopping therapy.

joonabug

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 9:25 am

essie14 wrote:

where is there a carters?

Aylat

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 9:32 am

Dati leumi yishuv.
Love hand me downs. No idea what's in fashion for toddlers or preschool kids, or if there is a fashion for those ages. Definitely doesn't affect my or their social standing. Lots of people here get things from the second-hand store/gemach. When I buy, I get from wherever is convenient and cheap. I sometimes order from Next because their stuff is decent price and quality.

amother

Navyblue

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 10:53 am

amother OP wrote:

Chareidi, RBS. No pressure at all. I get a lot of second hand, but I also buy a season ahead usually. I buy at clearence for next year. My 2.5 yr old who is turning 3 in April has her entire summer wardrobe already.

I buy from Hadas, FOX, H and M. Most of her dresses for summer were 15-25 shekels, a shabbos one was 40.

amother

Ruby

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 11:13 am

Chareidi in an American area. Even though people here dress within fashion norms everyone is busy passing along clothing. I got 5 calls (and counting) this year if I need a shabbos suit for my son or a coat for my toddler girl etc...
We all leave bags of our clothing outside our doors and post on the email group(Girls 2T summer outside building X apt X) so no need to spend money on it.

Bnei Berak 10 ↓

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 11:17 am

amother OP wrote:

Chareidi in Bnei Brak.
We have all the Kidichic and other chains in an abundance as well as H&M Zara etc in Tel Aviv and many other locations.
This is one of the poorest cities in Israel so there is no pressure at all. Hand me downs=You are thrifty and careful with your money and avoid waste.
The upside of living here is that there isn't any competition of materialism at all. In fact you can always say "I don't see they value of buying XYZ" and people will totally be fine with it and even view you on a more positive light (since you aren't steeped in consumerism)

By the way there is agora.co.il (In Hebrew) where people advertise so much stuff for free, including baby and children's clothes plus furniture's etc. All for free.

amother

Indigo

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 11:27 am

Chardal, Jerusalem.

Lots of hand me downs, mostly from my sisters in law, sometimes from friends, sometimes from a gemach.

I usually spend less than 40 shekel per item if I buy new. I only buy when there are sales. Usually from Fox, Children's Place, Kiwi. Or buy online on sale from Carter's in the US and have relatives bring it to me, or bring it back myself if we visited family in the US (that happened only once though, it is expensive to fly).

My kids don't really care if their clothes are hand me downs or new, as long as they are in pretty good shape. So it seems like a silly thing to waste money on (especially since we still can't afford a down payment in Jerusalem).

Can I ask a weird question, if you don't dress a 2 year old stylishly, do people stop being friends with you? I am so confused about the premise of this post (and I grew up in the tristate area in NJ, I don't remember this being a thing then).

↑ Bnei Berak 10

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 11:31 am

OP, my DH (Israeli) who lived in NY for 22 years and came back said: In Israel in Chareidi areas the default is being poor and nobody is ashamed of it. Many Israelis (non-religious) also came from poor homes in the past.
In the US you are ashamed if you cant afford XYZ. Being poor is a shame. Being poor means you are nebbach and looked down upon. You haven't succeeded in making the American dream.
DH drove old cars in the US and had no problem to say he didn't have the money. People admired his backbone and honesty.

amother

Mustard

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 11:36 am

Anglo chareidi in RBS (meaning sending to Anglo type schools, not hard core chareidi schools). Hand me downs for toddlers all the way. Both hand me downs from my older kids and from others, or relatives in the US. Never heard a negative comment. My son in middle elementary school easily wears his older brother's polo shirts (6 years older) and no one comments, and I see plenty of other kids wearing the same shirts so clearly they are also wearing hand me downs.

amother

↑ OP

Mon, Dec 09 2024, 11:38 am

amother Indigo wrote:

I live in a pretty laid back place, no standards, people do whatever. Those who shop frum brands and trends are actually the ones who stand out.

In my area, those who are actually popular or real machers, get away with with much weirder kid fashion that the insecure ones who try to fit in (into the society where the standards were set by the machers)
I like to do my own thing so wonder if I will have to change when I move.

I also see many young families who are obviously aggressively saving money, their kids are never in new clothes and the parents are not really dressed up either. I am so happy for them. The kids are clean and happy even if a bit worn out or mismatched. I just see how the parents have their priorities straight.

Some of my friends live in communities where your kids should wear at least all matching, better when matching frum store clothes and the best if it’s matching Burberry. They have real clothing anxiety