Yup, if you're in N Arlington you'll be judged every which way about such matters. That's just the way it is.

Clothes are important in K. your car not so much but in a couple years it will be.

Lots of K kids at the school wear I teach wear the school spirit wear.

OP I agree with the posters advising to buy quality stuff that will last rather than cheap stuf.

Instead of a $20 walmart backpack with some character they will hate next year go for a classic from Land's End. They will have another 40% off sale before school starts.
Get the monogram and get at least the medium size. It will last for years. We are going on year three and will likely get another one only b/c I think we need to size up to a large.

BTW kids don't really care at such a young age. Parents do care either.

I also agree on the no short pants. Right size and clean are really the key attributes for young kids clothes.

Anonymous wrote:We live in an apt by choice so we could get into our good dcps. We are not rich and barely comfortable. We have found that once we became closer with families we have discovered everyone is struggling with something and they are lying if they say otherwise.

Look for a Lands End sale. Spring for the $6 for monogram for the backpack. DC's backpack cost $40 and he is still using it 3 years later. We could buy a new one but we too are frugal. Their lunch bags are great too.

Find nice families and you won't feel different at all. And anyone who makes you feel different isn't worth being your friend anyway.

PP here - we also shop consignment sales and use hand me downs. And buy end of season stuff for the next year.

We live in an apt by choice so we could get into our good dcps. We are not rich and barely comfortable. We have found that once we became closer with families we have discovered everyone is struggling with something and they are lying if they say otherwise.

Look for a Lands End sale. Spring for the $6 for monogram for the backpack. DC's backpack cost $40 and he is still using it 3 years later. We could buy a new one but we too are frugal. Their lunch bags are great too.

Find nice families and you won't feel different at all. And anyone who makes you feel different isn't worth being your friend anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is cheap not poor . YUCK

I'm "cheap," not poor, too. Why, "yuck?" I imagine my investment accounts, retirement accounts, rental properties, jewelry, etc. exceed yours but my kids are almost always in hand me downs and thrift store finds. You'd never know it: Justice, Under Armour, Nike, Land's End, etc. I'll "yuk" it up all the way to the bank and teach my kids a lesson, too.

My parents were frugal, I am the opposite.
It was shutty seeing other people have more and better stuff.
Hope your bank account makes you happy.
We go to Cayman and Europe annually.

Did you not read my post? Other kids don't have more or better stuff.

Which do you think my kids will appreciate a decade from now: that their college and, if they wish, graduate schools, are paid for, they will never have to worry about taking care of their parents, took nice vacations (Ireland, Canada, and Yellowstone were our last 3), etc OR that their mom and dad drove BMWs/Mercedes, leased new cars every few years, lived in huge homes and they will have to forge their eat through college including massive debt accumulation? Hmmmmmm...

I would rather have the parents who spent money on clothes and fun.

Different priorities, I guess. Hope you feel the same way in 20 years and are happy you spent $40 on a shirt for a child that was later donated and bought by me for my kid for $3. I know I'll be happy with our choices then. If you will be, too, then great! Your choices help mine!!

My kids are now 17 and 15 and no regrets, I would never put them in use clothes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is cheap not poor . YUCK

I'm "cheap," not poor, too. Why, "yuck?" I imagine my investment accounts, retirement accounts, rental properties, jewelry, etc. exceed yours but my kids are almost always in hand me downs and thrift store finds. You'd never know it: Justice, Under Armour, Nike, Land's End, etc. I'll "yuk" it up all the way to the bank and teach my kids a lesson, too.

My parents were frugal, I am the opposite.
It was shutty seeing other people have more and better stuff.
Hope your bank account makes you happy.
We go to Cayman and Europe annually.

Did you not read my post? Other kids don't have more or better stuff.

Which do you think my kids will appreciate a decade from now: that their college and, if they wish, graduate schools, are paid for, they will never have to worry about taking care of their parents, took nice vacations (Ireland, Canada, and Yellowstone were our last 3), etc OR that their mom and dad drove BMWs/Mercedes, leased new cars every few years, lived in huge homes and they will have to forge their eat through college including massive debt accumulation? Hmmmmmm...

I would rather have the parents who spent money on clothes and fun.

Different priorities, I guess. Hope you feel the same way in 20 years and are happy you spent $40 on a shirt for a child that was later donated and bought by me for my kid for $3. I know I'll be happy with our choices then. If you will be, too, then great! Your choices help mine!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is cheap not poor . YUCK

I'm "cheap," not poor, too. Why, "yuck?" I imagine my investment accounts, retirement accounts, rental properties, jewelry, etc. exceed yours but my kids are almost always in hand me downs and thrift store finds. You'd never know it: Justice, Under Armour, Nike, Land's End, etc. I'll "yuk" it up all the way to the bank and teach my kids a lesson, too.

My parents were frugal, I am the opposite.
It was shutty seeing other people have more and better stuff.
Hope your bank account makes you happy.
We go to Cayman and Europe annually.

Did you not read my post? Other kids don't have more or better stuff.

Which do you think my kids will appreciate a decade from now: that their college and, if they wish, graduate schools, are paid for, they will never have to worry about taking care of their parents, took nice vacations (Ireland, Canada, and Yellowstone were our last 3), etc OR that their mom and dad drove BMWs/Mercedes, leased new cars every few years, lived in huge homes and they will have to forge their eat through college including massive debt accumulation? Hmmmmmm...

I would rather have the parents who spent money on clothes and fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is cheap not poor . YUCK

I'm "cheap," not poor, too. Why, "yuck?" I imagine my investment accounts, retirement accounts, rental properties, jewelry, etc. exceed yours but my kids are almost always in hand me downs and thrift store finds. You'd never know it: Justice, Under Armour, Nike, Land's End, etc. I'll "yuk" it up all the way to the bank and teach my kids a lesson, too.

A lot of the used stuff looks used and you would know. Sometimes if its only been through one kid, it look good. My child isn't hard on clothing. I get cheaper new than used often.

Get a fun character backpack for K. Toys R Us has a free lunch box with backpack. Some of the backpacks are under $20, so you get both for that price. Ours still looks good from last year. The nice one I got him was huge and too big so we are using it for other stuff.

For clothing, don't be so sure people are spending a fortune on clothing. I buy years ahead (I can always sell it for what i paid), so my kid is often in Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Gap, and other brands that I'm paying less than what I'd buy at Target or Walmart on sale. I'm not spending a fortune on kids clothing BUT I will say that the Under Armour does last better than other stuff, so I would spend a little more for it. Sneakers I'm paying $10, sometimes more, sometimes less on clearance and often buy the next size up. My kid has an North Face jacket for next year as I paid $20 for it new, but he will not be wearing it to school (he has cheap ones for that). I then sell it all at the consignments.

And, we have older cars. I could get a new one but I'm tired of all the dents and dings so I'm waiting till it dies.

My kid is 7 and in a school with a fairly wealthy population. i couldn't tell you what cars people drive, or what houses most of them live in. (though judging from the directory, few of them live in apartments, probably because there aren't a ton of apartments that have more than 2 bedrooms.)

As for clothes, there are kids who wear designer and kids who wear hand-me-downs and everything in between. We wear Target, Children's Place, Gymboree, whatever.

Backpacks seem about evenly split between LL Bean/Lands End/pottery Barn Kids and disney character backpacks from Target/wherever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is cheap not poor . YUCK

I'm "cheap," not poor, too. Why, "yuck?" I imagine my investment accounts, retirement accounts, rental properties, jewelry, etc. exceed yours but my kids are almost always in hand me downs and thrift store finds. You'd never know it: Justice, Under Armour, Nike, Land's End, etc. I'll "yuk" it up all the way to the bank and teach my kids a lesson, too.

My parents were frugal, I am the opposite.
It was shutty seeing other people have more and better stuff.
Hope your bank account makes you happy.
We go to Cayman and Europe annually.

Did you not read my post? Other kids don't have more or better stuff.

Which do you think my kids will appreciate a decade from now: that their college and, if they wish, graduate schools, are paid for, they will never have to worry about taking care of their parents, took nice vacations (Ireland, Canada, and Yellowstone were our last 3), etc OR that their mom and dad drove BMWs/Mercedes, leased new cars every few years, lived in huge homes and they will have to forge their eat through college including massive debt accumulation? Hmmmmmm...

I'm frugal with a lot and you will be fine. My youngest doesn't care about clothes and I buy them at the Children's Place sales and at Target. My oldest is starting to care and he has a few Under Armour tops that I got on clearance. DH and I do quite well but we drive basic cars and buy our clothes at... ready for it... JCPenny, Target and occasionally Macy's if there is a sale. I have always bought them name athletic shoes. They would have probably been happier with characters when they were little.

This is Vienna and don't care if people judge. We are who we are and have money saved. We love travel and like that we don't have to ever stress over finances or if they kids need something. The kid's will be plenty opinionated about brands later.

We did swap our 1990 2 door for a 2009 sedan last year because the old sportscar finally died and we needed something reliable in DC winters. My girls are in 2nd and 4th coming up this year and love to pick out a new backpack annually from a big box store or that luggage store in the "haunted City Place mall" in Silver Spring. Land's End and Children's Place stuff to wear, maybe some Old Navy, and those Circo pants from Target.
K kids love stuff with glitter and cute animals. Save your money and worrying for middle school.