I have made myself a promise to only ever buy items of clothing, toys, etc that are either in a sale or are second-hand. Hard to stick to but you soon start to realise just how much the mark up is on clothing, etc when you see what price they can be lowered to in a sale. I now have plastic boxes marked with labels of ages and every time I am in a sale I will buy something even if it is for two years time for the children. The only problem can be storage!!!