Tips: Maternity clothes

My #1 tip for saving money on maternity clothes: Get pregnant 4-9 months after your good friend, who's about your size. Bonus points if your baby is the same sex as hers.

In all seriousness, most of us, especially 2nd and 3rd time moms, have at least one friend who's recently had a baby and no longer needs most of her maternity items. I've found simply telling people I no longer have my maternity things has netted me more than few bags of clothes. Sure, sometimes you may end up with a Duggar-esque jumper or hideous print shirt, but thanks to my network (and especially my good friend whose due date was nearly 5 months before mine!) I've gotten Gap capris, cute Old Navy tops, comfy skirts, and Motherhood jeans, all in excellent condition. If you need dress clothing for your office job, spread the word among your coworkers.

You can also find lightly used maternity clothing on Craigslist- everything from casual to more formal attire, at a fraction of the cost. Gap and Old Navy Maternity often have excellent sales- for my first, I found a cute dress for the holiday Christmas party for $20; for this one, I needed a new pair of shorts quickly and bought a pair from Gap online for $12.

Another of my favorites is the Motherhood shelf bra tank top, just $10 each if you buy 2 or more. I love these because they're great for both around the house and layering, and as I'm small chested I don't need to wear a bra. I can pair them with breezy maternity blouses, or non-maternity tops a few sizes larger than I normally wear.

Discount stores like Ross often carry long stretchy rayon tops for $7-12, and a few of those have become favorite pieces to wear. I also like looking for non-maternity elastic waist skirts at discount stores and thrift shops, as those are useful postpartum as well, and especially towards the end, much more comfortable than pants.

For formal occasions, look for non-maternity dresses with a high waist and stretchy skirt. I found a beautiful pink and peach dress for my BIL's wedding that I wore when I was 32 weeks along with Little Monster. It had a ribbon under the bust, no waist, and flowed out to just below knee length, with a stretchy satiny underskirt and a gauzy printed top layer.

I try to avoid buying new underwear- I prefer low cut bikini style anyway, so I've been fortunate to not need anything new while pregnant. I do expand a cup size on top, though, so I look for soft stretchy bras with no wires, lace, padding, or anything itchy. Extender straps are available if your rib cage expands but your cup size does not.

For shoes, I mostly live in my Crocs or sandals, but when dressing up I prefer ballet style flats. Anything with a bit of stretch to accommodate my widening feet is good. I've usually been able to find something comfortable and reasonably attractive at Payless when needed.

So far I've only bought a pair of shorts from Gap Maternity online, a pair of pants from Old Navy Maternity online ($12 and $10 respectively); 3 elastic waist skirts from the thrift store for $3-5 each; and 2 Motherhood tanks (the store was out of the $10 ones so I ended up with the $13 ones). I was given 4 pairs of jeans, 2 jean skirts, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of capris, 3 pairs of shorts, 10 different tops ranging from blouses to sleeveless to halters, 4 tees, a few dresses, and a few professional/dress pieces (and some jumpers that I quickly passed along as they're just not my thing). I'm pretty happy with my wardrobe and don't think I need to add anything.