The Frugal Family: Tripped up by Kids Shoes

I learned many frugal tips and tricks from my mother during my childhood. She was a great teacher when it came to balancing a checkbook and comparison shopping. Shoes were her weak spot, though. I have clear memories of my Payless sneakers heating up and melting on the playground blacktop as a kid whenever it got hot out...it was neither comfortable nor a great deal, no matter how small the dollar amount.

I've tried to learn from my mother's mistakes, but shoes still seem to be the number one money sucker in my life. I can no longer wear cheap shoes at all due to arch and shin splint problems that seem to run in the family (shall I blame the shoes that melted under my developing feet?). I try to save money on well made shoes by stocking up when I find a sale. Normally this frugal shopping strategy works wonderfully, but I've found that with a toddler it is risky business.

During the Terrible Twos, I stocked up on several sizes of adorable See Kai Run shoes only to have Jack refuse to wear them because they were a different color than the shoes he was outgrowing...I tried everything I could think of to get him into those shoes and finally had to buy the same color in the next size up and switch them out covertly (luckily they still made them!). Most of my friends and family have received brand new "hand me downs."

I recently found out about Pediped shoes, a brand with removable soles that adjust the shoes by half a size. What a fantastic way to save money and use the shoes longer, I thought! I bought two pairs on sale. Unfortunately, neither pair of shoes fit him even though I thought I was buying the next size up. Of course, he hadn't yet grown out of the shoes he was in when I made that purchase, so I didn't find this out until it was too late to return them. I'm brilliant like that!

Off I went to Amazon to sink some money into another set of shoes--this time I only bought one pair and I had Jack pick them out to (hopefully) ensure he'd be willing to wear them. The black and white striped Vincent shoes arrived but he started whining as soon as they were on his feet. He didn't want to take them off because he thought they looked cool, but the grimace and fidgeting after every step was a clear indicator that they were not comfortable. The size is correct, but it seems that the shoes are too narrow for his feet. Oh joy.

This is obviously one area where my frugality has backfired. At this point I'm starting to rethink my aversion to taking kids shopping and considering hauling Jack into a store for a test run on shoes.

How does your family avoid shoe shopping mishaps?

Crystal Ritchie lives and blogs in San Francisco with her preschooler son Jack and her partner in crime/fiance David. She loves to share stories, tips, and tricks related to the parenting gig. When she is not parenting, writing as the San Francisco City Guide Editor for Savvy Source and on her personal blog, Ewokmama.com, or scoping out awesome deals, she can be found working at a software company in her favorite city.