August 15, 2014

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A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you a new organization called Schoola, which is an online consignment store, accepting and selling either brand new or gently used children’s clothes, while helping to raise money for valuable school programs in the process. You can either donate, which is as easy as requesting a donation bag online, or you can shop a very large selection of clothes. I loved the concept from the start, which is why I had no hesitation being a part in this campaign, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I would think of the shopping process. I tried it out last week though, and I couldn’t be happier with our purchases. Since we start the school year so early in summer still, we still have many hot days ahead of us, so I focused on shopping for shorts and short sleeve shirts for Taylor, and found a really great selection of both. The site functions just like any shopping site, or may even be more detailed in its filtering systems. You can filter your results by school level, including preschool, grade school and high school, and then further filter down by size from there. Tops are categorized into different silhouettes (J. Crew, you should get on that!), so you can search for hoodies, sweaters, etc. You can even see a list of brands available and filter from there, so if you know Gap clothes fit your kid particularly well, just browse the Gap selection and forge the rest. What I especially liked though, while shopping, is that you can see just how much money you will help raise for schools, with each item you add to your cart. The cute denim shorts I picked up for Taylor were from Justice, and originally retailed for $30. They were selling for $8.97 on the Schoola site, and with my purchase $3.59 of that would go to the school noted. Now, this is how Schoola works, and how you would get involved in order to raise money for your school; you need to request a bag, go through your closets and donate for your school. When an item you donate is sold, that’s when you raise money for your school! So whenever you shop, you help to raise money for great schools across our nation, but when you donate for your school, you raise money through purchases. Make sense? That’s the way it works like a consignment store. It’s a win-win either way you slice it! Purchases of $50 or more receive free shipping, and at the end of your purchase, you can see just how much you saved and how much of your shopping dollars went to school programs. The money raised goes towards valuable programs like art, music and physical activity; programs that are continually being slashed around the country. A reader was surprised to hear that our art program is completely run by parent volunteers and without it, our kids wouldn’t experience art, as it’s no longer part of our regular curriculum. It’s sadly a true reality across hundreds if not thousands of schools in America. I’m extremely excited to have had the oppoprtunity to not only find out about this organziation, but share it with you all. I hope you’ll consider requesting a bag to donate, or browsing the site for some new school clothes for your kids. Taylor’s top came in with the tags still attached, and the shorts were in absolute perfect condition. She’s worn the outfit several times already, and she’s only had it a week! It’s an awesome way to declutter, shop, and raise money for schools in need. As I said in my previous post, I hate that we need to be so creative with funding valuable programs, but I love that we as parents can be proactive in some small way.

This post is brought to you by Schoola, the best place to buy discounted kids clothes all while give back to schools in need. Click here to learn more about Schoola. Click here to see what people are saying.