Nope, I Won’t Pay A Lot For Kids Clothes. Yep, They Still Look Great.

Every day my daughter goes to school looking presentable, and every day she comes home looking like she spent more than one class period tumbling around in a dryer with a stray pen. As she bounces off the bus, she’ll greet me with lopsided pigtails, a fresh hole in her leggings, yogurt stains serving as polka dots down her front, and I could go on, but I’ll spare you. Telling you that kids are rough on their clothes is like saying the sun is hot, water is wet. I’m not breaking new ground here — I know this — but what I can offer is how I handle dressing my very active kid without going broke.

The secret to sparing my bank account from my child’s destroy ALL the clothes habit is not earth-shattering: I focus on buying cute staples in neutral colors that can be mixed and matched.

Here’s five of my favorite H&M staples that helped me build an arsenal of mix and match styles all for under $15 when paired together.

Two Outfits, 4 Options for Under $30

From these two staple styles — pink and gray denim jeans and two tees — you can build four outfits. That’s almost an entire week of clothing for around $30. Switch out the black tee with the pink denim and match with gray jeans and vice versa. Perfect. Big kid tops and bottoms when paired together are $14.99.

You Can’t Lose With a Black Tee

The best style advice I ever received was not to dress for the occasion, but to grab something black. I’m paraphrasing here, but yeah it’s still spot-on and works for kids too. You can build on a black tee, hide stains, let your child roll around in the grass for all you care because chances are — and from a distance — that black tee is going to hold up. This outfit is a bank account home run but not a mix and match style deal. Black tee is $4.99.

Staple Pieces Come With Robots

Staples don’t have to be boring — they can be fun and white too. With touches of color, you can build on this tee with cuffed jeans for cold spring mornings and then regroup with shorts as the weather warms. Paired together, this style is $9.99.

It’s All About the Shoes

I love a bold shoe paired with neutral staples, and kids’ clothes aren’t any different. These futuristic rose and gold sneakers paired with gray denim and a simple tee are a fun look for any girl that likes to run fast and take charge. This mix and match outfit when paired together is $14.99.

The Must-Have Tutu

Saving the best for last, the tutu is the be-all, end-all of must-have staples. You can dress it up with ballet flats that sparkle or down with high-top sneakers. You can pair a tutu with leggings and a cardigan for a picture perfect portrait or with a simple tee and a denim coat for fun at the playground. Tutus are a versatile option that I just adore. All mix and match separates when paired together are $9.99.

Mix and Match deal for kids sizes 1 ½ to 8 years are buy a top + bottom for $9.99.

Mix and Match deals for girls sizes 8 years to 14 years are buy a top + bottom for $14.99.

Actual items may vary from photos.

Online offers will end 4/16, in store offers end 4/19.