Use It Up or Wear It Out

I have three boys.  Twin 3-year-olds and an 18-month-old.  They go through a lot of clothes.

Fortunately for me (maybe not so much for him) my youngest has a gajillion hand-me-downs from the twins.  It's nice because I don't have to spend a ton of money on dressing him, although, don't feel too sorry for him...he still gets plenty of new stuff bought just for him.  (One of the perks of being born in the opposite season as his brothers.  And being a huge chunky-monkey.)

However, sometimes, things get a little worn out before they get passed down to my baby, mainly sleepers.  You know what I mean.  You've got a perfectly good sleeper that still looks nice and warm and cozy until you see this:

And honestly, I just can't bring myself to throw away a perfectly good sleeper that still has miles of good use left in it when I can easily fix it for literally a few cents. 

A few cents?  Well, yes.  I get the non-skid fabric with a coupon at JoAnn's.  I think it is normally $6.99/yd, so with a 40% coupon it is around $4 a yard.  I get a quarter yard (grand total = $1) and can get quite a few sleeper feet out of it.  So depending on how many sleepers you need to fix, you are literally paying pennies for each pair of replacement feet.

And while I may not be that great at math, I know that a few cents per sleeper to fix is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a whole winter's (and fall and spring) worth of new ones!

So, That is what I do.  And I will be the first to admit that I don't worry about perfection when it comes to  replacing the soles of these sleepers.  In fact, all I do is cut the old sole out, and closely zigzag the new sole on. 

This is the inside of the foot before it is turned right-side out.

 I don't even worry about unpicking the old thread or whether any part of the old soles shows through slightly, as you can see:

The point for me is to get the new soles on and fix these suckers so that my boys can use them up or wear them out.  Again.