This was a temporary attempt to try to help them appreciate having clothes. It helped...maybe just a bit. What it did help was to help me see that my kids didn't really need that many clothes. So for the last few years, my kids wardrobe has been limited to this-
3 uniform bottoms
3 uniform tops
1 pair of jeans
1 shirt
2 pjs
1 church outfit
1 pair of each shoes: dress, sports, school, sandals
7 pairs of underwear and socks
In the summer the 3 uniform tops & bottoms are swapped with shorts and shirts. We don't do the cute accessories like sweaters other layered items. With 6 children, I need simple to keep my sanity.
I imagine for some, this may not seem like a small amount of clothes per child, but for most of the closets I've seen this is pretty sparse. I do have mostly boys, who could care less about what they wear. And my daughter hasn't seemed to mind either. Here's why I like having less clothes:
- Less laundry
- Less to pick up on the floor
- Less to organize in their closets
- It's cheaper!!
After 10+ years of trying to keep hand me downs organized, so we could save money, I finally have found the perfect system. The biggest reason I like my system is that I can buy clothes on clearance or at hot sales, without wasting money on clothes that we don't need. It doesn't help save money to buy 5 shirts on clearance for $2, to come home and see that you already had 10 shirts in that size.
I prefer using my kids closets, but you could use bins as well. I do think it's easier to be able to visually see everything, so that's why I prefer closets. We have our "spare" clothes spread out in 4 different closets.
I have my closets organized by the following groups:
- Pants
- Shorts
- Long-sleeve shirts
- Short-sleeve shirts
- Church Clothes
- Uniform Pants
- Uniform Shirts.
- Winter Wear
One point to mention, when organizing the clothes by size, I did not go off the size on the tag. Isn't it annoying that every size 6 can seem to range from a size 4 to size 8. I took the clothes in each size and found what seemed the most consistent for that size, then if something didn't match the size, I filed it with the size it fit most closely to.
After I organized all of the clothes, I made a simple spreadsheet of how many I had of each. This showed me what clothes I needed and gave me my shopping list! I keep this list on my phone, so if I'm at a store, I can check the clearance and sale racks. And when they outgrow clothes, there's no need to buy things at the last minute and spend too much. Their clothes are hung and ready to swap out with their old clothes.
I used to do this in bins and it took more time trying to sift through the clothes. If you do want to use bins or boxes, I would recommend boxing them up by group. You'll probably need more than 1 bin per group. And then inside the bin, put each size in a labeled grocery bag, so you don't have to sift and try to read label after label finding the size your looking for.
Our annual family clothes budget for the year is $500 . I know many families who spend that on 1 child. In general, I don't spend more than $5 per item. I'm usually willing to pay a bit more for jeans because they are hard to find used. I did find a sale where I could use a coupon and get jeans for $5, so I bought 10 pairs and filled up the closet! I am picky about the styles my kids wear. I like to shop at Children's Place, Gap, Target, JCPenney, Kohl's, Local Consignment shops & Ebay. I love used clothes as long as they are in next to new condition.
I'll post pictures later!
