Do you keep children's play clothes??

[Logan]

Im hoping for a large family so I have been keeping all clothes to hand down. We have clothes which are separate as 'play clothes' because they are worn/ugly/stained. They are very useful because my children can do whatever they want in them and it doesnt matter. So previously I have been keeping them all.

But as DS (my oldest) is getting bigger, even his nicer clothes seem to get stained almost as soon as I put them on him. And stains do seem to magically appear on the previously perfectly clean stored clothes anyway. So I am starting to think I should get rid of the well worn play clothes when they are outgrown. Then the nice, but stained, ones can become play clothes and I could buy a few nice 'going out' items for each size when the next child needs them. It seems wasteful, but at least then the play clothes would be a little more presentable and we wouldnt have as much to store.

So just wondering, those of you who are definitely planning more kids, do you just keep the play clothes? Or downgrade the nicer hand-me-downs with each child? What's your system??

[doubledutch]

i have two boys and would like to have a couple more. i only keep my very favorite most special outfits after ds2 has worn them. (my boys are only 18 months apart so i do keep ds1's clothes for ds2.) the rest of the clothes either get passed on, because i figure someone else could be wearing them instead of me storing them, or they become rags if they're hideously stained. like, if i won't take my child in public in this item, it's a rag. if it has a small stain, then i figure people will think it just happened, lol, or i suppose i could put a cute embellishment over it or something. but most of the time i let the clothes go and bless someone else. however i'm lucky that i have access to cheap stuff when i need it via thrift stores and rummage sales. our lll has a rummage sale every summer where all the baby/kid clothes are 50 cents and they are in nice shape. if i didn't have access to good, cheap used clothes, it might be harder to let mine go. but the worst of it would still become rags because i need those too!

[ArtsyMomma]

Originally Posted by Logan

So just wondering, those of you who are definitely planning more kids, do you just keep the play clothes? Or downgrade the nicer hand-me-downs with each child? What's your system??

I only keep the things I love and the things that are in great condition. I figure I will want some new things for each child, plus gifts from relatives and we certainly have much more clothing than we really need.

The storage stains can come out - google storage stains. I had to try a few different tricks to get some stains out of my favorite baby clothes.

[Ruthla]

The only time I saved stained/not presentable clothes was in the tiniest sizes, when I just wanted soft cotton baby clothes and really didn't care about stains. Or, when literally passing clothes from DD1's drawer to DD2's drawer (only 16m apart), I'd just take it out of the laundry and put it away in a different place and not bother sorting anything. When I packed clothes away after DD2 outgrew them (when I thought I might have more girls), I only kept the stuff that was nice enough to actually want several years later. The "play clothes" got given away or donated immediately after they were outgrown. However, if I only had a few outfits in a particular size, I'd keep them all so that my kids would have SOMETHING to wear in that size if they had a sudden growth spurt.

Even if I didn't personally buy new clothes for each of my kids, I got baby gifts after each birth, the grandparents liked to buy them new clothes, and they even got clothes for birthdays and Hanukkah as infants and toddlers. If I didn't have enough clothes in one size, I could easily find things in thrift shops, and I found it easier to pass along "play clothes" and then spend a little bit to buy "new" old clothes later, rather than storing EVERYTHING.

Besides, I bought a lot of stuff 2nd hand for DD1, so by the time DD2 got done with them, they just weren't worth storing anymore.

[celestialdreamer]

I have 3 boys in a row, the older 2 are 2 years apart exactly (birthdays a day apart lol!) and then one that is 20 months younger. Right now our system is to save only the very nicest stuff in a box for the next youngest brother. I have a medium sized rubbermaid tote for each of them that their clothes to grow in to are saved in. I don't save things that are stained and worn out because I just don't have the space for it. I like saving the things that are worth passing on and then usually each boy gets a few new things that are needed either consignment or for gifts.

Before I recently downsized to the 1 box for each system, we literally had 15-ish boxes of just boy clothing. Yes, it meant I didn't have to buy clothing at all for the next size for the younger 2, but I was finding that a lot of the stuff was not even really worth having since some of it was 2nd hand when we bought it. Not to mention the space it took up! I'm sooo much happier with our current system.

[Logan]

Thanks guys, you're all inspiring me! Just took a big bag to the salvos! Feel lighter already.