The right amount of clothes for kids

[Celtain]

I feel like I am completely buried under a mountain of laundry that I just cant get out from under. If I were to ever actually get all the laundry done, the kids have so many clothes that I could never ever fit it all into their dressers.

So any ideas, guidelines?? I swear between my 2 ds they must have 60 t-shirts!!!! It is so overwhelming.

[ASusan]

I think there have been threads on this in the past. Here's what works for me - just enough clothes for a week. So, DS has about 7 pair of play/daycare pants & 1 pair of "nice" pants. About 10 short-sleeve t-shirts & 10 long-sleeves. One sweater. He has many sweatshirts, but only one that he wears. The rest still have tags on them - they were gifts from family. 5 pairs of pj pants (t=shirts are interchangable as PJ tops or day-wear. The larger ones tend to be PJ tops). He has about 3 pair of shorts that still fit from last summer, and I bought 3 more today, so he should be all set there. Cotton shorts are interchangable as pj bottoms in summer. I try to have a few pair of twill shorts.

16 pairs of socks, all the same color and style. There is more clothing in his closet for him to grow into, and I typically go through everything seasonally.

We use 2 of the 5 drawers in his dresser for his clothing.

3 pair of shoes, so he can change them every day and always have a chance to let them air out and dry between wearings. I find his feet get really sweaty. 1 pair of winter boots; 1 pair of snow boots. 1 pair of slippers. I think he'll need new sandals this year.

[Jane]

Why not separate it into an A team and B team and C team.
top 10 shirts, top 3 pants. Set everything else aside. Pull out the B team if you need it. Probably can donate Team C and hold Team B in reserve for growing boys.

[34me]

My kids are older and the older two have 4 pairs of jeans one pair of khakis (black for dd) and dd has one skirt. they each probably have 10 shirts of mixed sleave lengths and weights. Ds#1 only wears short sleeves, even in dress shirts. They each have a pair of sneakers, winter boots and slippers. Dd and I share a pair of hardly ever worn dress shoes. Ds#2 has wash more clothes. Not only does he get all ds's hand me down's but all his brother's friends' too. He can probably wear different clothes every day for a month. I really need to weed them out.

[Celtain]

Looks like 10 is the magic number circulating here. I am purging tonight, I can't stand this anymore! Thanks mamas!

[Gray's Mommy]

I lean more for 2-3 weeks worth of outfits. I am not overwhemled by this amount. Anything more freaks me out & I can't stay on top on the laundry.

[philomom]

I do three weeks of outfits per child. Two special outfits for special occasions.


Anything else can get pared down.. shared with another friend.


Okay and for those of you who think three weeks is too much... maybe you've never had everyone in the house down with the retching tummy flu.

[kt~mommy]

Originally Posted by philomom

for those of you who think three weeks is too much... maybe you've never had everyone in the house down with the retching tummy flu.

lol, i agree! and we have lots of pjs for this same reason. ds gets lots of ear infections, and vomitting is one of our first tip offs

[Paigekitten]

My girls (10 months and two years) have 10 everyday outfits and 2 sunday outfits, and DD1 has three pairs of shoes, (sneakers, dress shoes and "puddle jumpers"). They also have a light sweater and a warmer coat. I have done this since DD1 was a baby and am thinking about going to even less, since I notice that they tend to wear the same 3-4 outfits over and over again.

ETA: The baby has two pairs of jammies, and the two year old has 4 jammie shirts and two pants because she does not like to wear a diaper to bed and we often change them in the middle of the night.

Oh yeah, and we line dry everything, so this covers us even with a 2 day drying time in winter. : )

[happyhats]

I admit I have entirely too many clothes for dd. In my defense I can afford the space since she's an only child, and we pay next to nothing for her clothes. For one thing, if you don't like the outfit let it go. You can afford to be picky if you have a lot! Also, I have come up with a method where I put together outfits and then hang those. If I'm feeling creative things can be mixed and matched a bit, but by having the clothes in outfits I tend to reach more for everything instead of wearing the same things over and over. It's so much easier. Plus then when there was random stuff that didn't match anything it went bye bye.

[seriosa]

From when he was born till about a year ago (6 yo), we were good with 7 outfits (tops+bottoms) for outdoor daily wear, 1 "good" outfit, and 3 "homewear" outfits (a bit worn, a bit outgrown, yk). 3 pjs, 8 sets of undies & socks, all of this for each season. 2 winter coats, 2 spring/autumn ones, 2 pairs of shoes per season, +snowboots, slippers.

This year I have noticed that he can do easily with less. I would keep 7 tops, but reduce the pants to 5 including the good outfit. He can wear a shirt or T two days in row now, and his gymsuits are fine for home lounging around too. The rest is fine as is.

The above considering I do 2 lol (loads of laundry!) of clothing a week, line dried, and iron once a week.

[ASusan]

Originally Posted by happyhats

I admit I have entirely too many clothes for dd. In my defense I can afford the space since she's an only child, and we pay next to nothing for her clothes. For one thing, if you don't like the outfit let it go. You can afford to be picky if you have a lot! Also, I have come up with a method where I put together outfits and then hang those. If I'm feeling creative things can be mixed and matched a bit, but by having the clothes in outfits I tend to reach more for everything instead of wearing the same things over and over. It's so much easier. Plus then when there was random stuff that didn't match anything it went bye bye.

I agree that hanging or folding things in outfits makes it SO easy. It also makes it easy to set aside things that don't get matched up into an outfit.

This season, most of the clothing seemed to go well into "mix-or-match" outfits, but I may go the outfit route again for summer.

[philomom]

Originally Posted by ASusan

I agree that hanging or folding things in outfits makes it SO easy. It also makes it easy to set aside things that don't get matched up into an outfit.

This season, most of the clothing seemed to go well into "mix-or-match" outfits, but I may go the outfit route again for summer.

I used to always roll up outfits for the hubby. He seemed to think that red and pink go fine together.

[mum4boys]

I think you need to ask yourself this question....if you had less clothes and you are not keeping up on laundry what would your children wear?


We have two weeks worth of clothes for our kids...which could be stretched into 3 weeks worth of clothes for them. We keep that many clothes because we have a child that is in the hospital a lot. I do not do laundry then and I do not want to worry about it.

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by mum4boys

I think you need to ask yourself this question....if you had less clothes and you are not keeping up on laundry what would your children wear?


We have two weeks worth of clothes for our kids...which could be stretched into 3 weeks worth of clothes for them. We keep that many clothes because we have a child that is in the hospital a lot. I do not do laundry then and I do not want to worry about it.

True that. There are 9 of us in the house. I am buried under laundry if I don't do 2-3 load a day. DH and I are not clothes hounds and my mentally disabled cousin will wear the same sweats/t-shirt all week if I let him. My oldest two do their own laundry. My 13yo gets overwhelmed easily so I usually do his, but make him switch it out and fold it.

All of this to say that while we do not have a lot of clothes/laundry per person, the sheer numbers in our home mean we have a lot of laundry. Sometime life intervenes and I cannot do 2-3 loads that day. We have enough that I can go a few days w/out doing laundry w/out going naked or wearing dirty clothes. I don't want to worry about laundry when I am called away for some reason, yk?

[mntnmom]

Originally Posted by Apricot

Why not separate it into an A team and B team and C team.
top 10 shirts, top 3 pants. Set everything else aside. Pull out the B team if you need it. Probably can donate Team C and hold Team B in reserve for growing boys.

I LOVE this. Thanks. It's a good concise plan. I'm also trying to get out from under my laundry! I'll need to take into account sweatshirts etc. due to the weather, but I like this for a starting point.

[ssantos]

I do laundry once a week on the weekends - usually 6 loads. We are a family of 2 adults and 2 children (3 1/2 and 5). One thing I have done to cut down on laundry is wearing pajamas multiple times (if they are not spit up on on peed on, of course). I wear one set all week. I have limited my girl's pajamas to 2 sets each so they can switch mid-week. I wear office clothes over and over again, and only wash if they smell or have visible stains - same for my weekend wear. If hubby throws something like a sweatshirt in the laundry basket and it does not pass my "smell and stains" test, I fold it and put it back on the shelf.

Maybe the problem is not just how many outfits they have, but how many outfits they throw in the hamper (or on the floor) to be cleaned.

[mom23kidsinutah]

Thanks for this post! My DS has unthinkable amounts of clothes. My mom won't stop buying him shirts and pants. I sent him to her house for a week and I sent him with like 5 shirts, and she sent him back with 10 more, 3 new pairs of pants, shorts and 3 new pairs of shoes. I think I am going to go through it and keep only the amount that Susan suggested.

Thanks!