How much clothing does your 5-6 year old daughter have?

[frugalmama]

I'm trying to figure out how much clothing DD should have - I know she has far too much. Until recently we were caring for my father, and it wasn't unusual for us to have to be at the hospital for a week or more or be doing his laundry for several days when he was home. My coping method was to have several weeks of clothing for DD, so that I didn't have to worry about her having clothes or do laundry when I go home from the hospital. So she has maybe 2-3 weeks worth of outfits {more in summer} in her closet, and now I'd like to downsize it a little. On the other hand - it all fits her, and I'm hating to get rid of things that fit her now when I'm not sure if she'll be in that size come summer again or not. So I'm not really sure exactly how much she should have of each type of clothing. 

Fwiw, we're in central / south texas, and she is still working on potty training {she has aspergers} so I know we need to keep LOTS of bottoms due to accidents. It can get cold here in winter, and the heat in our house is not the greatest so in winter we really bundle up. Summer is normally dresses. 

So - how much of each item would you recommend and why?

[ASusan]

I'll bite, although my son is only 4.

For us, about 1.5 weeks' worth is good. This means when I have crazy weeks and can do the laundry/fold/put-away catch-up only on weekends, he's still good to go through the weekend. I weed out seasonally or when everything of one type is clean at once. (Recently, ALL his short sleeve shirts were clean at the same time, so I weeded out the smallest of them.)

But, for you, I'd probably still have 1.5-2-weeks worth of bottoms. I guess here that "2 weeks worth" is one-a-day for me, but it might mean 2-a-day for your daughter. For tops, that might mean 10-12 tops, with a few "good" tops more. We are mainly in play-tops every day, and I have 2-3 "nice" tops and sweaters for church, family dinners, concerts, etc. I have 1-2 pair of "good" pants in addition to the everyday pants.

I probably would not get rid of things that do not fit, but I might observe what ends up getting worn more often and put aside or box up those things that she just does not wear. If you have an upcoming consignment sale date, I might shoot for that date to have gone through everything and prepare for the sale. If you have a place you can regularly drop off consignments or resale (like Child of Mine), then you might consider doing a seasonally appropriate weed-out. (Call and ask - they might be accepting spring-summer things now, and NOT be accepting winter things. Ask when they stop accepting Spring clothing and aim to have her spring items cleaned out by that date.)

[mamayogibear]

Well I am the opposite of you, I have way too little clothes for my four year old dd. We just moved back into my parents house and I did not do an adequate job packing. I think she has two pairs of wool longies which are great for pj's, one actual pair of pj's, two pairs of jeans, two dresses, two skirts, four long sleeve shirts, only one tshirt, two hoodies, six pairs of socks, one pair of slippers, boots and shoes. It's actually not too bad since there is a washer and dryer here so if I have to wash her clothes more than once a week it's possible. Maybe twice the amount of clothes my dd has would be ideal. Oh and if you didn't use wollies when your lo was in diapers they are really awesome while potty learning! You can have three or four pairs and they prevent things from getting soaked, wool also does not need to be washed between each accident but can just be dried out.

Originally Posted by frugalmama 

I'm trying to figure out how much clothing DD should have - I know she has far too much. Until recently we were caring for my father, and it wasn't unusual for us to have to be at the hospital for a week or more or be doing his laundry for several days when he was home. My coping method was to have several weeks of clothing for DD, so that I didn't have to worry about her having clothes or do laundry when I go home from the hospital. So she has maybe 2-3 weeks worth of outfits {more in summer} in her closet, and now I'd like to downsize it a little. On the other hand - it all fits her, and I'm hating to get rid of things that fit her now when I'm not sure if she'll be in that size come summer again or not. So I'm not really sure exactly how much she should have of each type of clothing. 

Fwiw, we're in central / south texas, and she is still working on potty training {she has aspergers} so I know we need to keep LOTS of bottoms due to accidents. It can get cold here in winter, and the heat in our house is not the greatest so in winter we really bundle up. Summer is normally dresses. 

So - how much of each item would you recommend and why?

[greenmom4]

I went to Kohl's and bought a bunch of Carter's kids stuff for her - they all coordinate and they are really comfy, well-wearing playwear type clothes.

We have:

* 2 pairs solid fleece bootcut type pants

* 2 pairs patterned cotton bootcut pants

* 5 pairs leggings (two solid, three patterned)

* one skirt

* 2 dresses

* 1 tunic type thing

* 4 or so shirts

This is all she really needed for school and home.  Now, my mom (being a grandma) just bought about 3 more outfits from HA for her.  We also have a pair of jeans and a couple of other random shirts that are somewhat in the rotation.

[Polliwog]

I have about three weeks worth, more or less, for my almost-five-year-old. And about two weeks for my DS (7.) I like to have a lot of clothes because we like variety and I have a thing for children's clothes. We've got plenty of room in her drawers and closet, so it's not a problem. I resell all of her outgrown clothes, so avoiding excess washwear is always a plus.

[NiteNicole]

I would not get rid of things that fit and are in good repair.  Put away anything that's out of season or find a different way of storing them if you need to, but why get rid of things that fit?  Summer is not that far away for those of us in the South, if her summer clothes don't fit you can sell them at consignment or donate them then. 

The older my daughter gets, the fewer clothes I buy.  She's just not interested in clothes and she wears uniforms for school. My budget is what it is so I try to buy fewer good quality items instead of a ton of odds and ends. 

[Fillyjonk]

We have quite limited storage space, so I'm quite strict with what my kids have .My baseline for my 6 year old daughter is around 4-5 pairs of trousers, 5 tops, 2 jumpers, 5 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of underwear, 2 sets of pyjamas and a smarter outfit for concerts and so on. In practice, she has a few extra bits and pieces she has been given, particularly dresses, which she loves, plus just had christmas so have been given a few items of clothing for her. My 8 year old son has similar amounts of clothing.

My 3 year old daughter, on the other hand, has probably 6 pairs of trousers and 6 tops (same number of everything else) because, being younger, she is more messy generally.

The kids do also have an additional full outfit each, but these are for changes of clothes at activities that they do, so live in bags in the hall.

In some ways it is easier because we have a hard limit on the amount of stuff that will fit in their drawers-they each have one of the smallest size drawer sets from IKEA, and that doesn't hold that much clothing. We do apply the same logic to our adult clothes too.

Once a season I do a mammoth sort out where ALL clothes in the whole house are brought into the dining room and sorted through for seasonality and fit.

We don't have a tumble drier and we don't have any major problems with clothes shortages. I do make sure that they like everything in their wardrobe, and that everything goes with everything else.

[SomethingAnonymous]

Now that we got some new clothes for christmas, my 5 yr old daughter has a couple pairs of jeans/pants, and about 5 long sleeve shirts. 1 pair snow boots, 1 pair regular tennis shoes, some summer flip flops, a few pairs of pjs, a swimsuit- i'm not sure how how many summer outfits but i'd guess about 5. A winter coat, and a couple sweatshirt zip up jackets, about 6 pairs regular socks, 3 pair wool socks, and 6 pairs of underwear.  It seems to be plenty for us. We live in a place with 4 distinct seasons, and a very hot summer and a very cold winter, so we need a variety of kinds of clothes.

[Elcie]

My daughter is six and she has five bottoms that she'll wear voluntarily (stretchy pants) and two pairs of jeans, which she doesn't like as much. 

She also has several long sleeve shirts, but prefers tees. 

Although we live in a cold climate, she always wears snow pants at recess so the thin pants she prefers are not a problem.

She is all about comfort, and does not like dresses, but I did get her a cute dressy outfit (tunic with leggings) that has served us well for two holiday seasons.

She has knock off Ugg-style boots, and those have been great as her pants get shorter and shorter. (She's a tall, thin girl so the waists fit even if the length does not.)

She has more summer clothes than winter, as it seems to be a messier season for us; also days are longer and she'll go through an extra outfit per day.

For outdoor wear, she is happy to wear her brother's hand-me-downs, although she has two hoodies that were bought for her.

She is my third child, so I have learned that it's much easier on everyone with fewer clothing items in the mix.