Clothes, clothes, clothes... and stuff. So much stuff?

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Forum -> Household Management

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seeker

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 12:38 pm

Just got a surprise shipment of hand-me-downs. I love hand-me-downs, saves time and money shopping. But I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do with it all. I can't figure out how much I'll actually need and what I should pass on to someone who could use it more. I don't have much space, though we're looking for a bigger apartment, right now I have piles of hand-me-downs ON MY TABLE which needs to get cleaned for Pesach. I already have some bins under the beds of things for the kids to grow into.

I don't want to just dump too much because I don't have time, patience, or money to buy my kids' wardrobes new. But I don't want to keep too much and just have needless clutter. I have already felt that I have too many kid clothes, but then again I sometimes find myself with too little of something, or nothing to wear when it's laundry time - and I don't have my own washing machine so I like to keep laundry to a minimum (I.e. prefer to have 20 pairs of socks and not have to wash them every few days.)

Also, I'm finding things change as my kids grow. At a certain age babies don't need much and what they do have can be easily passed between kids because they grow out of it before it's too worn. But now I'm finding my 2-year-old has been wearing the some things of the same size for almost a year. And some things, I thought I had enough clothes in a certain size but then the seasons change and I realize, hey, I have plenty of size 24 months clothes but they're all turtlenecks, we'll need something else for the summer. Or I have plenty of summer clothes in a certain size but the weather is just not always (ever?) short-sleeve suitable.

Can someone help guide me? I feel wasteful tossing out good clothes but I used to be this minimalist adult person and now I feel like I'm drowning in stuff. I have a 2-year-old who is growing into size 2T shirts but 3T in dresses (shirt sleeves of 3T are all too long, but overall length of 2T is short for her) and a baby who is growing into size 9 months now and crawling. What should their wardrobe look like for people who are not fancy but want enough clothes to not have to do laundry more than once a week at MOST?

bookie

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 12:44 pm

I do laundry once a week. I have a five year old a three and half year old and a sixteen month old. I like to at least have eight outfits but to me more than ten is excessive. Also I buy separate wardrobes for winter and summer and then one for spring/fall.

lk1234

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 1:54 pm

I have this exact same issue as well.
Andif I can throw in- organizing and not cluttering the house up with a ridiculous amount of toys.

I'm curious to hear some responses!

Cookies n Cream

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 1:59 pm

bookie wrote:

I'm pretty similar.
I do laundry once a week and like to have 8 outfits per kid.

seeker

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 2:42 pm

Do the 8 outfits include Shabbos? And do you mean 8 complete sets, because I have a bunch of mix-n-match skirts/pants/jumpers and shirts. PLUS a load of skirts that came in the hand-me-down bag that aren't so mix-n-matchy but nice enough that I'm trying to figure out what they'd match and where to put them and how many skirts I even need, and how long they'll fit for, because if this will be the wardrobe for the next 2 years then maybe I should keep more because the baby will already be growing into them (she's bigger than the older one, for her age)...

And do any frum-yeshivish-ish-but-not-Lakewood Americans care to weigh in on appropriate skirt lengths for preschoolers? I am still perfectly comfortable with DD wearing pants, but she does like skirts, they look cute, and they are going to be increasingly appropriate as 1. the weather gets warmer and 2. she gets older. Right now she's approaching 2.5 years old. I am looking at an assortment of skirts ranging from 2T to 4T that all look like they would approximately fit her (can't seem to pin her down for a fashion show in the week since they landed here!) Now I'm not going to be makpid on covering knees or anything for a baby her age but some of these look like they would barely cover her tushy. Others various lengths in between tush and knee. I can't figure out what's an appropriate, normal look for a kid her age. Help? I suppose that would help narrow down how many we keep. Though, as I mentioned, my baby is growing fast KA"H and is a chubbier build so some of these might be cute on her when she's 1...

Argh, it's so hard to toss but so silly to keep! It was a very random assortment of hand-me-downs so it's been a little hard to organize. Came roundabout-ly from a relative with a bunch of girls who are all older now, so it's been a while and things haven't stayed together. So I don't know what is really for what age, what outfit, etc. and I have never outfitted a little girl before, either; last time I did clothes shopping or sorting she was really more of a baby. Now she's a real girly.

DrMom

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 2:42 pm

I have a small Israeli washer/dryer, and I do laundry about once/day. Therefore, I need fewer outfits, although in summer kids get sweaty and sometimes go through 2 outfits/day. I like to have ~6-8 outfits per child in summer, 5-7 outfits per child in winter.

bookie

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 2:46 pm

Eight outfits doesn't include shabbos. I don't let my five year old wear skirts that are above her knee. I live in Flatbush and my husband is working(not sure if I am "yeshivish")

seeker

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 2:47 pm

But what about a 2-3 year old?

bookie

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 2:55 pm

when my dd was three she wore skirts above her knee. After age two she didn't wear mini skirts. I don't like the look.

Tablepoetry

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 5:09 pm

DrMom wrote:

Also in Israel, though I do 3-4 loads of laundry a day. Of course I'm not as organized as you and have no idea how many outfits my kids have - if I notice that they are out of something too often, I just buy another one.

I don't understand how someone can only have 8 outfits for seven days, with no available washing machine. Does your child really always only change clothes once a day? Don't their shirts get dirty sometimes, and you want something fresh? Aren't there accidents? Seems really close to living on the edge.

granolamom

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 7:30 pm

I think the first thing to do is make sure the space you do have is well organized. then, figure out how much you can store, choose that amount from the hand me downs you got, and pass along the rest. have bitachon that if you need more, G-d will send you more one way or another.

seeker

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 9:57 pm

Tablepoetry, sometimes they get dirty twice a day but sometimes they don't happen to get dirty and wear the same thing two days. Also, I'm the kind of person who does bibs at the table and takes off the good clothes altogether for really messy activities. And if we're not going out anywhere, I leave mildly dirty clothes on. What's the point of putting on something clean to just hang around the house and get dirty again?

Granolamom, half the problem is that our space is just too small already. I can't really even work on ways to use my nonexistent space more efficiently, because it's a furnished apartment and we're looking for a bigger place effective immediately if not two months ago, so why invest in rearranging someone else's apartment that we want out of? So we are a family of 4 living in a space meant for a single or couple and not fitting. If I owned as much as I could store, we'd all be wearing the same two outfits, washing each one in the sink every other day!

yksraya

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 10:06 pm

Try to keep 8 complete outfits, not mix and match that way you have less extras. 2 shabbos ones too.
Save some of the stuff for next season as well but keep it seperated from this seasons stuff. All the rest give away now beforew pesach to any of the clothing drive trucks.(and add some of your own outgrown stuff).

granolamom

Sun, Mar 24 2013, 10:22 pm

ah, I hear.
since you are hoping to move soon, any chance you have a friend who has a bit of storage space for you to stash hand me downs until you find a bigger place? I can store a few boxes for you if you don't mind schlepping to the five towns : )

iluvy

Mon, Mar 25 2013, 12:21 am

I do laundry once a week at most; often it ends up being more like a week and a half or even two weeks. Our laundry philosophy seems to be the same: keep the clothes clean to begin with, don't really care if they're a bit dirty at the end of the day. My older daughter is three. For weekday, I aim for 7-8 shirts and 4-5 pants/skirts. The pants and skirts are all black, gray, navy or denim, so every top can be worn with every bottom, more or less, and the bottoms can almost always be worn a couple of days in a row. For Shabbos, she usually has four outfits.

Figure out how often you want to do laundry - say nine days. Then figure out how many outfits your kid needs per day - say 1.3 (every two days she need a complete change in the middle of the day). Then multiply! Then add 1-2 outfits for peace of mind.

You can be creative about storing the extra peace of mind outfits. Since you won't be using them regularly, they don't need to be conveniently accessible - you can store them in some top closet shelf that you can only reach with a stepladder, or in a box under your bed, etc.

hop613

Mon, Mar 25 2013, 7:06 am

We are not fancy, but I really hate doing laundry. I do laundry once a week or 1.5 weeks. I have 2 boys of similar ages, but I guess matching is less of a concern for boys. Shirts always get dirtier than pants. DS1 has about 6 or 7 pairs of pants and 8-10 shirts. Pants are usually worn twice, and I do laundry when I run out of shirts. Everything is worn with everything else, which I find easier. DS has 1 pair of shoes, and 2 shabbos outfits.

The baby probably needs a similar amount, although it depends how dirty he gets.

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