mommydama | (no subject)

I'm going crazy over the amount of stuff we have. I've said this before. One of the worst culprits for us is clothing. There is just too much of it and not only does it spill out of drawers and closets, the laundry is just literally never done. With three tween/middle childhood girls and at least one grandma who loves to buy clothes for them and hand me downs it is out of control. Luci's wardrobe is always 3 times as big Maria's and I never seem to get rid of any of it. It is awful. I did some research online and came up with a minimum clothing list for the fall/winter. I'm going to try and get it down to this and keep it as close to this as possible. I know grandma will add to it some and there will be some special outfits here and there, as well as activity clothing (leos, dance shoes, soccer stuff) but this is going to be my goal.

5 pairs jeans or casual pants (cords, khakis, black, etc)
10 casual shirts
3 sweaters/hoodies
3 casual dressy outfits (knit style dresses or skirts)
1 truly dressy outfit
3 pairs pjs
10 pairs socks
3 pairs tights/leggings
10 pairs underwear
10 undershirts or bras
1 pair dress shoes
1 pair everyday shoes or sneakers
1 pair snow boots
1 coat (3-in-1 style, that gives us a light jacket as well, just have to get Maria a new one)
1 pair gloves
2 pairs glove liners
2 warm caps
1 warm scarf

Does this sound like a lot more than we need? Does it sound like too little? What do your kids wardrobes look like?

I must simplify before I go mad!!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Okay I did some more research and I seem to be hitting the average with my list. This is not a minimalist approach I guess, but I think I'd get bored seeing my kids in the same outfits over and over and over. Heh. I can actually imagine paring it down more when a child's favorites are found and worn more often, but I am afraid if I started with less I'd end up with two shirts one of them would wear. And we DO need at least two stocking caps. They sweat in them like crazy and they get nasty. There were days last winter when they needed a hat nearly everyday and I need a chance to wash them or they get really smelly. Glove liners are thinner gloves to go inside waterproof gloves for warmth. They are also good for warmth when you don't need waterproof. You can buy expensive moisture wicking ones, but I usually use those cheap little stretchy knit gloves you can get in the dollar bins at various places.

As horrible as it seems, this is probably less than half of what they have now. Yes, really.

I wonder if it would help your clutter if they HAD the "proper" amount of clothes, but you only kept the amount they really need to wear at the time in their drawers. That way you could always go "shopping" in the garage if something got stained or ripped, or you discovered they just never wore two of their shirts and needed to swap. When I worked for the Currans (and Kari was the most anti-clutter person I had ever met) I was always going through the girls drawers and packing most of it away in the garage. Most of the problem there was that Mary Catherine changed her clothes about five times a day and threw the discards all over her room.

That doesn't help here, since everything we own goes in the same 450 square feet, so extra stuff is extra stuff no matter what.

this is a good idea--- "shopping" in the garage or somewhere else for storage