Reader Question: How much kid clothing should I keep?
Recently I recieved this message from Valerie on Facebook:
We are currently trying to downsize all our items, as Dave Ramsey suggests. A friend and I are getting ready for a huge ‘eliminate debt’ sale and I want to get rid of all the extra clothes for the girls because they have so many! However, I’m afraid to get rid of too many. Does anybody have a good inventory list of necessities on each particular clothing item? Eliminating will also help decrease our clutter and the attitude that I can put off laundry another day!
How much is too much when it comes to kids’ clothes? Â Valerie could use your advice on simplifying her kids’ current clothing. Â I could use some advise on how much outgrown clothing I should save.
I saved almost all of Grace’s clothes after she started to out grow them. Â We knew we wanted to have another baby someday, so it made sense to keep what we could. Â The only stuff I got rid of was stuff I didn’t like and never ended up putting on Grace to begin with.
Fast forward a couple years and Noah arrived!
Noah is not a girl.
So what do I do with all of Grace’s clothes now???
IF we have more kids…
IF the baby is a girl…
IFÂ the girl is born in the same season as Grace…
Then we’ll sure be glad to have her clothes, but geez….  That sure is a lot of IF’s that need to fall into place!
After Noah was born, I went through all of the clothes I had saved for Grace. Â I tried to use a critical eye, but boy was it hard.
- If it was really worn, faded, Â or had stains – it went.
- If I didn’t really love it or Grace never wore it – it went.
- If it was a “classic” that wouldn’t go out of style (jeans, onesies, etc.) – it stayed.
- If it was a “need” that all kids should have (winter coat, socks, shoes, swimsuit, hats) – it stayed.
I put all the clothing that I am getting rid into plastic grocery bags labeled by size. Â That way things will already be organized when I’m ready to sell them at a garage sale.
I’m using the same philosphy with Noah’s clothes as he out grows them.
***Note: I have a huge attic.  Storage space is not an issue for me.  I’m sure I kept a ton more clothes than I really need to.  Getting rid of stuff was just so. very. hard.
Please help Valerie and I out! Â How much is enough for current and outgrown clothing? Â What are your rules for what stays and what goes? Â Please leave your tips (and links!) in the comments.
Do you have a question you would like to ask? Â Send it to me and I’ll share it here or on my Facebook page.
I have two girls and I had saved everything from our first daughter in storage bins. When we had our second daughter, obviously everything has been handed down. The only problem is she grows into some of the hand me downs off season. One of them is a May baby and the other is a November child. So whatever works works, but the rest gets compiled and donated to Salvation Army. I’ve often thought about selling the clothes in a garage sale or even on eBay, but I just haven’t found the motivation to do so. It’s so much easier for me to toss it in a bin and throw it in the trunk of the car so I can drop it off as a donation next time I pass by Salvation Army. Toys are a little bit different though. I usually give them to friends with younger kids or give them to the church nursery or preschool room.
I love the idea of donating toys to the church!! I’ll have to remember that.
I can’t comment on what to do with too much currently fitting clothes–I try to keep the amount of clothes in the drawers appropriate amount wise.
As for saving clothes—-our kids are 3 1/2 years apart, one boy one girl. Until our daughter was born I had every piece of clothing my son wore (we have a big attic too). Then I started to sort and purge.
Each child has a tote of clothing to keep forever–my daughter’s is fuller than my sons already. (girl clothes are way cuter and harder to part with in my experience).
Next I picked out boy items that my girl could/will wear–those staples that every kids needs and color doesn’t really matter. These items go in the tote of clothes my girl isn’t into yet.
THE REST GOES!! I have several outlets, our MCC thrift store gets plenty, I consign to a local 2nd had kids store (that sure beats having a garage sale and the prices are higher than garage sale prices) and I give some items to other kids we know.
I have a tote system in place: each kid has tote to keep, tote for consigning, tote for thrift store, and each kids has a tote (or 2) of clothes to grow into. Having a system in place keeps things from piling up.
My advice–if you’re not done having kids keep everything. Why risk having to buy the same stuff again, unless you really have no way to store it. Even though my kids are different gender there has been plenty of stuff I could use for my girl. My kids are 90 percentile and 10 percentile and it’s still worked out fine. Don’t worry about if they’ll be the same season–it’ll work out better than you think most likely.
And by all means KEEP A FEW THINGS to pass on to your kids. Even if you’re grandkids don’t wear the stuff it’s still fun to have those things. My mom gave me a bunch of my stuff when my daughter was born–I was glad for it. I’m sentimental, though.
These are all excellent tips, Jennifer. I am very thankful that storage space isn’t an issue for me, so I do plan on keeping almost everything. I’ll have to look into the consignment shops around here. It sounds like a good option for those nicer clothes.
Since you have one of each kiddo and you’re not sure if you’re going to have 3, I would keep only gender neutral clothing and your absolute favorites. I keep garments that mean something like the outfit that they came home from the hospital in, the one from their 1st photos,etc. And let me know when you’re doing your sale so I can nab some baby girl clothes: )