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What advice do you have regarding saving clothes for future children?

Yesterday, I posted about decluttering kids clothes. Can I get a whoop whoop?! How much fun is it to put away clean laundry in a tidy drawer that is not overflowing with too small, faded leggings and bathing suits?!


On yesterday's post a reader asked a great question, and I thought I would address it in post-form. What advice do you have regarding saving clothes for future children?

My straight forward answer is....define a space, whether it is a box or two boxes or three (your choice), and only keep what you can store in that space. I always kept one big box of boy clothes and one big box of girl clothes. If a box started to overflow, it was time to make a decision and take something out.

When you are putting away clothes for the "next" baby, shop your own stuff. Ask yourself "If I was having a baby boy/girl next week, what would I buy again?" This way, you are picking your favorites. Likely you got some gifts or hand-me-downs last time around that weren't exactly your taste or had an annoying collar or too many buttons. I think it is perfectly okay to want to love your baby's clothes, and even if you get rid of some things in good condition, that's okay!

If it's stained, throw it away. If it is a nicer, more expensive item, like an Easter dress, keep it. If it's not your style, give it away or sell it.

When they are little, they grow at lightening speed. Caroline didn't even get a chance to wear some of the specials that I had saved for her from Laurie. One- because she got a few new, darling gifts of her very own, and two- after having a baby there is pain and recovery and nursing and other stressors and I just didn't have time to play dress up!

This topic is highly subjective.

7 comments:

  1. As usual, good advice. You are a wise woman, SB!

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  2. I agree! And those clothes in your photo are plain adorable. My bottom line is that I don't like to spend a lot of money on baby clothes because the babies grow so fast and are so messy. I welcome hand me downs and keep what are my taste and I keep a big supply and then sometimes I change my mind when the size comes around for the baby - but sometimes I modify clothing and make it to my taste, so it's worth it to me to put off the decision sometimes. I have lots of boxes, labeled by size, some under the beds here at our house and some in a storage spot a few blocks away (that we don't pay for).

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  3. I prefer classic kids clothes without a lot of baby blue and pink. I love gender neutral colors like blues, greens, white, and yellow. I prefer not to spend much, I'll take any hand me down and shop thrift stores and pass on what isn't my taste.

    My suggestion is to store in groups (sizes 0-12 months, 18month-2T, 3-4T) mixing both gender clothes in the box if that's what you have. My general rule is enough clothes for 7 days plus a nice outfit or 2 and several Jammies.

    I like this system because each box gives you wiggle room to account for differing size kids, different gender, different seasons)
    Outerwear is all stored separately. I buy snow pants, snow boots in gender neutral colors.

    Kim from Philadelphia

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    Replies
    1. Amen to snow pants and boots in gender neutral colors! That's a small fortune right there. I like bib overalls for the toddler age and my boy and girls have all worn them since they were just plain bibs.

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    2. yes, gender neutral shoes! so smart.

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  4. The best advice I have heard (I'm not good at implementing it..but it's good advice) was to keep what is expensive to replace. So if you're not sure if that next baby is ever going to come or if it'll be worth it to keep boy stuff for 5+ years, etc. just keep the expensive stuff. The dress shoes, the nice church clothes, winter jacket, snow pants, nice pjs, etc. Especially if you have thrift stores surrounding you where you can buy play clothes very inexpensively. Also I like to resell my better quality boy clothes since I only have one boy and then several girls. So even if I had another boy someday the clothes would be 9 years old by that time..not worth it to store.

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    Replies
    1. Totally agree! I did not regret saving any church stuff. Plus, it is worn so sparsely that it actually stays in good condition (unlike play clothes).

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