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When It Comes To Clothes, How Much Is TOO Much? |
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As a mom of a large family and being separated from my husband for almost a
year (he was in Iraq), I had to learn how to scale down and come to terms
with my need for too much! At the time, I had five children and was
pregnant with my sixth. | With my husband gone, I was doing over 22 loads of laundry a week. I was just overwhelmed to say the least. One day I realized that my dream of having the kid's dressers and closets always filled was actually a nightmare! I noticed that while I bought them lots of nice outfits, they always seemed to be wearing the grungier ones a lot. I realized that it was because they were always in the bottom of the hampers! I also realized how overwhelmed my children were when it came time to picking out clothes. My 3 year old would empty her drawers every day and that last outfit in there is what she wore!!! I asked around for advice and ideas on what others do before I decided to cut the clothes down. Here is what I did: I can't do laundry baskets for each kid's room or they become play toys. I tried that earlier this year and nipped it in the bud quickly. I may have the older girls start washing their own clothes next year. They are still a bit young now. They do help put things in the various machines and put folded clothes away so that is helpful. We just had too much. I liked the idea of having one dresser split between two kids and if it all doesn't fit, then get rid of the rest. When we started we had each child with a dresser and each were spilling over. The clothes closets were packed with clothes. Another problem I had was- I go through the small stuff often, so none of the clothes are too small!!! So, I moved dressers out of the bedrooms. Two children share a dresser each (about 6 drawers total). When my husband came home, he helped me get completely caught up on laundry. We sat down with each child and ALL of their clothes. Each child got 7 outfits (7 shirts, 7 pants or shorts or both), 3-5 Sunday dresses and 5 pairs of pajamas. If there were still 1-2 outfits that are just too cute to get rid of, we put them in a "rotating bin". The rotating bin is kept high in a closet and every few weeks, you may exchange one outfit for one out of the bin. Thus keeping the 7 count even. If they got a new outfit for Christmas or birthdays they have to get rid of another one. We also have a "winter clothes bin". This bin also has 7 outfits for each child and the Christmas or winter dresses. This is kept separate from all the other clothes (usually high in a closet). I did have a hard time getting rid of a lot of the clothes, but I kept with my mantra of "Tailoring down makes my life easier and gives me less work". I REALLY enjoy having less clothes. The kids are always in decent clothes and its easier to keep up with it. We ended up getting rid of 10 trash bags and two LARGE bins full of clothes to Goodwill. I hope this article is an inspiration and help to you as you organize your clothes! Shiloah is CEO of the Baker Household, homeschooling mom to six, and wife to Ben. She can be found at her blog: A Homemaking Journey. Site and content 2007 - Lotsofkids.com |
