Children’s Wardrobes

Clothing storage? That would only take away space for books. 🙂

But seriously, we have a space in the basement with boxes of clothing organized and labeled by size and gender. Karen has the kids go through their drawers twice a year when the seasons change to see what still fits and what isn’t needed for the season. They make a list of what each child needs to complete their wardrobe for the upcoming season. Then they go through the boxes and pull out what they need. The extras are put back in the boxes as hand-me-downs for next season, given away, or made into rags, as appropriate. That leaves us with a shopping list of what everyone still needs, which unfortunately, only serves to take away funds for buying more books. 😉

As far as how much they need v. how much they have, I usually use how often I plan to do laundry as the litmus test. For example, I like to do laundry every four days or so (twice a week, roughly), so I figure that four pajamas or nightgowns should be sufficient — maybe five if I want some breathing room. Since they can wear jeans for more than one day, two pairs works for us, and a pair of khakis to wear to church. Then they usually end up with several shirts, maybe 6 or 7, to select from. The older girls are starting to wear skirts more, so they add one or two of those into the mix too.

This is probably way more information than you want to know about our family, so I’ll quit now. 😉

Faith, I didn’t say we have a “great way” what I said was mice don’t like the smell of cedar. 🙂

Mice don’t like cedar and mothballs. Mothballs wouldn’t be such a great smell in your clothes so I go with the cedar which gives them the outdoors smell till you wash them. Otherwise I don’t like to but have to go with the glue traps.. luckily I have 5 young men (not including dad) who love to take these little monsters out of my house if need be. Me I wont go near them.

Hope that helps or at least makes you smile.

Misty

Misty, Thanks for clearing that up! We use traps as well because I want no question in their mind about entering further into my home than the crawl space. I do have all my clothing in plastic bins, so they don’t seem to bother with them.

Cindy, I have the same issue with the number of clothing items, and I have 2 girls!!! It’s hideous! I agree–keep it simple. I go through the clothes every month or so to see what they haven’t even worn once. They definitely go. Then I check for fresh stains or things they’ve outgrown. It’s so frustrating for them to not be able to put away their own clothes because their dressers are so packed! I feel that it’s a dual blessing and curse to accept hand-me-downs because I end up going through all the clothes, picking out the few decent ones, then getting rid of what I won’t use. Then they get clothes for their birthday or Christmas (I’ve actually had my mother-in-law complain that she can’t buy clothes for her granddaughters, so I quick telling people not to buy clothes!) It gets out of control!! I can go full years without having to purchase one thing for either of my daughters! Easy on the pocketbook–tough on the storage!

Faith 🙂