Reducing number of outfits

[Amber in AUS]

How many outfits do you need to get by comfortably? I know a number of people here have been downsizing becoming more frugal and self sustained. One thing that bugs me in my house is the number of clothes we have. Most are hand me downs but we don't need 50 T-shirts, KWIM.

 

I would like for everyone to have a set number of outfits, just enough to get by. That will leave room in the draws and keep me washing and putting away very regularly. By outfit i am meaning t-shirt & shorts would be 1 outfit, dress would be 1 outfit, you get the idea.

[BMW]

Many years ago we went on vacation... I had to pack for 6 children at the time. I picked out 3 outfits for everyday and 1 church outfit and tried to use shoes that went with it all... I LOVED laundry day. It was SO much easier than piles and piles of clothes. We came home and I packed away a lot of the other clothes.

 

What I liked, too, as picking a color scheme for different children. One daughter had some burgundy, pink and green... we had leggings, skirt, turtleneck, sweater, tshirts and jeans mix-n-match in those colors and it seemed like more outfits because we could mix it up a bit.

 

I still do a color scheme when I make purchases... that makes it easier to sort laundry when my boys are in similar sizes!

[Melinda]

We have this problem, too. The kids' drawers are overflowing, but I have a bit of a Gymboree addiction.

 

I will be watching this thread for sure!

 

:lurk5:

[Reya]

DS has 1 nice suit

3 nice shirts

about 10 regular shirts

6-8 pairs of shorts

ditto pants

15 pairs of underwear

about 10 pairs of socks

3 pairs of shoes

 

at any one time. He used to have only 2 pairs of shoes per size.

 

Inevitably, we end up with more at the end of the seasons since I can't convince my DH's family to stop buying clothes at the current size and go the next size up.

Edited August 16, 2009 by Reya

[keptwoman]

I guess it depends on the child.

C has about 5 shirts both short and long sleeved

3 trousers

3 shorts

a couple of sweaters

a smart outfit

 

M has about 8 outfits of tops and bottoms for each season plus a couple of dresses. I find both of them have plenty. More than enough.

[JudoMom]

My guys each have 3 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of nice jeans, 2 pairs of holey jeans, 2-3 nice shirts (in both long & short sleeve), 4-5 play shirts (in both long & short sleeve), and 3-4 pair pj bottoms.

[snickelfritz]

My kids are about your age and seem to have a way of permanently staining things, pulling a button off when we're going out the door to church, etc...

 

I do know that I'm going with darker denim pants this winter. It matches everything and covers stain. I'm tired of having to match a specific pair of pants to a specific shirt.

[LoriM]

For me, personally, keeping closets simplified is a matter of eliminating stained, worn clothing regularly. I also have done a better job in recent years of moving all the clothing that "used to fit" (grin) out instead of waiting for it to fit again.

 

I have only one pair of jeans, one pair of jean capris, and two pairs of shorts for casual dressing. I am a fulltime teacher again, so I have two pairs of black slacks, one pair of brown, two pairs of khaki, and one pair of grey.

 

Then I keep about 10 nice shirts, and 10 T-shirts (4 of which are school t-shirts), and three or four jackets.

 

I have ten skirts (but these tend to be print--I only had one black skirt, so I recently bought a new one.)

 

I have three dresses.

 

I have one lovely grey wool suit (slacks/jacket) with a second purple and grey jacket I can wear with the slacks. Probably one of my favorite winter outfits.

 

Gee, seeing it all spelled out, it's obvious I have a fairly extensive wardrobe. :) And I really consider it simplifed. Oh, I also only own one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of sandals, and three dressy shoes (one grey, one black, one brown). That's probably my most frugal area. LOL.

 

For the children, well...they are 16 and 20. So, they have done their own laundry for years. Twice a year I go through their wardrobes (with them), and eliminate stained, worn clothing, and prove they *do* have several pairs of jeans, and plenty to wear to church (LOL) or we go shopping.

[Ottakee]

I think it depends on your life style as well.

 

We have horses, chickens, etc. so we need chore clothes--dirty, stained, old stuff. Then we have everyday clothes, a few outfits for church, and then a few specialty items like show clothes for the horse show, etc.

 

We also have a lot of shoes as we have sandals, tennis shoes, dress shoes, crocs, barn boots, riding boots, winter boots, muck boots, winter muck boots, etc. I try to keep out only those we wear on a weekly basis right now and keep the out of season stuff away.

 

I just can't let my kids (or even myself) wear our everyday stuff out to the barn or soon it will be ripped, stained, etc. We do though wear the same clothes out to the barn several days in a row.

 

What you could do though is cut back what is in their drawers to how many outfits you need between laundry days plus 1-2 more for accidents, spills, etc. and put the rest in a box in the basement, garage, etc. so that IF you need more clothes of that size you can get them out. It also helps keep some of the clothes nicer for the next child to pass them down to.

[Jennifer in MI]

a smart outfit

 

 

LOVE this phrase!!! :001_smile:

 

My guys each have 3 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of nice jeans, 2 pairs of holey jeans, 2-3 nice shirts (in both long & short sleeve), 4-5 play shirts (in both long & short sleeve), and 3-4 pair pj bottoms.

 

This is about what we have too. But, add to that a few workout clothes too.

[Tap]

This month we have hit both 108* and 65* for highs during the day. We need everything from jeans and sweaters/shorts and tanks/ snow gear and swim suits throughout of the year. Because of this we have about 10 outfits per kid per season. This is much less than before :0) I do laundry on Sundays and the kids help put away so it isn't too much.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Be careful when downsizing the wardrobes of stain-prone little children. Set aside a second complete week's set in an attic or something so you don't have to buy new clothes when they ruin something and their carefully measured one week's worth becomes just short of one week's worth.

[Mommyof4ks]

I tend to way overspend when I shop, so my strategy is to over buy at the beginning of the season and just toss what is stained as the season goes on.

 

The kids start out with about 20 tops and 6-7 pairs of shorts or jeans depending on the season. By the end they have 3-4 tops and 3-4 bottoms. We live in Tx, so I have to have some shorts and ss t-shirts on hand all year. I am a recovering gymboholic, so this year's wardrobe is the smallest I have had.

[homeschool68]

I don't know. I like to have a good amount of clothing so we don't have to do laundry quite as often. Plus my youngest still gets dirty easily and may need to change during the middle of the day if we go out somewhere. I also tend to buy more clothing the younger the child is (ex. newborn/infant has a ton!) and as they get older, especially once they are potty trained, I start to cut back. But I love to shop at consignment sales in the spring/fall of each year and I will rack up on stuff then so I tend to overbuy probably.

 

My youngest has at least 7-9 pairs of shorts in the summer, a few skirts/skorts and 15-20 summer tops/tank tops. She also has about 5-7 soft summer dresses. Socks and underwear we have a lot more of.

 

My oldest child tends to wear the same things over and over. He currently has 3 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of darker, nicer jeans, 4 pairs of favorite shorts and a closet full of t-shirts even though he only wears 2-3 of most fave shirts during each week. He washes his own clothes so he wears the same things over and over. :)

Edited August 16, 2009 by homeschool68

[Amber in AUS]

Thanks everyone. From this i have learned that my kids must be pretty clean, they are yet to ruin something beyond wearing again :)

 

I guess it is the little DD that has tons of clothes because she has hand-me-downs from 3 sources outside our family. Perhaps i need to pick the best of those and pass on the rest.

 

DH and I are going to downsize too, maybe we will be able to fit all our clothes in our chest when we are done, LOL. Our upcoming holiday should show us what we really need.

[snickelfritz]

I guess it is the little DD that has tons of clothes because she has hand-me-downs from 3 sources outside our family. Perhaps i need to pick the best of those and pass on the rest.

 

I do keep a lot, because of the previously mentioned stain issue, BUT

 

I get out all of their clothes near the beginning of each season. One dd has a birthday in September and one in early June, so I wait until after these. I get out all new birthday clothes and all hand-me-downs and lay them out where I can see them all---one child at a time.

 

I sort out those that are stained/ripped/inappropriate (one niece that gives us hand-me-downs can sometimes wear clothes that we wouldnt)/just don't like/have nothing to match and don't like it enough to buy a match...

 

And I pick outfits in the order that I like them/the kids would like them. I keep the number that I have in my head, and the rest immediately gets sacked up and taken to Goodwill. If I do the reverse and only pick out things I don't like....I keep much more. I do keep a large number, so I don't worry about putting some up in the attic, although, that's a good idea. I may have to try that.

 

At pretty much the same time, I go through last seasons clothes and do the same thing, estimating if either will be able to wear it next year.

[Peela]

I dont have a "number" of outfits per person.

Dd15 is too old for me to sort through her clothes. They pour out her drawer and cupboards. She is learning, slowly, to let go of things she no loonger wears.

Ds13 is hopeless when it comes to clothes. I go in there and throw out (disappear) clothes with stains or holes, pictures I dont like much or sayings that somehow snuck into his collection, and just keep for him a nice collection of decent clothes so that when he grabs something, anything, out of his drawer, its probably half decent. I clean out every season or so.

Another thing I do is put away a lot of clothes in the off season to a high cupboard in big bags, so I have plenty of room for my /ds's clothes.

I just keep skimming, decluttering, till they all fit nicely in my drawers and cupboards with a little space to spare. I do it several times a year (as I buy a lot of 2nd hand clothes).

[Pretty in Pink]

My boys each have approximately:

 

6 short-sleeved shirts

6 long-sleeved shirts

5 pairs of shorts

5 pairs of long pants

1 pack each ankle socks, tall socks, underwear, undershirts

1 pair sneakers

1 pair sandals or crocs

1 winter coat

1 light summer jacket/sweater

1 set gloves/hat/scarf

 

I pick up many of their clothes at the thrift store so their shirts are all polo style or button-up since it seems boys are particularly hard on their tshirts. I will pick up a few tshirts for each of them if I see them on clearance at the end of the season though.

[SilverMoon]

That depends on the particular child and your laundry rotation, in my experience. I like my kids to have enough seasonally appropriate clothing to last them for two weeks. The hampers are all dumped every Monday morning. This gives me a "laundry's late" cushion.

 

The amount of outfits looks different for each kid. My 3yodd is a dirt and stain magnet, for example. If she had the amount of outfits her big sister can do just fine with she'd be nekkid by the time laundry rolled around.