Minimum Amount of Clothing for Kids?

[Annie Laurie]

In an effort to simplify, I'd like to keep the kids' fall clothing to some well-made basics and not buy more than we need. It seems like every year I buy them too much and they have a few outfits they want to wear over and over anyway. (It's still 80s and 90s here, so I don't usually start thinking about fall clothes until October or November).

 

How many shirts, pants, socks, pjs etc, do you find to be a good number?

 

I assume my toddler will need more because he will be messier with food and things than the older kids are.

[ksoika]

I just went through the summer/fall clothing transition & I limit the number of items each child has so that our laundry doesn't get out of control. I have three girls so their clothes include dresses, etc.

 

Each girl has:

three play dresses

three skirts

two trousers/jeans

six long-sleeved shirts

two short-sleeved shirts

two pairs of shorts

two church dresses

two pairs of tights/leggings

a pair of dress shoes

a pair of sneakers

a pair of mary janes

one swim suit

one fleece coat

one warm sweater

 

We live in a warm climate so that's all we'll need until after the new year. I also put a few extras (long-sleeves for short, sweatpants for the shorts) for the rest of the winter in one bin so I can pull it out when it actually gets cold.

 

Good luck with the inventory management!

Kelli

[Ali in OR]

It depends on how often you do laundry! I only want to do laundry once a week so kiddos need 7-8 changes of clothes. My youngest has way more than that because she gets all of the hand-me-downs from 2 sisters (I don't buy her much). My other two are too close in size now for hand-me-downs to work for them. My middle dd has been growing the fastest and thus has the fewest clothes--she's in the next size up within a year. My oldest is a slow-grower and is able to wear her clothes for 2-3 years before they are too small. Both of my older two need new clothes this fall. Their lists are different (oldest is in a wheelchair and doesn't do skirts or dresses but lots of leggings; middle is getting too mature for leggings but now likes jeans plus dresses and skirts), but both will have 7-8 outfits to get through until the laundry gets done again.

[TammyinTN]

Down to the last kid at home...he has

2 pair of khakis

5 pair of jeans

5 button down shirts

5 pullover shirts

4 sweaters

2 sweatsuits

6 white t-shirts

3 pair of pj bottoms

slippers

pair of boots

pair of tennis shoes

pair of casual shoes

1 rain jacket

1 heavy coat

5 hoodies

[Guest IdahoMtnMom]

This is what we have right now.... DS4 is on a growth spurt so I may be donating some of his stuff to the thrift store for survivors of deomstic violence and getting some new stuff, if needed.

 

DS4

3 pairs of jeans

1 pair of khaki's

1 pair of olive green dress pants

4 pairs of nice sweat/track pants

14 long sleave T's

2 sweaters

2 jean over shirts

4 sweat/track jackets

2 complete snow suits

1 down jackets

2 misc. jackets

1 down vest

 

DD3

4 pairs of blue jeans

1 pair of pink jeans

1 pair of jean fleece lined overalls

1 pair of cordeuroy overalls

7 pairs of stretch pants

4 sweaters

15-17 long sleeved shirts

2 complete snow suits

1 down jacket

2 down vests

3 sets of sweat suits

[Lily_Grace]

We go by the rule of 10 here for most ages:

 

10 long sleeve

10 short sleeve

10 pairs of pants

10 pairs of underwear

10 pairs of socks

 

And then those are filled in with

2-5 sweaters

1 pullover

1 hoodie

1 winter jacket

 

 

As long as we have that much I know we are good to go. Reason being, laundry is done weekly here. If something happens and there's a family emergency, need for a short trip, hospital visit, whatever, there's at least 3 days of clean clothes ready and waiting so laundry can get bumped to the back burner during that time.

[Sputterduck]

My son currently has 3 short-sleeved casual shirts, 2 long-sleeved casual shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 1 sweater, 2 suits (he loves to dress up for things unlike his mother), 1 other dress shirt, 1 dress jacket, 4 casual pants, 5 pairs of socks and 5 underwear.

 

I figure if I do his wash every 3 days we'll be fine. Starting October 1st I'll be doing laundry by hand and I'd rather have more frequent smaller batches rather than doing a huge pile of laundry once a week. That is just too much labor when doing it by hand, and I don't think I'll have enough laundry line for that anyway.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Sputterduck

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I try to have at least a week's worth....but alot of the time we don't get out of the house everyday so we'll stay in pj pants rather than getting "dressed up" normally.....I tend to get ds more socks/undies-just so we never run out.....

[Pretty in Pink]

My kids each begin the a given season with the following, depending upon the season:

 

5-7 bottoms (shorts or jeans)

7-10 shirts (either long- or short-sleeved)

2 packs of socks (ankle- or knee-length)

2 packs of underwear

2 pairs of shoes (sandals/sneakers or sneakers/boots)

1-2 sets of 'pajamas' (I just pick up track pants at the thrift store for the boys to sleep in)

 

They each have the following outerwear:

 

1 raincoat

A few hoodies or zip-up fleece jackets

1 heavy winter coat (the 3-in-1 types are nice because the outer layer is a windbreaker/raincoat, the inner layer is a fleece zip-up, and together they are a heavy coat)

[Momof3littles]

I don't have a number, but there is also the issue of how often I want to do laundry. I kind of like it that they have enough to wear for a week (and then some) so I'm not doing laundry more than once per week.

:iagree: I do laundry as part of my daily routine, but it is nice to not *have* to rush to do it, just in case.

 

I don't like having a ton of excess clothing, but at the same time I like having enough to make sure we can go a few days without doing kid wash.

[6packofun]

Here is what I'm aiming for, per kid:

 

1 nice pair of jeans

2 nice pairs of church pants (docker-type in tan and either black or navy) OR

*1 pair of church pants and 1-2 skirts for my girls who want to wear them

1-2 pairs of casual/everyday jeans

2 pairs of strictly lounge/play pants like sweats or sports pants

1 pair of pajama pants (we wear tees or tanks with these for bed)

10-12 pairs of sports socks

10-12 pairs of underwear

SLIPPERS (we are getting everyone slippers this year because our house is very chilly AND I want to save our socks! We go through socks like they're, well, disposable)

6-8 casual long-sleeved shirts/sweatshirts

6-8 nicer warm tops and sweaters for church

*we don't put away all of our tees and tanks/camis for winter because they're good for layering or wearing to bed, so everyone chooses about 10 of those to keep through the winter for that.

 

Outerwear:

2 pairs of gloves (one is usually damp, so it helps to have 2...we use an over-the-door shoe organizer for gloves/mittens)

1-2 hats or a pair of earmuffs

1 winter coat for church

1 winter coat for everything else

1 jacket or nice hoodie

(The kids like to have hoodies so we have those for keeping warm around the house, 2-3 per person and they need to retire one if they want to add on! LOL)

1 pair of boots (footwear in winter is tough because everyone wants stylish and warm boots to match outfits, but those don't work for sledding and play...we try to stick to one pair, wear them to church and then switch to dressy shoes when we're there. LOL)

 

NOTE: We do NOT own all of these things. It's what I'm working towards because I'm tired of my kids showing up to church in their casual stuff that tends to get so dingy! We went to a very casual church for a long time but now we're at a place that's slightly more formal (even though they do NOT care what we wear) and we'd like to fit in just a tad better. LOL

Edited September 26, 2011 by 6packofun
typo

[AuntieM]

This thread is so helpful, thanks to you all! Time for us to shop for cold-weather clothing and the budget is tight here, too. These lists will help us devise one of our own.

 

And then we have to stick to it and not over shop!!!

[regentrude]

I don't have a number, but there is also the issue of how often I want to do laundry. I kind of like it that they have enough to wear for a week (and then some) so I'm not doing laundry more than once per week.

 

:iagree:

[Momling]

Do those of you who answered, actually count the number of clothes and keep it to that? We seem to have a constant flow...

 

Too small clothes given to friends

Cute dress bought at the mall

Jacket disappears at school

Girls borrow each other's clothes

Various Hand-me-down from friends added to dressers

Need new underwear, pick up a pack of 6 at Costco.

Toss out three of the too-small undies

Sleepover guest leaves shirt here

Lose a sock

Birthday present -- new sweaters

 

I have no idea what the kids have... Then there's the winter clothes boxes that will need to be switched out.

[Joyful]

There was a point last season when I did laundry every day, M-Sat - 2/3 loads per day. There are 2 adults and 3 children in our house. In order for it to work out so that no one runs out of anything at any given time, and I don't feel overwhelmed by the amount of laundry done per day, it out to be 4 outfits/person plus one set of "Sunday clothes" as a minimum for us. I washed the PJs every week when I washed the bed linens, so each person had one set of PJs (except the pre-schooler who had 2, in case we needed to change PJs in the middle of the night.)

 

One outfit in the winter = 1 of each: pair of pants/skirt, undershirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater/fleece pullover or cardigan, underwear, pair of socks.

 

I know of family friends who washed all their clothes in the evening after everyone showered and changed into lounge clothes/PJs. And each person had 2 sets of clothes which they rotated. That, is the most minimalist that I know of.

[Cosmos]

My son currently has 3 short-sleeved casual shirts, 2 long-sleeved casual shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 1 sweater, 2 suits (he loves to dress up for things unlike his mother), 1 other dress shirt, 1 dress jacket, 4 casual pants, 5 pairs of socks and 5 underwear.

 

Our list is most similar to this, except for the suits. Some of the other lists are making me gasp. TEN pairs of pants? My ds has 2-3 casual plus one pair of dress pants.

[happygrrl]

My son currently has 3 short-sleeved casual shirts, 2 long-sleeved casual shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 1 sweater, 2 suits (he loves to dress up for things unlike his mother), 1 other dress shirt, 1 dress jacket, 4 casual pants, 5 pairs of socks and 5 underwear.

 

I figure if I do his wash every 3 days we'll be fine. Starting October 1st I'll be doing laundry by hand and I'd rather have more frequent smaller batches rather than doing a huge pile of laundry once a week. That is just too much labor when doing it by hand, and I don't think I'll have enough laundry line for that anyway.

 

I did laundry by hand for years. It won't take you long to come up with a good system. For me, using an old-time scrub board and then this device was the ticket.

[Annie Laurie]

Thanks for the replies, I had lost track of this thread, but remembered today when the kids were trying on last year's clothes to see if anything still fits.

 

I do laundry twice a week usually and then they wear their favorites over again. I will definite take that into consideration when making my final list.

 

The weather is so variable here in the winter, so we end up needing a lot of layers.

[justasque]

Do those of you who answered, actually count the number of clothes and keep it to that? We seem to have a constant flow...

 

Too small clothes given to friends

Cute dress bought at the mall

Jacket disappears at school

Girls borrow each other's clothes

Various Hand-me-down from friends added to dressers

Need new underwear, pick up a pack of 6 at Costco.

Toss out three of the too-small undies

Sleepover guest leaves shirt here

Lose a sock

Birthday present -- new sweaters

 

I have no idea what the kids have... Then there's the winter clothes boxes that will need to be switched out.

 

That's how it works here. Hand-me-downs come in constantly, are washed and sorted and put away; anything unwanted is passed on to others. Clean-out as a multi-session process in spring and fall, stuff that doesn't make the cut due to size or style is passed on to friends and brought to homeschool gatherings to give away. As clean-out goes along we assess what we need for the upcoming season, based not so much on numbers of items but rather purpose - for example need snow boots, or need bathing suit, or whatever.

[annlaura]

DS4 currently has 1 pair of jeans, 3 pairs of sweat pants, and a pair of dark orange cargo pants. I want to get either a pair of khakis or cords for dressing up. And I'd love to buy another pair of jeans but don't know if budget will allow. He likes to change underpants morning and night,, so we need extra of those. I'd like him to have 5 pair of jammies, so I may have to figure out how to sew simple pj tops. Pj bottomms are easy. He has 1 set of long johns, and we'll buy another. They can double as jammies. He has 1 sweatshirt, 1 hoodie, 1 pullover I knit, and 1 hooded cardigan I'm almost done knitting.

 

The toddler has lots of clothes because my oldder DS was the first grandson, so had tons of nice clothes that are still good.

[Sputterduck]

I did laundry by hand for years. It won't take you long to come up with a good system. For me, using an old-time scrub board and then this device was the ticket.

 

Thank you! That was very encouraging and that device looks very useful.

[angela in ohio]

We keep things to a minimum around here. This year:

 

Teen girls each:

1-gray pants

1-tan pants

1-jeans

2-skirts

1-black shoes

1-brown shoes

1-tennis shoes

1-t-shirt and zip-up hooded sweatshirt

1-pajamas

 

Then they share a few dress blouses, sweaters, and casual long-sleeve shirts.

 

Little guy:

1-tan pants

1-blue pants

1-jeans

1-"track" pants

2-button-down shirts

2-polo shirts

1-sweater

1-zip-up hooded sweatshirt

1-suit

1-tennis shoes

1-brown shoes

 

He has a few t-shirts from sports tournaments, too.

 

We do laundry twice a week. They sometimes wear out a shirt or pair of pants, and I replace it, but I don't buy extras, because they take up space and make it harder to find things.

[Beth S]

. . . was when I started having the boys wear the same play outfit for several days, for when we are just staying at home.

 

They will wear a nicer outfit when we go out to the store or visit with friends. Then change back to the play outfit when we get home.

 

Another big "waste" was when they clean up their room . . . and just put all the clothes into the hamper.

 

I do a load of laundry once a day, with 7 in the family.

 

All that to say, I think they have 4 play outfits and 2 nicer "going out" outfits, and then 2 Sunday outfits.

 

We just swapped out to the winter clothes, and I found quite a few things in the bottom of each one's dresser drawer that they had never worn! So, these are packed away to be used with the NEXT son. Usually the "nicer outfit" becomes a "play outfit" for the next boy.

 

Having four boys in a row has always been a clothes challenge, but much of their wardrobe is hand-me-downed which is a real blessing.

Edited September 28, 2011 by Beth S

[homeschoolkitty]

My son currently has 3 short-sleeved casual shirts, 2 long-sleeved casual shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 1 sweater, 2 suits (he loves to dress up for things unlike his mother), 1 other dress shirt, 1 dress jacket, 4 casual pants, 5 pairs of socks and 5 underwear.

 

I figure if I do his wash every 3 days we'll be fine. Starting October 1st I'll be doing laundry by hand and I'd rather have more frequent smaller batches rather than doing a huge pile of laundry once a week. That is just too much labor when doing it by hand, and I don't think I'll have enough laundry line for that anyway.

 

as a former cloths washer by hand...i'd advice (don't you hate people advicing w/out ur asking~so sorry) use gloves. the thickest you've got. Mex has ACE no? best thing for your whites. let them soak till u wash the colors. I had few cloths. but we had to wash the family's clothes. jeans were the hardest and sheets! socks were hard to keep white. God bless your endevors!

[Annie Laurie]

We keep things to a minimum around here. This year:

 

Teen girls each:

1-gray pants

1-tan pants

1-jeans

2-skirts

1-black shoes

1-brown shoes

1-tennis shoes

1-t-shirt and zip-up hooded sweatshirt

1-pajamas

 

Then they share a few dress blouses, sweaters, and casual long-sleeve shirts.

 

Little guy:

1-tan pants

1-blue pants

1-jeans

1-"track" pants

2-button-down shirts

2-polo shirts

1-sweater

1-zip-up hooded sweatshirt

1-suit

1-tennis shoes

1-brown shoes

 

He has a few t-shirts from sports tournaments, too.

 

We do laundry twice a week. They sometimes wear out a shirt or pair of pants, and I replace it, but I don't buy extras, because they take up space and make it harder to find things.

 

I'm going to try something like this. My kids are hard on clothes and probably will wear things out, but it makes sense to just replace as needed instead of storing all these extra outfits. Because my kids always gravitate towards the same 3 or 4 outfits and wear them over and over anyway. (Every time they're clean, instead of rotating through their other outfits).

 

. . . was when I started having the boys wear the same play outfit for several days, for when we are just staying at home.

 

They will wear a nicer outfit when we go out to the store or visit with friends. Then change back to the play outfit when we get home.

 

Another big "waste" was when they clean up their room . . . and just put all the clothes into the hamper.

 

I do a load of laundry once a day, with 7 in the family.

 

All that to say, I think they have 4 play outfits and 2 nicer "going out" outfits, and then 2 Sunday outfits.

 

We just swapped out to the winter clothes, and I found quite a few things in the bottom of each one's dresser drawer that they had never worn! So, these are packed away to be used with the NEXT son. Usually the "nicer outfit" becomes a "play outfit" for the next boy.

 

Having four boys in a row has always been a clothes challenge, but much of their wardrobe is hand-me-downed which is a real blessing.

 

I do laundry daily too, but clothing hampers get washed twice a week. The other days are kitchen linens, sheets, cleaning rags, cloth diapers, etc.

 

I have one kid who puts clean clothes in the hamper too, drives me crazy. He is why I realized we need to pare down clothing- his drawers are so stuffed with summer clothes that some spill out every time he opens them, then they get mixed in with dirty clothes on his floor.

 

I only have 1 kid who can use hand-me-downs, out of 5! Due to the fact that there is a big age gap between some or the next one down is the wrong gender.

[Susan in TN]

In an effort to simplify, I'd like to keep the kids' fall clothing to some well-made basics and not buy more than we need. It seems like every year I buy them too much and they have a few outfits they want to wear over and over anyway. (It's still 80s and 90s here, so I don't usually start thinking about fall clothes until October or November).

 

How many shirts, pants, socks, pjs etc, do you find to be a good number?

 

I assume my toddler will need more because he will be messier with food and things than the older kids are.

 

This is what I do. Although sometimes it still gets out of hand when friends pass on more clothing that gets added :).

 

I try for 7-8 complete outfits for everyday/play; 10 for 3yo and younger

3 pairs PJs for youngers; 2 for olders (8yo and up)

There aren't enough socks in the world to keep my kids supplied. :glare:

3 Sunday outfits plus 1 special holiday outfit (depending on season, Christmas or Easter)

2 or 3 pairs of tights for the girls/dress socks for the boys

1 pair dress shoes

2 pairs casual shoes - sneakers, flats, etc.

1 light jacket

1 coat, hat, mittens

(We don't really need boots much, but have a few pairs stashed of various sizes)

[FaithManor]

The good news for me is my boys hate pajamas. So, a few pair of thrift store flannel lounge pants and some cheap white t-shirts will suffice. This is fine by me because I hate paying a lot of money for something to sleep in.

 

Winter coat, boots, a couple pairs of really warm mittens/ski- gloves. The younger two haven't had a new coat or boots in years. Eldest ds usually leaves enough intact to hand down.

 

Extra hats - but I always get them at the end of year clearance so it never costs much to have them on hand.

 

One hooded sweatshirt and one lightweight jacket...Michigan has three clothing seasons, spring/fall - same clothes, winter - arctic wear, summer - HOT plus you still need all of the spring clothes out because you can't count on what you will need from one day to the next!

 

10 pairs underwear

 

10 pairs of sports socks and four pair of dress socks which they will promptly lose because that's what boys do. I've become accustomed to the sight of white gym socks with button down shirts, khaki pants, and dress shoes!

 

One pair tennis shoes, one pair of dress shoes and I'm getting flexible about that...one of the boys wears cowboy boots instead.

 

A couple of button down oxfords for dressy times. I learned to NOT buy those adorable argyle sweater vests from Children's Place and Kohl's because they.will.not.wear.them. unless I FORCE THE ISSUE! At this time in my life, it's just not important though they are so good looking when they take the time to dress up. Only the youngest one needs a children's tie on hand in case of a major dress-up occasion. The other two are tall enough to wear one of dh's ties with a full windsor knot.

 

Two pairs of jeans, one pair of sweatpants, two pairs of cargo pants.

 

Plain long and short sleeve tees with a couple of sportsy shirts or "cool" shirts for wearing to youth. All of which I've tried to get off the clearance racks in order to save money.

 

I'm not buying slippers. We don't use them anymore because of the radiant floor heating. Their feet sweat if they wear socks or slippers inside.

 

A pair of black dress pants and a pair of khaki dress pants.

 

No robes. The boys are just like their dad. Wrap a towel around your waist and hope nothing happens on the way from bathroom to bedroom or if it does, just grin and keep going. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a men's locker room! DD has maintained she's going blind from the show.

 

Now, if I could just convince them that they don't need to go through seven bath towels per week! I'm tired of washing towels. Personal hygiene is killing me. :D

 

As for dd, 20 years old, her description of clothing need and what my budget is willing to provide, are generally two different animals. But, she is a good thrift store, clearance rack shopper, and manages to make it work. She'll be working full-time as a paramedic soon and saving money for more pre-med, but me thinks she'll be expanding that wardrobe a little when she has her own paycheck.

 

Faith