How much clothing does a 4-year-old need?

[TXBeth]

I am trying to get rid of some of DD4's clothes as she has way too many, but I'm not sure how much to keep. Currently she has:

18 dresses

3 matching short/shirt sets

3 jeans (never worn because it is way too stinking hot)

5 non-jean long pants (see above)

10 shorts/skorts

35 short sleeved/sleeveless shirts

4 nightgowns

2 pajamas

 

I am thinking about keeping 5-6 dresses, about 15 short/shirt outfits, two pair of pants for cool season, and 3 sets of nightclothes. We will give the rest to a friend who likes hand-me-downs.

 

Is this reasonable?

[fraidycat]

Sounds good to me. I might even reduce the 15 down to half of that. With the dresses and the short/skort/shirt outfits, two weeks worth total is plenty for variety, I would think.

 

My kids are older, but are operating on 8 t-shirts and 5 or 6 bottoms (shorts and pants) each + 2 pajamas. They have more, but it is put away as an experiment because I got tired of rewashing clean clothes that they didn't put away due to messy drawers/closets so left in piles that got knocked over and mixed with dirty stuff. They haven't even noticed more than half of their wardrobe missing, so I think my experiment will become permanent-ish with small fluctuations and variations.

[carriede]

Does she get her clothes dirty a lot? If not, what you've paired down to is more than sufficient. At one outfit a day, you could go over half a month without doing laundry!

 

DS5 and DD2 each have 5-7 wearable outfits (depending on the weather), 2-3 sets of church clothes, and 2 sets of pjs. I do laundry every 3-4 days for them. But I buy the cheaper clothes and save them (I don't consign or anything like that), so I keep the expense down by buying less.

[Melissa in Australia]

sounds very generous to me. I would reduce it even further.

[Pawz4me]

It depends on how often she gets dirty and on how frequently you do laundry.  Are you a once-a-weeker (or less) or do you keep things caught up?  I usually do at least one load of laundry every day, so none of us needs many clothes at all.

[TXBeth]

Thanks everyone for the input! We have a house helper who does laundry 3 times a week, so it stays caught up. However, we don't have a dryer, so during rainy season (just starting) it can sometimes take a couple days to get things dry.

I think I have decided on 7 dresses and 10 other outfits (she loves wearing dresses all the time). Now to just get down to business and sort through it all! I'll have to get rid of her while I sort or she will claim that every single item is her "flavorite" and not want to get rid of anything!

[soufflegirl]

DD probably has about 10 outfits and three sets of pjs. It's mostly dresses these days as that's what she happens to like. I guess I try to keep it to what she will actually wear on a regular basis vs. having a strict number of outfits per child, but I never gave it much thought.

[JudoMom]

My boys typically have:

 

3 pair of pants (or shorts, depending on the season)
4-6 shirts
2 pair of pjs
1-2 sets of workout clothes for gymnastics

They each also currently have a set of khakis/button down shirt that fit, thanks to a wedding in March.

Sometimes a boy  might have more, depending on what survived the brother above him.

Oldest will start one class at the local high school in the fall; I'm going to have to expand his shirt selection so it doesn't look like he wears the same thing every day.

 

[Mommyof4ks]

I am a terrible about overbuying, so all of my kids probably have as much or more than your dd, so feel free to ignore me here. I would keep all of the pjs, because when kiddos get sick they tend to need to change their clothes often. Just an observation.

[almondbutterandjelly]

Now, see, I would make her try everything on and just get rid of the stuff that doesn't fit and also stuff she doesn't like.  Four year olds can grow fast, and in no time, she'll be out of a lot of that. 

 

Do you not take trips anywhere?  I would keep all the pants, unless she will already have grown out of them by the time cool weather rolls around again.

 

I would shoot for just not replacing quite all of that as she grows out.  I'm not sure anyone needs 35 shirts. 

[TXBeth]

Now, see, I would make her try everything on and just get rid of the stuff that doesn't fit and also stuff she doesn't like. Four year olds can grow fast, and in no time, she'll be out of a lot of that.

 

Do you not take trips anywhere? I would keep all the pants, unless she will already have grown out of them by the time cool weather rolls around again.

 

I would shoot for just not replacing quite all of that as she grows out. I'm not sure anyone needs 35 shirts.

This is all stuff that fits and she likes. We get a lot of hand me downs from a couple of neighbors who grow faster. :)

I was thinking of keeping all the pants that will still fit and might do that. Then again, even in cool season, it's only long pants weather all day for a couple weeks. We are in Thailand.

I agree with you about 35 shirts; I was shocked when I counted them!

[Katy]

I like littles to have 4 church dresses, 5-7 sets of play clothes (that I don't care if they get muddy or stained or what), and 5-7 sets of out in public clothes.

 

If it's too hot, put it in a storage tote for off season clothes in the top of her closet.

 

You might want to leave out a pair of pants or two though, in case it gets warm or she needs them to ride a horse or go into a tick-infested area.

[solascriptura]

I am a minimalist, so I am more extreme than others. If you are in Thailand, cold weather clothes are not necessary. So, 5 play outfits, 3 dresses, 2 pairs of sleep clothes, 7 pairs of undies.

 

Purge all the long sleeve clothing, fluffy girlie dresses, and stained clothing.