One of my least favorite parts of having multiple kids

[Moxie]

Clothing management.

 

Ugh.

 

I feel like I'm constantly clothing shopping. And then, this morning was our first cool morning. One kid has no pants (I've saved all his older brother's clothes--was his brother never a size 8???), one kid has no non-sandal church shoes which was fine because she also has no tights that fit. Not only were we late for Mass, we were a hot mess when we finally showed up!

[brehon]

Right there with you. Eldest boy has been wearing tux pants (!) to Mass because he (a) has no belt and ( b) only 1 pair of slacks for church. Eldest daughter has no dress shoes that fit and no dress clothes for church.

 

And I have no spare money to remedy any of the above.

[Carrie12345]

Yup.

 

I thought it would be simplified when I had two girls 13 months apart.  Just re-use everything the next year!

Nope.  Girl #1 is a giant. Girl #2 is a pipsqueak.

[DesertBlossom]

It's always on Sunday mornings that my kids inform me (by throwing themselves hysterically onto the floor) that their church shoes are too small and they refuse to put them on again. I mean, couldn't I have had some warning and maybe some time to shop for new ones?

[Stratford]

I feel your pain.  And as if managing the clothes isn't bad enough, you have to wash the darn things, too.   :glare:

 

I have 4 boys that are all born in the spring and are almost exactly 3 years apart (not planned, just happened that way.)  I have saved every.single.piece of (intact) clothing to pass down.  At one point, when we still had babies, I had 18 large plastic tubs of clothes in my basement.  And 4 full dressers/closets upstairs.  We get hand-me-downs from a cousin on top of what I save.  The kids are not turning out to be the same size/shapes, which complicates things.  I am NOT an organized person and managing clothing is a huge struggle for me.  

 

Thankfully, youngest (and last kid) is now 2 so we've been able to get rid of everything he has outgrown, eliminating 5 bins to date.  I recently purged the bins and got rid of anything that was too worn or had duplicates and that eliminated another 2-3 bins.  The only kid I needed to buy clothes for this fall was the oldest, and since he's growing so fast, his wardrobe is has a nice minimalist feel to it.  Hand-me-downs have saved us a ton of money, they are just really difficult to manage.  .  

[unsinkable]

Clothing management.

 

Ugh.

 

I feel like I'm constantly clothing shopping. And then, this morning was our first cool morning. One kid has no pants (I've saved all his older brother's clothes--was his brother never a size 8???), one kid has no non-sandal church shoes which was fine because she also has no tights that fit. Not only were we late for Mass, we were a hot mess when we finally showed up!

We had that happen...one kid completely skipped a size and the younger kid needed THAT SIZE for almost a year and a half...

[Orthodox6]

We had three boys in a row.  Sizing was difficult because #2 often wore the same size as #1. 

 

I used a permanent marker to mark inside a garment with dots.  One black dot = Son #1.  Two black dots = Son #2.  etc.  Was easy to add a dot for an "inherited" garment. 

 

Boys are far less fussy about their clothing and about hand-me-downs than are girls, best as I can tell.  Son #3always  thought it was so cool "to go shopping in the garage." 

[beaners]

Oh I feel your pain. I have 7 boys. Somehow we have a ton of nice clothing in the only two sizes that fit NO ONE. And no matter how many times I shovel it into storage for down the road, it still appears in their dressers when I need to get everyone ready to go.

[Storygirl]

I hate it, too. We are extremely fortunate to get hand-me-downs from cousins. Except that somehow we ended up with about 20 pairs of size 12 girls' jeans. Not kidding. It's ridiculous. Why did one girl have that many jeans? And DD13 had to try on every single pair just to find the two or three that would fit her (she and her cousin are built differently). I wish I could get rid of the other 18 pairs, but DD10 is a totally different shape and may be able to wear some of them in another year or two. In the meantime, I have to store them somewhere, along with the other clothing that isn't quite right for one child but might fit another.

 

Every season I have to drag the bins out and sort through them again. And sort through the clothing in their drawers and closets. It's one of my least favorite things. I'm looking foward to the end of this when they reach their adult sizes.

[Squawky Acres]

I had an enormous amount of clothing in bins as well, and have struggled to manage it.  Recently, I started storing the almost-fitting, still-fit-but-out-of-season, and will-soon-fit-next-season items on the top shelf of each child's closet so that it is easy to pull out what I need at the appropriate time, and also easy to see where there might be gaps requiring shopping.  It has worked very well, and I avoided my usual fall panic attack.  I still do need to go to the attic to replenish the top shelf supply, but I can do this throughout the year.  

 

I also realized that as wonderful as the hand-me-downs were, they were just drowning me, and I often would go through bags and bags of items (that I would stuff in the attic) just to find a few that might work at some future date.  I am very appreciative, but much more selective about what we take -- usually just from friends whose children are only one or two sizes larger than mine. 

[Momofeat]

Only 3 kids here, but we still had "Sunday morning clothes woes" this morning. We go to a pretty casual church.

 

Ds has outgrown his jeans, and it was 44 degrees when we left the house. He wore dress shorts and a hoodie.

 

My mom keeps him once a week, and she recently asked him if he would like to go shopping for jeans. He said, "No." This morning I asked him what he was going to say the next time Gram offers to take him shopping. It sounds like he'll be more cooperative, lol.

[alisoncooks]

I am right there with you, OP! This morning was chilly and we struggled to put outfits together for church. Between the 2 girls, the only long pants that fit were a pair of navy capri leggings and a pair of brown leggings. We had to build around those. Oh, and they both wore Crocs since flip flops looked too summery but sneakers looked odd.

[Hypatia.]

This is the time of year when I find out that everyone has grown a couple inches and I need to search the clothes boxes for the next size up in jeans, and their feet grew and none of their sneakers fit (they live in sandals all summer). My girls have completely different builds, so jeans that were a great fit for tall, skinny DD1 will show 2 inches of butt crack on DD2. I'd much rather finish my book, and then maybe the next two in the series, before going through all the boxes again.

 

There are probably 20 pairs of shoes stored near the front door and I know that most of them don't fit. Or for some reason Pinkie Pie (DD2) can only find 3 left shoes and is mixing & matching with DD1's similar pair.

[LisaKinVA]

I'm half done with the semi-annual clothing sort.  Boo and Blondie both tried on nearly every outfit in their closets.  I have a bag of stuff to just get rid of, and two bags of stuff (thus far) to sell/give away.  I still have three closets to get sorted (dh, and my boys').  I have the bins re-labeled with the correct sizes.  I know which bins need to move in our express shipments (although I'll probably do one last sort before we move).

 

Boo has plenty of pants, but no long sleeved shirts or sweaters to go with them.  She also needs shoes.

Blondie can still wear half of her clothes from last fall/winter.  But, that doesn't include shirts/sweaters (she can still wear a size 7/8 pants, but not a size 7/8 shirt).

PonyGirl needs "dress code" clothing. Two pair of jeans, 1 pair of black jeans, 1 pair of khaki pants. Various tops/sweaters.  I'm nervous about spending a lot, because she just started growing, and I know she has 3-5 inches more to go.  She also needs workout clothes and swim suits, and new underwear...pretty much replacing her closet.  That will NOT be cheap.

I am HOPEFUL, that PokeMan doesn't really need anything -- except for shoes.  He's in that stage where my other kids didn't outgrow much.  So far, the only thing he's outgrown is the 10/12 PJs.  

LEGOManiac...I know he needs pants and shoes, and some long-sleeved something.  I need to figure out a jacket for him, as hoodies aren't allowed at the school, and that's what he has.

 

I saved all of my clothes for the younger children.  But my oldest dd was born in the middle of winter, and my middle daughter was born in the middle of summer.  DD #3 was very tiny compared to her siblings -- but apparently, she has big feet compared to her clothing size :p  Additionally, oldest DD and middle DD have completely different body types.  There are dresses that were super cute on older DD that middle DD just cannot wear (her dresses need some sort of belt or shirring -- especially sundresses).  Boo, has a body type somewhere in between the other girls...so I keep everything.  The boys have worked out much better.  I'm also hoping to get DH's closet cleaned out.  This is something I cannot do for him.  Maybe next weekend we can spend an hour getting rid of all of the stuff he cannot or does not wear.

 

As for me...I keep wearing the same ratty clothes simply because I don't want to buy new ones.  I need to buy new ones.

 

Thankfully, my oldest two are quickly approaching their "full-height" sizes.  DS should be there in the next year or two.  Sooner, if his foot doesn't grow any more...later if his foot grows again.  DD will be done in about 2 years (she seems to be following in my footsteps).  I'm looking forward to helping them fill out their wardrobes vs. just keeping something they can wear "right now."

 

[BlsdMama]

Clothing management.

 

Ugh.

 

I feel like I'm constantly clothing shopping. And then, this morning was our first cool morning. One kid has no pants (I've saved all his older brother's clothes--was his brother never a size 8???), one kid has no non-sandal church shoes which was fine because she also has no tights that fit. Not only were we late for Mass, we were a hot mess when we finally showed up!

 

 

I am SO sympathetic.

 

 

I worked up my courage three weeks ago and did the seasonal "switch" (summer to fall) all in one day.  If I don't do it in one day then we spend weeks with open clothing tubs strewn everywhere!  I was proud.... Until the next two weeks were 90ish degrees.  Sigh.

 

Clothing is the bane of my existence.

And we won't even discuss socks.

[Junie]

We have about a hundred space bags full of clothes in the basement.  I guess I'll need to go dig around there in the next day or two.  I think that is easier that my girls only wear dresses and skirts.  An inch of growth doesn't usually cause a lot of problems like it would with pants.

 

That said, dd13 and dd11 have completely different styles.  Dd11 is just not happy with the clothing choices dd13 made several years ago.

 

And, I have finally started getting rid of dd15's clothes.  Even if we were to have another boy, the clothes would be sitting around for at least a decade before they could be worn.

 

[Guest]

I am SO sympathetic.

 

 

I worked up my courage three weeks ago and did the seasonal "switch" (summer to fall) all in one day. If I don't do it in one day then we spend weeks with open clothing tubs strewn everywhere! I was proud.... Until the next two weeks were 90ish degrees. Sigh.

 

Clothing is the bane of my existence.

And we won't even discuss socks.

My boys have had a tub on their floor so long, I don't even see it anymore. Like it is legit furniture.

 

If I ever win the lottery, we're donating all clothes and buying new, each season!

[BlsdMama]

LOL, a fellow is coming this weekend to saw holes for our basement windows.  Those tubs WILL be packed and put away for the season once and for all if it kills me.... And it might.

[SnMomof7]

I hear you. I'm totally overhauling our clothes. I think we have toooo many, but not the ones we really need. That just makes things worse.

[wapiti]

My boys have had a tub on their floor so long, I don't even see it anymore. Like it is legit furniture.

 

LOL.  One of my kids doesn't change his clothes often enough.  He has moved back and forth from the basement bedroom where we left his heavy dresser.  Now he's sleeping in the loft and all his clothes are in one plastic box in the closet.

 

The closets are waiting for me, for the annual purge and re-sort.  I need another cup of coffee first, a really big one.

[scholastica]

Clothing management.

 

Ugh.

 

I feel like I'm constantly clothing shopping. And then, this morning was our first cool morning. One kid has no pants (I've saved all his older brother's clothes--was his brother never a size 8???), one kid has no non-sandal church shoes which was fine because she also has no tights that fit. Not only were we late for Mass, we were a hot mess when we finally showed up!

No Size 8 Boy worth his salt leaves pants behind in good enough condition for another child! At least not in my house!

I have avoided the clothing sort until now. I must face it this week. Luckily, my big kids do their own and come out with a list of all the new stuff they need. Which is a whole other fun time.

[DesertBlossom]

[quote name="BlsdMama" post="6573194"

And we won't even discuss socks.

 

I am convinced socks are some kind of conspiracy. Every package comes with 6 pair of similar, yet non-matching different colored socks and pairing them up is not something I want to do or have time for. And I know some kids don't mind not matching. But it makes me twitch. I find packages of all white or all black socks and then buy 3 packages. If I am lucky, 2 of my boys can wear the same size. Makes sorting easier when all the socks are identical.

[Junie]

I am convinced socks are some kind of conspiracy. Every package comes with 6 pair of similar, yet non-matching different colored socks and pairing them up is not something I want to do or have time for. And I know some kids don't mind not matching. But it makes me twitch. I find packages of all white or all black socks and then buy 3 packages. If I am lucky, 2 of my boys can wear the same size. Makes sorting easier when all the socks are identical.

 

Yes, we have a sock conspiracy here, too.

 

Some of my girls have socks that are white with different colored toes/heels.  These work great, because they don't have to match.  (They look all white when they are wearing shoes.)

[saraha]

I pay a nickle for every pair of socks you mate.  We have a giant tub where every sock that isn't immediately paired while I fold, goes in here and kids can earn money mating socks.  I know it has been a while since anyone did this when I see my dh sitting on the floor going through the tub looking for a  matching pair....

Our kids don't get an allowance, so they do extra chores for money, and this is a popular one.

[DesertBlossom]

Yes, we have a sock conspiracy here, too.

 

Some of my girls have socks that are white with different colored toes/heels. These work great, because they don't have to match. (They look all white when they are wearing shoes.)

Those I can handle. But even they seem hard to find. It seems like *most* sock pairs are completely different so they are obviously mismatching. I've heard that kids do that on purpose even, but I can'y handle it. :-D

[Ausmumof3]

We have the Sunday morning shoe thing. Somehow shoes that fit perfectly well on the Tuesday in the shop are impossible to wear and two sizes too small by Sunday morning! What's with that?

[Squawky Acres]

My husband had a sock solution.  It came from his days as a management consultant -- standardization.  80 pairs of plain white socks in a reasonable size from the Gap when they had a 40% off sale.  They stretch to fit all the older kids, are a little bit baggy on the toddler, but everyone manages.

 

Oh, and mandated Keens all summer (no socks).

[Junie]

My husband had a sock solution.  It came from his days as a management consultant -- standardization.  80 pairs of plain white socks in a reasonable size from the Gap when they had a 40% off sale.  They stretch to fit all the older kids, are a little bit baggy on the toddler, but everyone manages.

 

Oh, and mandated Keens all summer (no socks).

 

:)  This is almost how it works out at my house.  Except for the girls, ages 5 to 13 is a huge range in foot sizes.  However, dd5, dd7, and dd9 often do switch up socks if they can't find their own.

[texasmama]

I can't keep the underwear and socks of my boys and dh separate.

[Ewe Mama]

I have eight banker's boxes of kids' clothing sitting in my formerly clean closet, just waiting for the weather to officially shift over the whole way. Today is 73, tomorrow is 85, Wednesday is supposed to be 63... You know the drill. I will be thrilled when it is officially cool enough to wear long sleeves all day just so I can have my closet back.

 

 

We do the one dot, two dot, three dot thing on all the boys' clothing. That is the best time saver for us. I would love to buy a boatload of the same type of socks for all of them to share, but Alvin has wide feet, Joy has narrow feet, Faith has tiny feet, and they all like different style. He likes ankle socks, she likes bobby socks, one likes knee socks, and the other likes crew. If I could just get rid of all the socks!

 

The boys always make me laugh when I have to organize their pants for the fall. Simon is super tall and thin, so he wears slims in the next size up every year. Theodore is my peanut and wears the same size as Faith, but he is a regular size, not slim. However, he can put holes into the knees of every brand of pants faster than any child I have ever known. The others never have holes in their knees. Alvin is my straight up and down, no waist in sight boy. He is built like Frog in the Frog and Toad stories. He has to wear husky pants even though, weight-wise, he doesn't qualify; he needs them for his rectangular body shape. All three boys are almost the same age, but none of them can wear the same size anymore and probably never will again. I can get rid of their pants as soon as they are outgrown.

 

I am very selective about hand me downs. If it doesn't spark joy when I am sorting through it, into the donation bag it goes. If I have to wash it, I want to at least enjoy washing it!

 

 

Put me in the odd duck category...I actually enjoy sorting, organizing, and shopping for the seasonal wardrobe updates.

[alisoncooks]

I don't mind *so* much the seasonal and size shift (I tend to do it all in one big clothes-weekend).  

 

What I do mind is the pair of jeans I bought for the big girl 2 weeks ago (for the upcoming season) already DO NOT FIT in the waist, no matter how much we expand them.

 

How is that even possible?

[Love My Life x4]

I enjoy it!  But I LOVE dressing my kids.  LOL!  My boy doesn't have hand me downs as he's the only one.  My two oldest girls (12 and 9) are now *basically* the same size (10/12... my 9y/o is a competitive gymnast/tumbler and one solid muscle). But they can't share clothes because they are built differently and my 7y/o is so tiny she's wearing 4/5t's... lol!

Whatever doesn't work for the current season I sell/donate.  I don't store clothes except for the season we just came out of.  I also don't pass shoes from kid to kid as that has never worked either.

 

I have gone through all the totes (6) of fall/winter clothes with them, we've done quite a bit of shopping for the things they don't have.. but since the weather can't make up it's mind we haven't officially changed over closets yet.  Maybe this weekend or next.