Now, I do a lot of laundry. If you're looking for a post explaining how someone has managed to not do so much laundry.....this is not that post, and I am not that someone. BUT, if you're looking for a change with how you look at clothes, and maybe a little inspiration to try it yourself......I humbly present our version of a "capsule wardrobe" for our kids.
You see, a few years ago, I noticed that I was doing one to two loads of laundry EVERY day. I also noticed something really interesting - even though my kids had a bajillion trillion million options in clothing to choose from every morning......they were wearing the same dozen articles of clothing every day. That meant that those loads of laundry I was doing contained the same dozen articles of clothing for each kid. Meanwhile, all of the rest of their clothing sat crumpled up in drawers and caused epic meltdowns when I'd ask a child to go get dressed or go put away his/her clean clothing or, God forbid, bring me any clothes that no longer fit them so I could pack them away for younger siblings.
I decided that this was doing nothing for us but wasting space and causing heartache and was not a good use of our resources (I was on a big "be a good steward" kick back then. I should probably revisit that kick in a few aspects of our life now, come to think of it).
So, what did I do about it?
I threw out three-quarters of my children's clothing.
Well, technically, I threw out things that couldn't be salvaged and donated the rest (some with tags on it still!), but the end result was the same: by the end of that week (yes, it took a week!), my children had approximately one-quarter of the clothing they used to have.
And what happened?
Not the wailing and gnashing of teeth that I expected. I know! Color me surprised, too! Instead, I ended up with kids who did *not* panic every time I asked them to put away their clothing, who did not throw a tantrum when I asked them to get dressed, and closets that didn't vomit clothing on you the minute you opened the door. It was glorious!
I still do 1-2 loads of laundry a day (there *are* still eight of us living here, after all!), but it's much, much less overwhelming for all of us. Most days, I just do one load of clothing, and the second load contains towels and/or linens. Everyone wears their favorite dozen articles of clothing, and I feel like I'm getting my money's worth out of those items. Shopping for new clothes isn't as stress-inducing, and when we do replace items, I don't feel guilty about it because they wore the previous items regularly. I'm not giving away or packing away clothing that still has tags on it - everything is used and used often.
So, what do my children wear?
Here are some pictures:
Girl's clothing is so much fun to buy! My first girl came after 4 boys, so shopping was like an Olympic sport to me while pregnant with my oldest girl. Between my own shopping marathons and incredibly generous friends, I found myself drowning in girl clothes. I must have taken 5-6 large trash bags of perfectly good girl's clothing to the donation bins in town. Maybe even more.
Now, we are in between seasons here in the tundra, so this is actually more clothing than I normally keep on hand, but while Mother Nature is still trying to figure out if we're going to have a spring or be locked in endless winter, I've been keeping more options on hand.
My girls have:
2 pajamas
2 play dresses (we love these twirl dresses)
typically 2-3 shirts (more pictured because, well, weather)
2-3 bottoms (our girls seem to prefer skirts, but I keep one set of pants or leggings on hand for those colder days)
2 church dresses
2-3 pairs of tights that can work with both the play and church dresses, and any skirts
not shown: underwear (5 pairs) and socks (2-3 pairs)
Boy's clothes just aren't quite as flashy or fun, but what that makes them is waaaayyy more flexible and interchangeable. Even with kiddos getting dirty and needing costume changes (which happens regardless of gender!), I've found that I can really keep quite a minimal wardrobe on hand for the boys and still be okay. The key is making sure things can be interchanged (no matching outfits here, sorry!). Typically, I alternate between adult laundry and kid laundry, so every other day, I'm washing what is worn and the kids are putting it back into their closets. At most, they might wear three days of clothes before I'm able to wash them, but that's few and far between and usually only happens when there's some sort of sickness going through the Circus, and pajamas are perfectly acceptable clothing choices in that situation.
Anywho, the boys have:
2 sets of pajamas
3-5 shirts (typically a mix of long and short sleeved, but I will change them to be seasonally appropriate)
3 pants
2 church outfits
not pictured: underwear (5 pairs), socks (4-5 pairs), and shorts (2-3 pairs always for the gymnasts, who wear them year-round at practice, and 2-3 pairs only seasonally for the non-gymnasts)
And that's it.
Really.
That's all that we keep on hand. When things wear out, we replace them as needed. When they're cold, they put on a fleece-type jacket. When they get dirty, they get changed, and at the very latest, those dirty clothes are washed and back in their drawers within two days.
The only downside to these "capsule" wardrobes that we've found is when we're going on extended trips without guaranteed access to laundry facilities. Typically, that has only happened when we're camping.....and you're supposed to be dirty when you're camping, so it's not a big deal. The benefits (specifically the getting rid of the "overwhelming/panic inducing" feature of overstuffed closets) have been worth it. The kids are now not stressed out when getting dressed.....they're able to manage their clothing *on their own*.....and we aren't wasting clothing, space, or money anymore.
I'm still working on adjusting my own closet/clothing supply, but the principles are the same for Mike and I, too. Losing weight has caused a little bit of changing things up and I'm still sorting out what fits and what doesn't fit, but my goal is to get back down to these smaller wardrobes for me, too. It works for the kids....and it works for adults, too!
You should try it - you can climb and conquer Mt Washmore, too!!
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