“How many clothes should one child have? Is there a list somewhere that I could get my hands on that spells out the amount of pants and shirts and socks and underwear and sweaters and so on and so forth that one child should have? I have 5 kids and I am overwhelmed by the amount of clothes that keep piling up.”
Five kids definitely adds up to a whole lot of clothes. I think you’re on the right track by trying to figure out how much everyone *needs*. Finding a one-size-fits all list, however, could have some draw backs. There are so many lifestyle factors and personal preferences involved. Some people need and want a lot of variety in their clothing, and others could wear the same thing everyday and be perfectly happy. So, let’s go about creating a list that works for your children, their lifestyles and their preferences.
1. Start with a basic list of garments. You can easily put this together by looking through your kids’ closets and drawers to see the types of things they’re currently wearing. Include shoes, socks, pants, shirts, shorts, dresses, skirts, blouses, tights, underwear, etc.
2. Once you have your basic list, factor in the appropriate style of each based on where your child goes. For example, your daughter may wear a dressy dress to church, but casual dresses to school.
3. Now consider your laundry cycle. If you do laundry once a week, your child needs a minimum of seven pair of socks. If you do it once every two weeks, each child needs fourteen pair of socks, minimum. For each type of garment and style on the list, consider how many you need based on how frequently you do laundry, and how frequently you do the activity. For example, if your daughter takes ballet once a week and you do laundry every two weeks, you need two ballet outfits.
4. Now factor in variety. Once you have your bare bones minimum list, think about how often you’re comfortable having your child repeat articles of clothing or outfits. If your daughter wears dressy dresses only to church, you go to church once a week, and you do laundry once a week, in theory your daughter needs just one dressy dress. If you want her to have two dresses to choose from each week, double the number. If you want her to be able to go a whole month and wear a new dress every Sunday of the month, she needs four dresses.
5. Give yourself a cushion. I’d recommend a few extra garments for weeks when laundry gets delayed, or your little one has a messy day and needs to change clothes midday. Once you have a reasonable number, clear out the extra clothing. Keep it on hand in a box until you’re comfortable you’ve got the right number of garments. Once you’re certain, take everything else to charity for donations. Maintain the desired number by always subtracting out one item for each new one your bring in.
Discovered a sensational idea to maximize closet space without buying the tiered hangers. Discovered this on the living network show Steven and Chris
Take a soda can tab and put one hanger through a hole, then take the second hanger and loop it through the loop on the bottom. The neat thing about this trick is that you can add as many hangers as you want in the chain just by adding more soda can tabs!
Note: I use this in conjunction with command hooks on the walls in my kids room to store belts, so they can just grab and go. Fun and extremely versatile!
What a neat idea! Thanks for sharing Nicole!!
Laundry Day: I remember it well. 4-5 kids & 3-5 adults in a 1 bath, 3 bedroom home with a wringer washer, and tin rinse tub. No dryer- outside clothes line and indoor dryer rack.
Truly we’ve spoiled our kids today in their expectations of “things” they must have to “fit” in with others.
Remember to set a realistic goal of amounts of garments (they must fit closet/storage space of each person when all garments are clean). No new garments until garment amounts are within space limits.
Purge worn, torn, stained, tired, faded, pilled, need repair, hated, don’t fit, too small and can’t be passed down.
Take a picture of special outfit or frame picture of child in that outfit) and let it go or frame both and place on wall.
Teach family members to gift others-favorite charity, homeless shelter, children’s home, women in crisis, Salvation army, nursing homes, clothing closet etc. Have a contest to see who can gift away the most unneeded or unnecessary items.
Special treat after the fact- no not clothing– rent a movie, have a favorite dessert, etc. All about sharing.
With 5 kids, I’d expect jean wash day to be every day or at least every other day.
I assume you are washing a minimum of 2-3 loads of clothes each day.
All in school, uniforms? DIY your own uniform code.
3 pairs jeans and 6 tops per child for school. (Pick top colors you can wash together with other children’s tops) Days of week colors– Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, White, Navy, Black. [You can probably pull enough from current wardrobe to meet this.] Might even want to designate an area in each closet. Colored tape to separate area or rod dividers-diy with colorful plastic lids or tags.
6 pairs cotton underwear and socks.
Minimum of 3 bras and cotton tees.
3 sets mix and max dress up outfits.
3 pairs shoes, Dress up, school, home.
Sports, exercise gear. 2 sets.
1 each Sweater/light jacket & 1 heavy coat/gloves/scarf.
Work or yard gear is separate.
The above amounts should work for you. Growing up my family worked with less.
Involve the kids in cutting back the washing clothing amounts you handle. Older kids can help.
I started my nine year old washing clothing with jeans, towels, cotton underwear.
Of course you could have a wash day chart with the days of the week you’ll wash certain items. Assign child his/her day to wash certain things and of course dad needs to pull his time in the laundry room also. Mine spouse picked the jean/towel/underwear/bed sheet route. PS: two sets of sheets per bed should be plenty and I have worked with only one set per bed. Two towels per person max- because I expect you wash towels almost every day.
And mom, you aren’t the maid. Dirty clothing not in the dirty clothes hamper won’t be washed by you. Make it a hard and fast rule that each person is responsible for picking up after themselves, finding the laundry hamper, folding clean clothes, and putting up the clothing. Even little kids can help. Sure it won’t be the way you’d do it but they have to start learning sometime. Today’s the day!
Note: I was the “maid”in my married home for 10 years, but I finally broke the habit 34 years ago. Yes, my mom taught me to pick up after myself and all those siblings who were younger. Took me a while to train my husband and daughter.
Box or basket extra sheet/towel or clothing supplies for later. Pull out as necessary.
Thanks for all the ideas!