Hand-Me-Downs

[JaneDoe]

Do you save all of your kids clothing for future sibilings? We think we still may have a third child, so I haven't given away any of my Dd and Ds clothes. But, I'm running out of storage space. I've got 3 1/2 years worth of baby/toddler/pre-school kid clothing.

Do you think it's worthwhile to save it, or should I give some of it away in order to preserve some storage space? We probably won't try for another child for at least a year, so that's another year's worth of storing girl and boy's clothing. BTW, I don't have anyone to loan it too. None of our family members have any kids and I don't have any friends with babies on the way.

Help I'm drowning in kid's clothing!

[Momo]

I'm holding on to ours, because we feel there maybe a #5... someday! After that, my sister will get all of them. I hope she can use them, if not she can sell them.

ETA
Oh BTW I store them according to sex, size & season, in plastic bins.
I have @ least 2 bins in everyone's bedroom closet(3), and then the rest are stored in the garage.

I saved about 1/4 of DD1's clothes for DD2. The other 3/4, I just didn't like anymore or they were out of style so I sold them (along with DS's and DD2's outgrown clothes) at consignment sales. My daughters are 5 years apart, and I've found that during that span there were many clothes that just weren't in style anymore - except for the staples like white cardigans or the smocked dresses.

You'll be in the same boat with the spacing you're talking about.

small hijack- I moved from a place with fantastic seasonal kids' consignment sales (just Google "childrens consignment Nashville"), to a place were I haven't been able to find much in the way of big kids sales. This is a big let-down! hijack over.

[Rapunzel]

I have everything that is worth saving saved. By worth saving I mean the clothing that is still in good condition (not stained, ripped, etc.) at the end of every season.

It works out well for us since I start out with enough girls clothing for two girls (having twins and all). And, then I have PLENTY of clothes to hand down to the five year old, the two year old, and the upcoming baby girl.

My son? He gets new stuff - lucky dog.

Like pinkpickles I store clothing according to gender (which is almost always "girl"), size, and season. I have a stack of about 20 plastic tubs worth of clothing in a bedroom downstairs right now. It is well worth it, though. Because, at the start of every season I go "shopping" in my stash first and then I can compile a list of what additional items are needed. MUCH easier to go shopping for all these kids if I have a shopping list in hand.

[mommax3]

I saved everything when my boys were little and it has worked out pretty well for us. I still save dress clothes, which don't get worn out, but now that my boys are older, the differences in body type between my oldest and middle sons rule out quite a few hand-me-downs. There are 3+ years between all of my boys, but it can take three or even four years for my middle son to fit into the oldest's old clothes.....meanwhile, my youngest wears the middle kid's clothes as soon as he discards them. :huh: If I were you, I would save the "classics" and get rid of the rest.

Sally

[houseelf]

I have a single huge bin of my very favorite items for both genders. I saved a lot with my first one, but when I took them out almost five years later, I decided this was foolish. Many things had stains that had oxidized, DD was born in the summer while DS was born in the winter, plus we had a gender difference to deal with. So, I give almost everything away and hope that if I have another kid, karma will bring me back someone else's good hand-me-downs.

Kelly

[DCJenn]

Since we're a solo kid family I have only kept the sentimental stuff- the outfit he wore on the plane home, his first shoes, etc.

My BFF has a 1yo who is wearing 2T so it's worked out well- I send everything to her- not the really bad stuff but day care clothes are day care clothes- she doesn't care if it's pre-paint stained.

and I bought a TON of stuff off ebay for his first year home. Lots of ebay clothes are SO worth it.

Jenn

[madeintaiwan]

We have ebayed some of DS clothes as well as donating a bunch of DS's clothes but we still have a ton of it. For DS I have 12-18mo all the way up to size 6. I only kept the clothes in good condition. When we were in MS I stored some of his clothes in a friend's basement and allowed two families to use his clothes. When I went to pick up my stuff before our move, there were seriously 10 big bins of clothing. I donated half. So we have about 6-8 bins of DS's clothes and 3 or 4 bins of DD's clothes newborn to 2T. I store them in labled zip loc bags in bins or boxes by gender, size and type (short sleeve shirts, shorts, jeans, ect). It's amazing that some of DS clothes has seriously gone through 6 boys and are still in good condition. For us, when you get to 2T and beyond seasons don't really matter, we seem to have clothing for all seasons in those sizes.

[JaneDoe]

Ok . . . I feel a little better now about getting rid of some of the clothing. I know I have some stuff that I probably wouldn't dress my child in again. I'm going to begin to sort and get rid of some of the clothing.

It always feels good to me to clean and purge old stuff. I guess I was just feeling a little guilty about wanting to get rid of some of it.

[MDPhDWife]

I save the high quality stuff that washes well.

#2 has worn almost all of #1's clothes/shoes that were savable. I know what you mean though, I'm drowing in girl's clothes. It's a little embarassing when you see all the plastic tubs. Thankfully they're out of sight and tucked away in a roomy crawl space.

I also find that I am a little more willing to splurge on DD1's clothes since I know I'll get extra value out of them when DD2 wears them. My biggest issue is getting organized enough to do this well. I'd probably save your items for 1 more year and then reevaluate.

[peggyfromwastate]

Ok . . . I feel a little better now about getting rid of some of the clothing. I know I have some stuff that I probably wouldn't dress my child in again. I'm going to begin to sort and get rid of some of the clothing.

It always feels good to me to clean and purge old stuff. I guess I was just feeling a little guilty about wanting to get rid of some of it.

I love to purge! We have lots of clothes stored up- but they are just the best ones! I pass girl stuff down to my sis, and I keep my favorite boy stuff, and baby stuff that Luke (3 yo) is too big for, mostly gets given away, but I'm keeping the nicest stuff.

It's almost time to clear out the summer stuff and bring in the winter! Time to purge some more!

[GrayMatterWife]

[quote="pinkpickles"]
Oh BTW I store them according to sex, size & season, in plastic bins. [quote]

Nerd!!

But in a way that makes me incredibly jealous.