Yesterday the girls and I went through all of their clothes. All of them. There were baskets and baskets and baskets of clothes. Piles of clothes. Heaps of clothes. This was no small undertaking.
The first step was hauling all the clothes upstairs. Most of them were in the laundry room and it took many trips to get them all to the living room where they were sorted into piles. Then the purging began.
First to go was anything that didn't fit, that was fairly easy. There were a few quibbles about something they loved that they either insisted DID fit or that the had to keep because it was "special," but overall that was an easy step.
Next they got rid of anything they didn't love. This narrowed things down more, but not nearly enough, so the last, and most difficult step, was getting to a reasonable number of clothes. What's a reasonable number? Well, that differs depending on who you talk to but for us it was:
- 20 short sleeve shirts
- 5 sleeveless shirts
- 5 long sleeve shirts
- 5 sweatshirt/fleece/sweaters
- 10 skirts/shorts
- 10 pants
- 3 winter/3 summer pjs
- 7 dresses (Stella only, Sandis won't wear any skirts or dresses)
Originally it was going to be 15 short/no-sleeve shirts but I upped it a bit as we went. It is a lot because they can feasibly go for 3 weeks in any season without washing shirts. But, compared to what they had, it's reasonable.
Now to get it all put away. I've got regular hangers, pants hangers, clips to hold skirts on hangers. I have sorted the underware and paired the socks and put them into bins (can you believe the girls still had some toddler socks?) Now, I have to clean out the girls closet so that I can actually put clothes in there. Right now it's full of toys. Heaps and piles and baskets of toys (does that sound familiar?) The toys need to be weeded and purged so that the clothes can be put away. I think I may start that this weekend, depending on my mood. But in the meantime, I do have 4 kitchen garbage bags full of kids' clothes to give away. Ah, it feels good :)
Coble Family | January 20, 2012 at 11:40 PM
At first I thought the picture above was of your house and then I spotted a baby. A baby? What a bizarre stock photo.
Congrats on the purge. I love the feeling of emptying the house of unnecessary objects. I try to do it about once a month. It's not always a lot, but even a few objects feels good.
Kirsten | January 22, 2012 at 8:17 AM
I can appreciate the massive job it is to sort... I need to go through our clothing again - I know there is a lot that does not fit anymore... Congrats Shawn - I bet it feels good!
Anonymous | January 26, 2012 at 9:18 PM
wow Shawn that is awesome! and that is a Lot of clothes! good for you guys!