Comments on: Simplifying the Wardrobe – Part 1

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:02:37 +0000

I know this is an older post, but I wanted to chime in my thought! Several people mentioned the hardship of storing/keeping children’s clothing for future children. If you already have the children in your house (say a 4 and a 6 year old) then by all means, pack away the 6 year old clothes until the 4 year old needs them.

But if you are keeping clothes for future children who are not born/adopted yet, consider just giving the current clothes away. Keep in mind that someone else’s child could be wearing those clothes right now, instead of getting musty in a box. And if you know other mothers who practice this idea, then there will be new clothes to receive when you need them. God will provide! (Of course, set aside a few extra special pieces that you just can’t part with, like christening dresses or from a special trip or event, etc)

By: Esther

Esther — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:10:50 +0000

Thanks so much for writing up all these parts of your “Simplifying Our …” Serie. I have read through a lot of them and am inspired!
I love the ” When in Doubt Solution” of using the hangers to show whether or not you wore something recently. Very smart!

By: DeAnna

DeAnna — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:22:48 +0000

I know I’m late on this post, but I would love to hear how people simplify, clean out, etc their kids clothes. My mom is a shopper and she loves to buy the girls clothes, nice clothes that she finds on sale. I of course enjoy my girls looking nice, my mom loves having the grandkids all spiffy for pictures, but we have ended up with WAY too many clothes. But I don’t really just want to take Gymboree, etc clothes to Goodwill, I feel maybe I could sell it, but I’m not sure how to organize it and decide what to take to consignment stores. Or even if that’s a good choice. Also, we have 2 girls and Lord willing we hope to adopt again and we have never requested a particular gender — so right now I’ve got alot of clothes in rubbermaids, wondering whether to get rid of them or continue to store them. I’d love to hear any suggestions on what others have done.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:40:28 +0000

I was hoping you would post about simplifying the wardrobe. We have been evacuated for almost a week now, since hurricane Ike hit the gulf coast. So our family of 4 has been living in a handful of outfits, and it is very freeing. I am really looking forward to cleaning out the closets when we finally get home. (We are still under mandatory evacuation.) Now… if I could just narrow down the shoes….

I do have one question – this is a problem I always run into. I have casual shoes and dress shoes, and some have higher heels than others, so I find myself falling into the trap of needing pants that are differing lengths. Have you found a solution for that?

By: Cherity

Cherity — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:45:36 +0000

Thank you so much for this post! I’m with Hannah on the kids clothes. We have 3 children and the clothes piles up as soon as I think I have it all finished. I try to stick with doing all the laundry on Monday, but by Tuesday I have two more loads! I really need to weed out my two tween girls dressers. My youngest tween daughter is very much into fashion (which we are trying to change!) and will try on 3 outfits and throw them all on the floor! Our girls go to Christian school, so they have to wear dresses, skirts, or slack outfits. They change after school, but those clothes are dirty and rarely do they keep their play clothes clean until bedtime. Anyone have a suggestion? I think I’ll tackle a dresser or two while they are at school tomorrow..thanks for the inspiration!

By: Erin

Erin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:29:57 +0000

Thank you for posting this! I have wanted to simplify in this area, but didn’t have a plan for how to do it. I can’t wait to implement this! On a side note, I’ve started implementing your ideas on simplifying our toy collection and it’s been so freeing! Thank you for all of your posts!

By: Cammie

Cammie — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:52:51 +0000

Great Idea about turning the hangers! I have a few things that I am sure have stuck around to long.

One thing I have done also, with my pre-pregnancy clothes (That I am determined to fit into again someday), is to box em up and stick em in the garage. Also, if you have multiple children and are still having more It is a good idea to keep a box for each size per boy/girl in the garage as well. That way you don’t need to purchase a whole new wardrobe for each child. This also must be kept under control and limited to one box each…or trust me…you can end up with a garage full of clothes.
If you don’t have a garage….maybe a parents garage? or storage unit?
Anyway…sorry, I got to rambling here. Just a few thoughts.

Great post…I think I have some weeding to do.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:10:15 +0000

Simplifying is good, I agree. However, I really don’t feel that I can simplify my wardrobe any more than it is now. I think it really depends on the type of work a person does. I work in a professional educational field and appearance actually plays a portion of our yearly evaluations. I don’t spend a fortune on clothes and mix and match frequently, however wearing two weeks of rotating outfits won’t work for me. I really wish it would, but it wouldn’t. I would estimate that I have about 25 outfit combinations. Sadly, several of them are showing wear and are fading and will have to slowly be replaced. In all honesty, I would rather wear a school uniform!!!!

By: Becky

Becky — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:22:37 +0000

I can’t wait to read the next post on the purses – that is my downfall!! Also I desperately need to go through my closet and get it down to those bare essentials. I have lots of things I never wear but I still keep them for some reason!

I like LizzyKristine’s answer above, I need to get 9-10 tops that can be switched around with 5-6 bottoms. I need to start working on that!!

By: Trying Traditional

Trying Traditional — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:40:50 +0000

I would love to follow these guidelines and used to (but on a larger scale as we laundered every two weeks.) Somehow during our adoption I stopped buying clothes and took my mom’s hand-me-downs. I know have a closet overflowing with clothes of all seasons and color families. I still do not have finances to start from scratch, but am thinking I’ll go through my wardrobe and build on what I have.

Something I would like to learn more about would be colors that look good. I’ve always had a hard time with color. Where would I go for help knowing what colors look good with my skin/hair, etc?