Clothing Psychology

It’s pretty safe to say there is probably only one person in the world who is as crazy (anal retentive) about organizing kids clothes as me. It’s a sickness really.

I refuse to give anything away because we know we want and will (God willing) one day have more children and why would I want to buy new clothes? Especially all those little bitty clothes that they wear once, spit up on, spend a week waiting to be washed and then don’t fit again once it’s clean? (so please don't nominate me for hoarders!)

I had it all figured out when I had my son. I found a box I liked (not sponsored, I just like it, I usually get it at that bull eyes super store on sale). It stacked nicely and one box held a good amount of clothing. So I started saving and sorting. 0-3mo, 3-6mo, 6-9, 9-12 etc. Then my son got bigger and I realized you had to add seasons, but because he was skinny he would wear the same size for several seasons. It was  working great until He got big (and his clothes got big) and I had a girl.

You know what happens when you have a girl?

Everyone wants to buy her clothes. Lots and lots of clothes. We are also blessed with a friend, who has a daughter my sons age who gives us hand-me-downs (we love hand-me-down). It would be safe to say I buy my daughter less then a dozen pieces of clothing a year. Which is awesome. However it’s really cramping my nicely organized clothing system.

For one, she wears things A LOT LONGER. Not just because she is small but because girls are different. So cute little dresses can keep being warn as tops. Summer dresses can be layered over long sleeve tops in the fall. Pants can be worn as capris. She is currently 3 years, mostly a 3T, has clothes in her drawer from 18mo-3T. I actually had to through tears take away pajamas she was still wearing because they were 12mo and to tight to get over her head.

Girls also have more seasons. It’s hard for my (slightly and undiagnosed) OCD brain to separate some things into Fall/Winter or Spring/Summer. For my son it’s easy. Short s and short sleeve go in spring/summer and pants and long sleeve go in fall/winter. But where do the valentines outfits go? (yes, girls have outfits for every holiday/non holiday/event) Spring? Winter? ( I went with winter b/c February is pretty cold in Chi town) Pink tights? spring-ish, but by the time it’s warm enough for non-knit tights, we’re probably not wearing tights so fall? I know, over-thinking it totally.

My other issue is once you get to about 12mo, the clothes don’t compress as much, and now I have to get enough clothes for both genders in a box. I wish I could pare down their closets to a dozen or so outfits each, I can’t. I love clothes, the kids love clothes and I hate (really abhor) laundry. I love that I can go two weeks and everyone still has clothes.

So yesterday I decided to tackle the overflowing bins and piles of no longer fitting clothes and get it cleaned up. It’s a good project to distract me from the disaster my house is and the fact that hubs is in (not so sunny ) California.

I moved, I folded, I sorted I packed. It was oddly fulfilling! I redid all the boxes from 18months up. One size one season per box.

I learned that between two kind of skinny kids I think we have 2 winters worth of size 18mo, it irked me, but I couldn’t fit it in one box. When I have another child that hits that age I will pare it down, I promise. I also learned that 4T can look so small when it’s your soon to be kindergartner's and it doesn’t fit anymore (sob! He was so little). Conversely 4T dresses that  your daughter is waiting to grow into can look SO BIG! (Gasp! she will be 6 before this fits! Right? She can't grow that much in one year!) .

So it took all day, but look at how nice it is (note I am two boxes short hence the pile still on top).

I don't know why it's blurry on top, it's a loaner camera and it hates me.

Also, if you don’t think this is crazy and want more info, the pile of the mismatching boxes on the far left are: Too Big (clothes we get that are larger than the biggest size my son wears), Shoes, Outerwear (winter) and Outwear (spring/summer). I need to go through those boxes, see if anything fits but I am currently in denial that winter and snow will come again, no matter how much I hate this current heat wave.

There is your peak at my crazy, please tell me at least one of you is as crazy as me when it comes to clothes, or at least be gentle with telling me how crazy I am!