Monday, September 17, 2012

Organizing Hand Me Downs

For those of us who have more than one child of the same sex, hand me downs are a part of life. Those of you who are lucky enough to have friends or family with children just slightly older and larger than your own also face this. Good quality clothing that lasts for multiple children saves money. The tricky part is coming up with an organized system to save the clothing for the younger child, so that it is easy to find when the time comes.



My two boys are more than six years apart in age, so my storage system has to be well labeled as well.

I only save those items for my younger son that are in almost perfect condition. Anything that is stained, torn, or just too worn does not make the cut. I don't want him to feel embarrassed about wearing his brother's hand me downs. Let's face it though, jeans are jeans, whether they were purchased six years ago or just last week.



We invested in heavy duty, plastic storage bins. I sort the clothes into similar sizes, and put them into the appropriate bins which I've labeled with a permanent marker. They are all stored together in the attic. Every spring and fall, I pull out the bin with clothes that might be a good fit for D-boy.



He thinks it's fun to try on everything in the box. We call it his personal store in the attic. At this time, anything that is not a good fit, or is no longer in fashion, is bagged up to donate. We still end up having to buy him some new clothes each season, but having some already paid for does help the family budget. That's always good, particulary when all of my kids decide to have growth spurts at the same time!

linking to:  Earning My Cape

10 comments:

  1. We have a similar system: stacking totes with the sizes taped on paper on the side.

    We've been so lucky with hand me downs for our third (never got them for the first two kids) that all I've had to buy him in almost 5 years is socks and underwear and one spring jacket.

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    1. Oh, you are lucky! We haven't been given many hand me downs at all, but we've given a lot away. At least it's nice not to have to buy everything all over again for our younger son.

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  2. Replies
    1. I try. My kids would probably be happy to point out all of the ways that I don't function as efficiently!

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  3. You are one organized mom! I love that you save only clothes that are in great condition and that your son considers the attic is personal closet/shop :)

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    1. It is funny! He loves when it's time to see if anything fits him up there.

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  4. Hi Patricia, I love what you're doing with the old clothes. It's exactly what I will do with son's clothes. Save them until I have another child.

    ViaBoxes.com

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    1. It's sweet to see the clothes again, on a younger child. It always brings back happy memories for me.

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  5. I can't agree more! Label, label, label! :-)
    I love seeing clothes make a reappearance on my younger kids.
    Some of the t-shirts that are a little dingy get passed down as oversized night shirts, too. :-)
    Thanks for sharing with my href="http://earning-my-cape.blogspot.com/2012/09/super-link-party-19.html ">Super Link Party! :-)

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    1. You learn quickly to be organized about things like this. Night shirts, that's a good idea.

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