Soon it will be time to change from winter wardrobes to closets full of spring and summer clothes. That is a HUGE job with the number of kids I have. Huge and possibly fun if I didn't have that same number of kids "helping" me and otherwise demanding just about the same amount of attention as on other sorts of non-sorting-through-a-jillion-bins sorts of days. I figure hiring two babysitters to work from morning until night would give me enough time to do the job from start to finish as long as I wasn't interrupted. It's that big of a job! Of course, it would cost me at least $250 in babysitter costs to do that...
Maybe I need to do a little here and a little there instead.
I'm getting very detailed in my wardrobe planning for the kids. Here's my summer wardrobe list for my 5 younger boys:
Little Boy Spring/Summer Wardrobe:
7 t-shirts1 button-up shirt
3 polo shirts
1 Easter shirt
1 khaki shorts
2 denim shorts
2 plaid shorts
1 navy shorts
3 pairs of pajamas
2 swim trunks
3 pairs of socks
10 pairs of underwear
1 pair of nice-enough-to-wear-to-church sandals
1 pair of flip flops
1 pair of tennis shoes
TOTAL 26 items + underwear and socks per boy
Cassia Spring/ Summer Wardrobe:
7 casual dresses
3 church dresses
3 pairs of shorts
4 shirts
2 skirts
2 sandals (1 neutral, 1 colorful)
1 pair tennis shoes
3 swim suits
10 pairs of underwear
3 pairs of socks
TOTAL 25 items+underwear and socks
(infants and toddlers need more bottoms--3 extra shorts and 5 extra undies--to account for accidents and messes; Asa will probably have several 1-piece shorts outfits instead of some of the other items; Cassia rarely wore shorts last summer, but I'm afraid not to have a few in case she changes her mind this summer)
Here are some other fascinating notes about clothes :) :
1. I LOVE sandal and flip-flop season because I can banish socks.
2. Simplicity is my goal. Fewer, nicer items.
3. There are almost no jeans that are good enough for me to pack up for the next season or the next boy. I will do a final count of all the jeans with holes in them when it is time to make the switch to shorts. It is sad. Very sad.
4. I have shopped ebay for a few Hanna Andersson shirts and swim trunks. They cost more than I usually spend. I'm doing an experiment this summer to see if the shirts remain bright and nice looking all season long and can be passed along in higher numbers. I am getting the boys 1 Hanna Andersson swim trunk and 1 other brand swim trunk, and I will compare at the end of season. We have a lot of swim trunks with ruined elastic waist bands that cannot be used again this year. Will the Hanna Andersson ones hold up better? I chose Hanna Andersson because I KNOW the pajamas wash and wear for years.
5. Last year I received $900 in April to buy clothes for my six foster children over a weekend. This year I will recieve $150 to use for Asa. Of course I'd rather we finalized his adoption and not get a cent, but I'm going to count that $150 wardrobe as a special treat.
6. I switched to Tide detergent from homemade, hoping that it would get out more stains and keep clothing in better condition, but I noticed no change whatsoever. I will be going back to homemade detergent.
7. As soon as Asa outgrows something, I get rid of it. I'm not sure if he'll wear 12 month or 18 month clothes next winter, so I guess I'll keep the 12-month clothes around.
8. Current sizes (this will be interesting in 82 years, when I look back over this post, right?): Brishen 30x36 jeans, large shirts; Basia 10; Soren 4T; Cassia 6 as long as the waist is tiny; Zade 3T but 4T shirts are OK; Tobias 3T; Edison 2T; Asa 12 months.
9. Those current sizes have lots of stipulations. Cassia is long and lean, so I can't buy just anything to fit her. Zade is right between those sizes. Most size 4 jeans are too long, but I think he's close to moving to that size full time. Edison needs skinny jeans or pants and shorts fall of him all day long. Asa is too short for 12-month pants.
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