Before and After

I spent a 12 hour day, YES, a 12 hour day sorting through boxes and bags of children's clothing. We have kept most clothing items at every stage along the way. As our family size has grown, the way that we used to do things has changed. Children get bathed weekly instead of daily, clothing gets worn for more than one day in a row, when it is warm out children sleep in their summer clothes, and even the kinds of clothing that our children wear has changed... With the big garage clean and surveying our little storage area, my pack rat tendancies were blaring us in the face. I really needed to evaluate what we should keep.

I will say, we have been thoroughly blessed with hand me down clothing. We don't often need to purchase anything except for an occasionally specialty item like a swimsuit. We have friends and family that send clothing our way enabling us to toss out those too small, stained, clothes with holes in them! When our children have outgrown that stage, we have enough clothing to save the choicest items for the next little one.

The following pictures are of the girl's clothing ONLY! I am embarrassed to say that I got rid of 89 pairs of pants from the girl's selection alone. Even after I sorted clothing, I still counted 22 dresses hanging up in Evi's closet. YIKES! I had to go through them again and downsize even more. It was hard!


Here is the before pile of girl's clothing. The boxes were sorted and labeled. The bags were the overflow. Even though I am a pack rat, I am an organized one!

Here is the after. There is one box for each year (0-4) plus a misc box that contains items for ages 5 and up.

The boy's clothing is the same.