It has been a tradition for years that new school clothes be bought each fall. I always loved having a new outfit the first few days of school, didn’t you?
Just as with many of our other belongings, we have an overload in the clothing category. For ourselves AND for our children.
What happens when our children have access to too many clothes?
- They may have a more difficult time deciding what to wear.
- They may change clothes multiple times a day.
- They may pull out lots of clothes trying to choose.
- They may also pull clothes out because their drawers or closet are too crowded for them to effectively look at the options and choose their outfit.
- You end up with more dirty laundry because of the above things.
- You may also put off doing laundry because your kids have plenty of clothes to wear. Then you have a mountain that you do want to tackle!
The building blocks of a basic child’s wardrobe*
For girls-
A combination of bottoms (shorts, skirts, shorts, capris) – a total of 7 pieces should work. Choose mainly solid colors, so as to match with several tops.
Tops- 10 shirts should be enough, unless your daughter likes to layer clothes (mine did). Consider plaids or florals to add variety to their wardrobe. Choose patterns that would go with at least 2 of the bottoms.
Dresses- If your daughter likes to wear dresses, add 2 0r 3 to her wardrobe. If she likes to wear dresses a lot, consider that skirts allow for more flexibility.
Shoes- a pair of sandals, a pair of sneakers, boots or flip flops depending on where you live!
For boys-
A combination of shorts and pants- 7 pieces For the boys, consider plaid shorts to add some variation. Jeans and khaki also provides some variety.
Tops- 10 shirts A combination of t-shirts, polos, and button-downs. Don’t make the mistake I did of not putting a collared shirt on your son for years. He’s 20 now and has not worn collared shirts since he was 7! A combination of solids with a plaid shirt or 2 would make for a good selection.
Shoes- a pair of sandals, a pair of sneakers, boots or flip flops depending on where you live!
A few other details-
These numbers are for school clothes. Your child should also have a FEW outfits of play clothes. Keep the play clothes in a separate drawer or side of the closet.
You may also need to have on hand 1 or 2 dressier outfits for church or other events.
Obviously as the weather changes, you will have to begin to change out warmer clothes for summer. And depending where you live, you may have to keep a few summer things handy. Even though it gets quite cold here in Georgia, we have been known to wear t-shirts and shorts on Christmas Day!
If you have already purchased school clothes for this fall, consider these guidelines when shopping for the winter. And consider whether or not you could clean out their closet and dresser and get rid of some unnecessary items.
What has worked to help your kid’s wardrobes under control?
Liked this post. Has me thinking about what is in not just my children’s closets, but my own as well.
p.s. followed you here from Twitter.
Yep, I will probably be talking about that eventually as well! Our over-stuffed closets!
Bernice
I did better this year than I’ve ever done with Back to School shopping. I got my 13 year old son a backpack, a notebook, some folders, a couple of T-shirts, and one pair of jeans. That is about 1/3 of what I would have bought in the past. I finally gave up on the idea that he had to wear a completely brand NEW outfit every day for the first week of school. That was important to me when I was young, but he could care less and I finally was able to let go of that and only buy what he actually needed.
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Thanks for this post… when school started this year I bought my daughter 1 new outfit. My mom threw a fit that she didn’t get a whole new wardrobe for school. It’s expensive, and it felt completely unnecessary to me. It was still warm, and she was wearing shorts… as it got colder I realized her pants were way too short, and we picked up some new jeans. But really, I don’t think kids need all brand new clothes if their old clothes still look good and fit well. You’ve helped me manage my guilt though… so thanks.
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We have school uniforms here in the uk, makes life simplier :0) i try to buy things that will last a long time and that co ordinate.
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