Decluttering and kids clothes.........am I too sentimental?

[ReneeA]

I have kept my kid's baptismal outfits, and their coming home from the hospital outfits and that's it.

I have pictures of them if I want to remember when...I don't need all that stuff, and I know that others can get good use out of it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I've done the same with some of my kid's clothes. I save his sports jerseys from little league, soccer, flag football. I also save shirts from when he graduated elementary and middle school since his friends signed them. I'm not sure what I am going to do with them. They just sit in a bin. I don't foresee me ever quilting. Perhaps if I save enough stuff from his childhood, I may one day qualify to appear on an episode of Hoarders.

My kids have that stuff saved on their own. They are hanging in their closets. Maybe there is a T-Shirt gene? I have it too. When I go on vacation, I have to buy a shirt. It is a sickness.

 

[monorailsilver]

WOW! That's still a lot of clothes. Those large totes can hold a lot of stuff, I can't believe how much you must have.

What are you going to do with that tub of clothes? Are you going to bring it out and go through it once a year? Once every other year? Are you going to sit down and take the clothes out and remember the child wearing this shirt or that dress? That's what pictures are for...I would be willing to bet once you filled up a tub for each child and put it in the basement, you wouldn't touch it again.

From a male perspective, YES you are being too sentimental. Give the clothes to a family that needs them, buy a digital picture frame and put a bunch of pics on it and be happy someone else's children will enjoy the clothes.

You have not met my husband. He is not the sentimental type but let me tell you when I was going thru clothes & putting it in my donation pile he kept taking things out. Mainly things from our son (we have 2 girls & 1 boy). He kept saying..."but he is my only son." I was seriously ready to kill him!!


To the OP, I have maybe 2 totes of clothes. One is the big size & one is medium (I may have a third). I hope to make a quilt with it some day. I have said that for a few years now (my kids are 9 tomorrow, 6 & 4).

I have saved alot of cute onsies to use as well (with the cute little designs, not the plain ones).

I saved all their first Christmas & Halloween outfits as well as what they wore home from the hospital. I have saved my oldests 2 Minnie Mouse dresses because she wore them non stop for 2 years. I had to get a bigger size for her.

My mother saved my shoes. I wore them when I was around 2 or 3 in the early 70's. Both of my girls wore them & sadly they are too big for them now. My oldest wore them daily with that Minnie dress. The shoes are probably 35 years old if not a bit older. I plan on saving them for my grand daughters (they are just plastic clogs).

I may revisit my pile of totes in a few years & weed out what isn't important but I can tell you I haven't saved much more stuff other then clothes from the first 3-4 years. I may save one or two things a year now per kid depending on what they loved. I know I threw a pair of my sons favorite shorts in the tote. He wore them every other day (laundry day he couldn't wear them) but last year they were finally to small.

 

[MrsPete]

My mother saved some of my baby clothes, and when she took them out of the attic they were old, stained rags. They went straight to the trash, and she was disappointed that she'd thought she was saving something good. Heat and time did their damage, and they brought out stains and dirt that were deeply embedded in the cloth.

I have saved ONE BOX of things -- smallish box, think copy paper -- for each of my daughters. I saved them each one maternity outfit, their homecoming outfit, their first Christmas outfit, and a couple other things that I thought were special. I also saved some little things like a few blankets, some small toys, bowls and small spoons that I enjoyed using.

I read up on how to preserve these things, and here's what I learned: They need to be washed TWICE -- once with detergent, once without -- then wrapped in white tissue paper. Every year you need to take them out of the box and wash them with NO detergent. Also, you're suposed to store them inside the house in a comfortable temperature (I have mine on the top shelf of my masterbedroom closet). Finally, you're supposed to store things like this in a wooden or cardboard box -- never plastic. I forget where I read this and I can't remember the "whys" that were connected to it all, but it's supposed to keep things in decent shape. So far my small collection is in excellent shape (though my oldest is only 16, so it's not like they've been stored a long, long time).

The idea of my girls using these things with their own children is something of a long shot. They could end up having all boys, or they could have children born in the wrong season to fit these clothes. Also, styles change, and they'll certainly want to pick their own things. But I like knowing that I have ONE BOX of things for each girl. One box isn't cumbersome to keep, and I intend to give these boxes to my daughters when they announce that they're having a first baby.

 

[npmommie]

Lots of great advice! Thanks for sharing what you all have done. I am proud to say I started sifting thru it and I took a large bag of clothes and gave it to one of my mom friends at gymnastics this evening! She was very thankful. So I am going to keep going til it is all tackled!

Mrs pete that is good info on the storage, i must now get a cardboard box for the special outfits to keep.
the christening outfits are still hanging with plastic over them and they are both fine, but the dress my dd wore in my niece's wedding a couple years age as flower girl, has a big stain on the front, that was not apparent when I hung the dress and covered it with the plastic
which is a shame because I did intend to consign or yardsale that dress, its adorable, and now I know from experience how expensive a flower girl dress for a 4 yo can be!!!

 

[lumpy08]

I always had a hard time with parting with the kids clothes. I am now down to one rubbermaid bin for both kids combined. I kept my favorite outfits. I am actually bummed that I didn't keep more of my son's things. Eight years later my niece had a baby boy they would have been for the same seasons. But, last week I went thru my one box and actually gave some of my favorites to her. It is so cute seeing my favorite outfits again.

 

[PaulaSue]

I didn't save anything for my to-be-GC to wear. It will be so out of date and not look fit right. IMO

I did save some special outfits like the one they all wore for their first offical picture (actually framed) and ones I bought when I knew it was a girl.

Now I did keep t-shirts from special things like thier preschool and old shool and trips to disney to make into a quilt but all the rest donated to kids who dont have.

 

[SaraJayne]

I am really trying to de-clutter the kid clothes, I have given some away but there is still a mountain to climb here........LOL
My trouble is I look at the stuff and get all sentimental, I know its silly to keep the clothes, because really what will i do with them, and at some point they will end up not useful to anyone I know anymore. because their kids will outgrow them too.
so my question is how much do you keep? do you just keep special outfits? a few outfits from each stage?
I am thinking 1 of those big rubbermaid totes per kid, and what fits in there is all I can keep. the rest has to go.
so am I too sentimental?

The only thing I've kept is the outfits they both came home from the hospital in (along with the hat/booties/socks).

The rest is either donated or passed on to friends/family.