Posted in Frugal Friday
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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family
About two weeks ago I went through the kids' closets and put up the summer clothing. In the process, I sorted through the winter clothing and made my list of needs for the upcoming cold weather. I've had some ask how I keep this system and I thought I'd share it today because it has saved me so much money! First, I have two large rubbermaid bins for out-of-season or too large clothes. Most of these I have gotten via hand-me-downs or through garage sales. Yes, I do keep some clothing that my kids currently can't wear, even if its in season. My rule of thumb is if I think they can wear it in 18 months and its in great condition, I keep it. My only exception with this rule is with snowsuits. Snowsuits are expensive, wether new or used, and our snow normally doesn't stay too long here, so I don't like to spend a lot on clothing for what is a short period of time that they will wear it. Even so I want my kids to enjoy the snow while we have it and stay warm too! Most of this comes from my own experience as a kid where one winter all I had to wear was clogs and I can remember playing in the snow in clogs, freezing my feet off. Yikes. Anyhow here in Western Washington we have only two season - 9 months of wet and 50 degrees or under, and 3 months of summer. Consequently I only go through these large bins two times a year. If I lived in a different climate I would have to adapt my system to the weather. With that said here is how it works. At the end of spring and the beginning of fall, I drag out my two large rubbermaid out-of-season clothing buckets from the garage. I go through these items, which is kind of like a treasure hunt of sorts. I often will get rid of things in these bins as well as sort out what we'll need for the upcoming season. Once that is done I move the clothes to the laundry room to be washed. I then take one empty bin and go through each kids' rooms, removing all of the previous seasons clothing and putting them in the bin. I keep this bin in the laundry for a week or so until any dirty or missed soon out-of-season clothing has been washed and thrown in the bucket. After this the bucket goes back in the garage for the next season. Its very simple but in the process I truely see what is needed for the next season and what is not. Since I do this right before or at the beginning of the new season, I have some time to buy what we'll need before the new weather hits full force. This allows me to shop any garage sales, second-hand stores and sales. On average we spend about $700 a year on clothing for a family of 6. I think that is pretty good. Between storing away some things, garage sales, and using clothing for birthday gifts, we come out saving a bundle. Janelle |
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Posted by Anonymous