Well, my plan to reorganize our house has started a little more slowly than I anticipated... After a few months, I have several unfinished projects. (Imagine that!) But, I'm going to stick with the plan! So, let me share with you what I've done so far...
The plan was to start with the laundry room. That seemed easy enough! Hahaha! So... after getting some really good "before" pictures and trying to move forward with the ideas I had drawn out, I couldn't get over the reality of the mountains of laundry that continued to pile up. As soon as I got close to "catching up", there would be another explosion of clothes. All of that led me to the realization that we just have way too many clothes. Granted, we have a growing family of 8, but we have been blessed with so many hand-me-downs from friends that our kids hardly wear some of their clothes before they've outgrown them. And since we do have such a large family, storage is (and probably will always be) an issue. To remedy this problem, I researched several other blogs to learn about the concept of a minimalist closet. I talked it over with my man, and we decided to do an experiment. I have sorted through each of their wardrobes, narrowed down the outfits, and removed the excess to store during our experiment. Here are the guidelines that I used to keep me on track:
Girls
Shirts (short-sleeved) - 9
Pants - 2
Shorts/Capris - 5
Skirts - 3
Dresses - 3
"Gettin' Dirty Clothes" - 1
"Fancy Clothes" - 1
PJs - 9
Tights - 4
Socks - 10
Underwear - 10
Undershirts - 5
Sweater/light jacket - 2
Swimsuit w/ Cover-up - 1
Tennis Shoes - 1
Flip Flops/Sandals - 1
Church Shoes - 1
Boys
Shirts (short-sleeved) - 9
Pants - 4
Shorts - 6
"Gettin' Dirty Clothes" - 1
"Fancy Clothes" - 1
PJs - 9
Socks - 10
Underwear - 10
Undershirts - 5
Sweater/light jacket - 2
Swimsuit w/ Cover-up - 1
Tennis Shoes - 1
Flip Flops/Sandals - 1
Church Shoes - 1
We're somewhat in between seasons right now, so I kept a few long-sleeved shirts and some extra pants for each of them as well. In Texas, we never know what the weather will be like each day! The "Gettin' Dirty Clothes" are outfits specifically for really rough play or work (painting, etc.). These are things that won't matter if they get stained or ripped. The "Fancy Clothes" are outfits that are never to be played in, but kept in great condition for nice events, Daddy/Daughter Dates, etc. Our "church clothes" tend to be what we wear on a daily basis a lot of times, so I decided this would be a guarantee that there is always one really nice outfit for each kid that we can use as a backup or be able to go to quickly if needed. Oh, and the other disclaimer is that for our younger ones (particularly those that are potty trainees), I will keep a few extra outfits in their dressers.
Having smaller wardrobes will likely mean that their clothes will wear out a little faster, so I will still be shopping the thrift stores and will still get lots of use out of those hand-me-downs. But my hope is that the turnover with the clothes will be somewhat slow, and that this new change will be a success for our storage and laundry issues!
My theory is this: If we only have a little over a week's worth of outfits, I'll be somewhat forced to keep up with laundry. (Only having a little over a week's worth of outfits is also the reason that I'm just storing the excess for a little while instead of getting rid of it altogether. I'm infamous for my lack of laundry skills!) Anyway, hopefully then I'll be able to get my laundry room organized close to matching my Pinterest dreams!
So, we shall see... :)
