Clothes, how much is enough?

[hordak]

There is nothing in this world i despise more then laundry. Sort it by color, wash it, dry it, sort it again by family member, sort it again by type, then fold and put it away and hang it by type. Repeat.

I think my kids have too much. I can't ever catch up on laundry because there is no place to put it. The dressers and closets are full and i still have a tall hamper and three 20 gallon totes spilling dirty laundry in the hall. This doesn't include the 2 other totes that are holding winter clothes, and outgrown stuff for the baby on the way. My idea. A trip to Goodwill. If i had my way the kids would have 8 of everything, shirts ,shorts,pant etc. and i would donate the rest. My wife doesn't see eye to eye with me and thinks that i don't understand the importance of variety when it comes to clothing. While I'm willing to admit this might be true, I'm also the one who has to do it all.

So how much is enough?

[Jenamarie]

Maybe change the way you do laundry? When I wash clothes there's "whites" and "everything else". I wash them all in cold water and dry on low heat, so the delicate stuff doesn't get ruined and the colors don't bleed. I don't fold my kids clothes, and only their church clothes get hung up. Saves me lots of time.

When I buy clothes for my kids I focus on how many other items in their wardrobe it will match with. I don't "do" outfits that can't be mixed and matched unless they're super cheap (like the sets Target sells). I buy tops that can be worn with two or three different bottoms, and bottoms that can be worn with at least two or three different tops. That way they have more "outfits" without having as many clothes.

[Guest missingsomething]

Um if current season is not fitting in dressers, and spilling over 20 gallon drums... Id agree..thats too much. But if they go through 2=3 outfits a day...?

Idea: why dont you pull out anything they havent worn in a month and donate it...or put away for new baby.

[WillowTheWhisp]

There are only 4 living in our house but I seem to have never ending laundry. It seems to be mostly towels though. I don't know how 4 people can use so many towels. I think it's the kids who use about 4 each per day.

[Captain_Curmudgeon]

For me, next to nothing. The last time I checked, I spent less than one-tenth of one percent of my budget for clothing.

In the summer, I have enough sets of exercise clothes to change them whenever I feel like it, plenty of sox, and my running shoes. I wear clothes only when I go out to exercise.

Winter, a bunch of sweat pants to wear around the house when it's cold and for exercise.

All the time, a couple of pairs of pants and dress shirts to wear when I have to meet people outside my home.

But I'd say it's a balancing act between how big you want your laundry day to be against how often.

[hordak]

Maybe change the way you do laundry? When I wash clothes there's "whites" and "everything else". I wash them all in cold water and dry on low heat, so the delicate stuff doesn't get ruined and the colors don't bleed. I don't fold my kids clothes, and only their church clothes get hung up. Saves me lots of time.

When I buy clothes for my kids I focus on how many other items in their wardrobe it will match with. I don't "do" outfits that can't be mixed and matched unless they're super cheap (like the sets Target sells). I buy tops that can be worn with two or three different bottoms, and bottoms that can be worn with at least two or three different tops. That way they have more "outfits" without having as many clothes.

Yeah I do 3, whites, darks and reds.

If you don't fold the close how do you store them?

[Jenamarie]

Yeah I do 3, whites, darks and reds.

If you don't fold the close how do you store them?

Just shove them in the dresser. Their clothes don't really wrinkle, and even if I did fold them they'd be wrinkled within a few minutes of being put on, with the way my kids play. I stick with cottons and avoid anything poplin or linen unless it's for church.

[Dravin]

You can also just dump their clothes on their bed, this might not work depending on the ages involved.

I'm a whites and colors washer I've never had reds washed in cold bleed unto other stuff, this includes beige and yellow towels being washed with red ones. As far as everyone going through towels so much I think its because most bathrooms don't have room to hang more than one or two towels so if 4 people use the bathroom that means three end up in the hamper. If you had enough hanging space you could assign towels and tell them they have to use them 3 days in a row or what have you before they get a clean one, good luck with that.

My wife doesn't see eye to eye with me and thinks that i don't understand the importance of variety when it comes to clothing.

If your couch is comfortable you can suggest if she loves the variety so much she can wash, fold and store the extra.

[Madriglace]

I HATE laundry ... I buy nothing that has to be ironed ... ironing is worse than laundry. I have always figured we should be able to buy clothes on rolls like paper towels and just throw them away.

[Dravin]

[hordak]

If your couch is comfortable you can suggest if she loves the variety so much she can wash, fold and store the extra.

We've tried that a few times but since the kids have so many and she wears a uniform at work , she can go weeks without running out of clothes. Meanwhile I'm stuck wearing long johns around the house because they are clean and the closet thing to pants i have.

[Dravin]

You could always 'cheat' and just wash your own clothes.

[Gwen]

i keep my clothes separate from the rest of the family. lol my problem with it is i'm usually the only one without clean clothes. there is so much of their wash to do and since i "don't go to work or school" mine get put off for theirs until i'm desperate or i need to go somewhere. but i guess that's my own fault huh.

i've thought several times about the kids not needing more than a weeks worth of clothes, do wash regularly and things should be fine.... right? i agree girls tend to need/want more variety of clothes. most my kids have favorites and wear the same 6 things as it is. for the kids i hang everything. we put of a shelf across an entire wall in their room and each kid has a different color hanger and section. on the shelf above their shirts are their pants. everyone has one drawer with socks and underwear in it. it works well when i'm the only one doing wash but if i expect anyone else to help me they don't keep to the order i've set up. the problem i found with drawers is i would take time to fold then the kids would come along and dig through the drawer (or dump it all on the floor) looking for their favorite shirt or something undoing all i had done.... started to seem pointless.

[melissar]

We have dressers that hardly ever get used for the same reason. We just cleaned our son's rooms and found so many clothes that had been dumped on the floor or stuffed under the bed. Now we are going to go through their clothes and they are getting a weeks worth of clothes for summer and a week for winter and that is it. They are boys so should not complain as much as girls.

[Madriglace]

i keep my clothes separate from the rest of the family. lol my problem with it is i'm usually the only one without clean clothes. there is so much of their wash to do and since i "don't go to work or school" mine get put off for theirs until i'm desperate or i need to go somewhere. but i guess that's my own fault huh.

i've thought several times about the kids not needing more than a weeks worth of clothes, do wash regularly and things should be fine.... right? i agree girls tend to need/want more variety of clothes. most my kids have favorites and wear the same 6 things as it is. for the kids i hang everything. we put of a shelf across an entire wall in their room and each kid has a different color hanger and section. on the shelf above their shirts are their pants. everyone has one drawer with socks and underwear in it. it works well when i'm the only one doing wash but if i expect anyone else to help me they don't keep to the order i've set up. the problem i found with drawers is i would take time to fold then the kids would come along and dig through the drawer (or dump it all on the floor) looking for their favorite shirt or something undoing all i had done.... started to seem pointless.

Now this is just scary!

How about telling the kids they do their own laundry (the ones old enough of course) ... my mom did it to me ... maybe that's why I hate laundry. I know a girl who loves laundry ... if she comes to your house she asks if there is laundry she can do for you .... poor deluded child!

[hordak]

Now this is just scary!

How about telling the kids they do their own laundry (the ones old enough of course) ... my mom did it to me ... maybe that's why I hate laundry. I know a girl who loves laundry ... if she comes to your house she asks if there is laundry she can do for you .... poor deluded child!

Mine are too young. I to had to do my own laundry as a kid but it was so simple. I only owned darks and had 2 boxes. One for dirty clothes and one for clean. No folding, ironing hanging, delicate, or spaghetti straps. Life was so simple then:D

[Gwen]

i have the kids help, that's why the laundry is never how i set it up. lol but they are kinda young (7, 6, 5, 3, 11months). most of them really do the best they can.

[scdoyle]

There are only 4 living in our house but I seem to have never ending laundry. It seems to be mostly towels though. I don't know how 4 people can use so many towels. I think it's the kids who use about 4 each per day.

I make our kids use their towels at least twice before they get washed.

[leming6]

My opinion is yes, kids do have too many clothes and things in general. Society tells us we need these things and we indulge our children a little more than we should. Believe me, I'm guilty of it too. I've realized this and have decided to try to undo what I've done while my kids are still young. With that, here is my advice on clothes and laundry. My kids help with the laundry, that way it is not totally on you to get it done. I too am never "caught up". My suggestion is if you think there is too much then cut down. If all seasons of clothing are out, pack away the ones you aren't using. It will save a lot of time and space. I don't think most kids really care about as much until we teach them to care about it.

[WANDERER]

My washing up method.

No white clothing...okay that's not practical...I run those few items through with a load of blue clothing (for brighter whites). I prefer to run a full load because its time effective/environmentally sound.

Delicates: light fabrics or gentle wash items are put on the delicate cycle and low spin option into the washing machine...hung on coathangers on portable wardrobe in laundry and left to dry in the breeze. Usually dry the next morning. Half to three quarters of my wardrobe consists of this sort of clothing. With some items I do the twist clothing thingy (a figure eight and allow to dry for the scrunched fabric look).

Normal wash items: I have a hand clothes steamer thingy that they use in department stores rather than an iron. Its quick.

How much clothing....? I work on the one month principle (I broke a bone in my hand and learnt that preparedness is a good thing). Wardrobe is sorted into non-seasonal (put away), current and from this weekly clothing options are hung on a separate rack by day of the week left to right, outfit/colour co-ordinated with hooks facing inwards/day wear and casual wear...if there's a weather change or whatever swapping is fine. Current wardrobe is cycled through. Items that need replacing/drycleaning/mending have their own section.

There are three cane cylinder hampers with lids for laundry items that are placed in rooms/bathrooms: delicates, normal wash and towels. They are weekly sized baskets...when they are full I know I have one washing load that needs to be done.

It sounds a little hyper-organised but once running it isn't and it takes the stress out of the mornings.

Edited April 4, 2009 by wandering

[Guest]

We've tried that a few times but since the kids have so many and she wears a uniform at work , she can go weeks without running out of clothes. Meanwhile I'm stuck wearing long johns around the house because they are clean and the closet thing to pants i have.

I'm confused here. I don't see the relationship of having a mountain of laundry to having a mountain of clothes. My clothes occupy 3/4 of our walk-in closet, my husband's occupy the last 1/4. Yet, we have about the same amount of laundry. You can only wear one outfit at a time...

So, the 20 drums of laundry, I think, is a separate issue to having too many clothes.

So, I'll provide an answer with "what works for me" to both questions, treating them separately. Note: I live in Florida, so we don't really have the drastic season change. We get layers in the winter, so laundry is usually more in winter than summer.

First, laundry. I hate laundry, so does my husband. But, with the distribution of chores, I opted to do laundry instead of cleaning the floors. We have 2 kids - 5 and 7. I do laundry every Friday when I get off work while preparing dinner. My sister does laundry 2 times a week which she swears makes it easier. I can't do something I hate 2 times a week. Anyway, I made a rule... everybody has to put their laundry in their respective hamper in their bathroom, all pockets have to empty, all socks have to be unrolled. If I see laundry anywhere else (my husband has been bad with leaving dirty socks everywhere!), it doesn't get cleaned. All towels have to be hanged after use. I put the towels in the hamper every Thursday and Monday after I give the kids their baths, sometimes more often if it gets really soggy. So on Friday, first thing I do is strip the beds. Then I drag all the hampers to the laundry room then sort by whites, lights, and darks. I use Shout Color Catcher on all loads, just to make sure I didn't miss something in the sort. I usually end up with about 4 loads of clothes and 1 load of bedding a week. I load the first load, then fix dinner. The whites I load last - it gets soaked in hot water and detergent overnight. I finish up all the whites Saturday morning and that's when I fold ALL the stack of clothes. All my kids' shirts are hanged, all their shorts are stacked unfolded, pants hanged, underwear stacked, socks paired by putting one inside the other, PJ's folded. But, my kids usually hang their own shirts and pants (yes, even my 5 year old - they love to do it). They also put away their socks and underwear. I only do the stacking of the shorts and PJs because they make a mess of it. My husband's and my clothes all get hanged except for t-shirts which I fold and stack and garments that gets folded in drawers. It takes time, but it's not a nightmare.

On having too many clothes... We don't have too many clothes. We buy quality instead of quantity. My husband has Tommy Bahama or Ralph Lauren or those brand name stuff. They are expensive so he only has a few. And it lasts a loooonnnggg time. Much longer than the Faded Glory, I have to tell you. I actually did a study on this and we found out that the money we spend on the quality stuff comes out to about the same as the money we spend on the low-quality-easily-ripped stuff. I get him a shirt or two on Christmas and his bday. That's about it. My kids don't really have too many brand name stuff, but we still pick those of good quality. They grow up too fast and the second-hand shop gives a good price for mall clothes. They don't have too many clothes either. My 5 year old has the most clothes of everybody. He gets hand-me-downs from the older kid and some new stuff we get for him. I'm the problem. I got a lot of clothes. But that's because I've gained weight and I don't want to get rid of my "thinner" clothes in the hopes of fitting back into them one of these days...

Edited April 6, 2009 by anatess

[Hemidakota]

There is nothing in this world i despise more then laundry. Sort it by color, wash it, dry it, sort it again by family member, sort it again by type, then fold and put it away and hang it by type. Repeat.

I think my kids have too much. I can't ever catch up on laundry because there is no place to put it. The dressers and closets are full and i still have a tall hamper and three 20 gallon totes spilling dirty laundry in the hall. This doesn't include the 2 other totes that are holding winter clothes, and outgrown stuff for the baby on the way. My idea. A trip to Goodwill. If i had my way the kids would have 8 of everything, shirts ,shorts,pant etc. and i would donate the rest. My wife doesn't see eye to eye with me and thinks that i don't understand the importance of variety when it comes to clothing. While I'm willing to admit this might be true, I'm also the one who has to do it all.

So how much is enough?

Try that with eight children....

Eventually, my wife will go through annually in removing clothes that are worn out, not worn, or just to many for the closet space or dressers and donate them to the church welfare program.

[Dravin]

Good Ol' DI, AKA Deseret Industries or Dump It. :)

[Elgama]

my kids and me have 4 nice tops, 2 good pair of going out trousers, 2 around the house outfits, a Sunday Outift, 7 pairs of underpants/knickers, 7 pairs of socks, 3 vests, and 2 coats each. That is it. The baby has 6 sleepsuits, 6 vests, 2 cardigans and 4 pairs of socks and a warm suit for going out. Hubby has 5 works shirts. We each have our own bathrobe and I have 7 hand towels

I reckon I have 3 loads of laundry a week, but I do it everyday just pick up and sort out what is dirty off the bathroom floor and put it in the wash.

-Charley

[Madriglace]

I had a friend who had older kids that had a habit of just dropping their stuff where ever ... she finally laid down the law and said whatever was on the floor or in the laundry baskets was hers. many peieces of expensive clothing went into her barrel and to Good Will. It went unnoticed until the sons $3000 camera became mom's camera and then they started keeping stuff picked up and cared for. Little ones can do this too ... when a treasured shirt dissappears it gets serious.