It's harder than I thought...

S

scrapperjade

New member
To get rid of baby clothes! I've been saying for months that I was going to do a clean sweep of Avalynne's clothes. She has a ridiculous amount. She got TUBS of hand-me-downs from my sister and a friend when she was born (all sizes - up to 3). That took forever to sort through, but I was very critical. If they had a stain - gone. I only kept my very favorites and sent the rest back.

Well, Ava's clothes have been breeding (at least it seems like it), and I've been TRYING to sort them as she out grew them. But I just can't keep up! Her bins are overflowing, and it was getting out of hand.

So today I pulled out her 3 large tubs (full I might add), 2 laundry baskets and started sorting. I said that if it was something I personally bought I would keep it, and if it was a hand-me-down, I would only keep it IF it was something I would be tempted to purchase if it was hanging in a store. Good theory right??

Except now, as I'm going through them, I'm all like "Awww, I remember this!! I can't get rid of that!". I'm even finding it hard to toss the REALLY stained ones, thinking that I might be able to get the stain out when the time comes... Aaaarggggg, lol!! I am WAY too sentimental over these tiny little clothes! I want them gone, but I can't seem to part with them either, lol!
 
Awww. That's tough. One thing that sometimes works for me is I take a photo of the item (much easier to store it on an external hard drive. LOL!). I can't say this works for everything, but it might work on parting with most and then keep 1-2 really sentimental items.

I would then scrap a two page layout (or more, I guess if it was a lot) and journal about the outfits. This way I am able to still relive the memory but not have to hold on to things that would better serve someone else and that I have absolutely no room to store.

Hope this helps, but I understand.
 
I was like that with my first. With the second and third though when they outgrew it I got rid of it. Now at 18, 16 and 12 I have so much other stuff aside from clothes that I have saved that if I saved their clothes as well even just the sentimental stuff I would have run out of room LOL.
 
I'm no help, I've no tips.
I just want to say that I understand.

One stall of our garage is totes and tubs of baby/toddler clothes.

The twisted part? I *hate* clutter, which is why they are all out in totes. Taking up space.
 
Here's what I did with Rachel's...
Anything stained beyond help went into the trash.
I put her coming home outfit in a memory box...it's hanging on the wall of her room along with her hospital photo.
A favorite onesie is on a doll that sits in her room.
And I've got ONE box for special outfits that I didn't want to part with...basically first Christmas, etc (first favorite toy is in there too)

I took the rest to a resale shop (and got a credit for new stuff) or to Infant Crisis Services. Seriously, what good do boxes of clothes do me or her? I figure they are better off going to someone who really needs them and can't afford them.
 
I just did this and it felt good! I kept one or two baby outfits from each boy- going home outfit and their first Easter outfit. I also kept a few blankets and other linen items. The rest I threw at my SIL and told her to take what she wanted and pass the rest on to our cousins. I did not want any of it back in my house. And if by some miracle I was to have another baby there are enough little ones in our family that I would get the hand me downs.

I got rid of 7 rubbermaid totes and 3 contractor size trash bags. And all that is in my attic are Garrett's clothes that Lance will wear.
 
omgosh...I kept it all with Emma. Now, as soon as Madelyn can't wear it, it goes out of my house. I have a bunch of friends with baby girls so if I don't give it to them, I give it to my MIL who works for the county health department. They help with single mothers so I know it's going someplace that it will definitely be appreciated.
 
I just now did this for the first time with baby clothes (thru 12 months) it is hard but it feels good to not have that mess. I've always had a baby girl inthe house the past almost 6 years (eek) so this is the first time i've ever had to do it lol
 
LOL, I am the same way. That's why it took over 7 years to get rid of my DS's clothes and that was only after we had a girl and we had been paying on a storage unit to store all of it for 3 years
 
Oh, I had so much trouble with my boys things too. When we moved last summer I said that I would only pack one box for each size. I kept finding more things I wanted to save but would have to pull something out of the box to make room for it. I tried to find people I could pass the clothes that didn't fit onto who would really appreciate it - that helps.
 
I was raised by pack rats and I have to work extra hard not to keep every tiny thing I've ever touched. So I was pretty ruthless when it came to getting rid of the baby clothes. There were two or three outfits that I wanted to keep but I had to put on some blinders on and just do it.
 
I am having exactly the same problems!!! And I have a little boy and a little girl so I have sooo much clothes to go thru. I recently went thru my son's (now 4 1/2 years old) old baby clothes and kept a bunch. He has a bunch of preemie stuff that I can't part with because of the memories.... I also don't know if we'll have any more kids, so we may need them in the future.... plus my sister may have more kids, too...

I'm coming up with excuses!!!!

But seriously, I have about 5 storage tubs of my son's old stuff... and I already have 1 1/2 tubs of my daughters stuff that she's outgrown, and she's only 5 months old! Yikes!!!
It is really hard to get rid of them, though! Thank God I have a good size attic to store them in! lol!
 
I'm SO TIRED OF CLUTTER that I didn't have that hard a time. I've always tossed stained stuff right away. I held onto everything else until I knew our 3rd was a girl (and actually here--I didn't go off ultrasounds!), then I started getting the boy stuff out. I saved going home outfits and 1-2 favorite outfits in each size for each child. Other things I love get saved in a special bin to pass on to my brother or sister when they have kids. The rest of it gets donated or sold at a consignment sale.
 
Ugh... it's something I have to do, but just can't get myself to do it... I cry everytime I have to move kiddo's clothes around in the closet to bring in the next size... my mom has some of my clothes as a baby... if I had a girl, I don't know if I would use any, maybe only those that were in professional photographs... so, why do I keep the clothes, my future daughter-in-law maybe the same way...
 
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