Monday, December 22, 2008

Amassing and Organizing a Kid's Wardrobe

I don't profess to be an expert in this. Other women, like those with 18 kids who clothe them all out of thrift stores (yes, they do exist! And I'm in awe!) are probably far better at it. However, I do have an almost 4 year old and a 2 and a half year old, and the vast majority of stuff they've had and worn and wear now is second hand.





I started thrifting as soon as we found out the gender of our first child, and pretty much continued non-stop. It does take time to amass a wardrobe, getting the best deals, and stuff that goes with each other. Going to the mall is a lots faster, but incredibly expensive.





Thrifting has other benefits too. You'll automatically weed out those garments that fall apart, fade, pill, or totally stretch out of shape upon the first wash. If they survived long enough to make it to the thrift, it's probably got some more life in it. Ditto for hand me downs.





You'll have to make several trips to different stores. And commit to buying a wide range of sizes. Even when my oldest was still wearing a size 12 months, if I found something really good in a size 4 I'd buy it - and store it. More on that later. Thrift stores don't automatically have a range of stuff. You might find 5 shirts on one trip, and on the next trip nothing but overalls.





Stuff you generally won't find is socks. Cloth diapers are another thing that's pretty rare. Shoes are iffy. Sometimes you can find shoes you like and that can be rejuvanated (more on that later) but that too is iffy.





With hand me downs you'll have it easier. If you are lucky and have friends with an older, same gender child as you, you might get an entire wardrobe in one go. Or you might get stuff regularly from them enough to automatically amass 99% of what you need. I was lucky enough to have 4 people give me masses of stuff the first year, and now have 2 who regularly give me stuff - 1 that sends huge boxes - an instant wardrobe. Craigslist is another place to find people who are giving away or selling for pretty cheap their child's outgrown wardrobe. This is the same kind of thing as hand me downs except you don't have to nurture the relationship!





With hand me downs, though, be appreciative of people who do this and it will continue. If they have excellent taste in kids clothes, tell them from time to time. If you are chatting on the phone, tell them your child wore that lovely striped shirt yesterday that used to be their child's, and it really suited them and looked so cute. If you want to send a thank you note, that's always cool, but when I give people outgrown clothes, I always prefer a verbal thank you and a follow up comment later on.





When you do get big packets (i.e. the whole wardrobe in one go) of clothes it will often be a big jumble in a garbage bag or box. It might not all be one season, it might not all be the same size. So now the big job is to sort it out.





My system when I get a big donation of clothes like this is wait until the kids are in bed, settle down with an adult beverage, and start sorting. Have some boxes or bins or bags ready. Half a dozen is about good if the stuff is multi-season and multi-size.





Sticky note the bins with different sizes and seasons, and start pulling. Have another bin for stuff that needs stain treatment (the longer it sits, the harder it is to get out) or shoe rejuvation. And another bin for stuff that you would never put on your child (hootchie-mama wear, colors you despise, etc) that will be going to the thrift for donation. Or stuff that's already too small.





Just toss at first, don't get bogged down in folding, putting all the shirts together, etc. Just sort. Then once you are done, take the bag of "going to the thrift" and toss it in the car to go out. There, that's one thing done. Now take the stain treatment stuff, spread it out in your laundry room, or kitchen counter and spray or apply your stain treatment of choice. Pile that in a laundry bin to soak for a good long while. Go get another adult beverage. Now go take all the cleaned, sorted stuff, fold it and put shirts with shirts, shorts with shorts, etc. Put those in the "permanent bins" usually something pretty large, with a lid. Label it (3T, spring and summer), put the lid on, and put those bins in the corner somewhere, but not away in the attic or garage yet - the stuff yet to be laundered or rejuvanated still has to go in there before it's packed away.





Now's the time to scrub out the stains and put them to soak, then get started on shoe rejuvanation. If they are just scuffed, and not the type of shoes to survive the washing machine, then polish heavily, let set overnight, buff, polish heavily again, let set, buff again. If you are lucky, they will often look vastly better. If elastic is coming loose on straps, stitch it down or if the shoes are worth it, maybe even rip it off and replace it. Insoles nasty? Purchase adult padded insoles and cut them down. If you get large adult mens ones, you can get 2 pair of children's insoles out of a pair of adult mens.





It's usually not worth resoling kids shoes. If they've been worn that much, toss them. If they are athletic shoes, they can often survive the washing machine. Use cold water, then pull out the tongues and let them air dry. If it's sunny, all the better, otherwise allow a good two days to dry. Pull out laces and wash and bleach if it's worth it, but if they are worn, toss and buy new ones. New laces often make shoes look new. A little white shoe polish often works miracles too (the paste kind in the tin, not the sponge on kind). Again, apply heavily, let set, then buff the next day.





And that's about it. With luck, over the course of a year or two, you'll be able to set up a nearly complete wardrobe for your child(ren) until say about 6x. After size 6, the pickings get a lot slimmer. Kids aren't growing as fast, and they start wearing stuff out instead of outgrowing it. After that, it will get more challenging to obtain clothes, but if you always have an eye out, and go to garage sales, or surf ebay or craigslist for good deals more or less constantly? Then it can be done. It just gets a little tougher.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Saving Money and Worry on Laundry

So I'm back to making my own laundry detergent. It's cheaper and works better than the Tide Free. And my youngest's skin is looking better. At least this way I know what is in my detergent. Instead of a long list of chemicals I had no idea what they were.



My adapted recipe - 1/4 bar of soap (kirks castile I used the first time, glycirine I used the second time, Ivory evidently works fine too), dissolve in a medium sized pot about half full of water. Add 1/4 cup of borax and 1/4 cup of washing soda. Stir until dissolved. It will attain a goopy texture - almost like snot. Yes, we are very relaxed around here, sorry.



Take an old 100 fl oz Tide (or whatever) bottle and pry out the silly funnel/pour spout thing so that you have a good big open neck. Take the slightly cooled soap/borax/soda mixture and pour into this empty Tide (or whatever) Bottle. Any space left over, fill with hot water. Cap it and shake very well.



About a 1/2 cup works well and a friend says run the water on hot for about a minute in the very beginning when you put the soap in (first, before dumping in the clothes) so that any gelled clumps will dissolve. I use a handled brush (a buck at IKEA, I use them for everything) to break up goopy, snotty clumps. She also says you can use this to pre-treat stains and cut grease with other household cleaning tasks, and she's right. I've found it's great for scrubbing burnt on food off my stove.



And man it's cheap. 1/4 bar of Kirks castile is about 30 cents. Ivory, bought in the 8 pack, probably works out to less than a dime for a 1/4 bar. The borax and the soda are maybe 10 or 20 cents for 1/4 cup. Prob less. So that's 50 or 60 cents to get you a bottle of detergent instead of 7 bucks.



Want to go even more hard core? Wash with cold water. I haven't noticed that my clothes seem any dirtier. They smell fine.



Not enough yet? Cut your dryer usage. I have 2 folding clothes frames, and am probably going to get 1 or 2 more. 2 frames is enough to peg out a large load of clothes. Set the frame over a heating vent in the evening, and it will humidify your house and you'll have dry clothes by morning. Free.



So there it is. Cheap, Cheaper, and cheapest. Because you have better things to spend your money on.

Our happy bag family

So anyway it was sunny (although cold) and neither child is sick today so we bundled them up and took them out. The leaped around the yard, finding all the best muddy spots, having a great time.





That's the great thing about dressing your kids in hand me downs and thrift store finds and Aldi's rain boots on sale. You cease to care if they destroy it, since you spent practically nothing on it. Sure, my daughters used jackets don't have that bandbox, shiny "new" look to them, but after a month of two with my kids - even a brand new one wouldn't.





And they are happy. They don't care. I don't care either. Their dad doesn't care. He wears raggedy stuff too sometimes, just like me.





We probably DO look like a bag family at times. We spruce up for work and (K's) school, but when it's just us? Forget it. Multiple fashion don'ts around here.





I'm sure it's saved us a bundle of money. So we'll continue to do it. This post was more about attitudes and being "ok" with wearing used clothes and not having/buying/wearing the latest thing. I'll be doing another post with my techniques for finding good stuff at thrift stores, and putting together and organizing a child's wardrobe and storing them effectively. I'm always open to suggestions, so I welcome your input on this too!