How many outfits per child is enough?

[Ooblie]

Have 4dcs aged 8,7,5 and 2 and our wardrobes are constantly overflowing 🙈 I'm due a big cull now as they've outgrown a lot, and I'd really like to scale back and have less for them, as much of their stuff doesn't even get worn.

We do a load of washing every day, so there should be enough rotation that we don't actually need that much.

So, how much is enough? I was thinking something like:

Girls
10 pairs of leggings/pants
10 tops
2-3 hoodies/cardis
4-5 casual dresses
2-3 dressier outfits

Boys
10 trackie pants
2 pairs jeans
10 tops
3 hoodies
2-3 dressier outfits

Don't worry @ooblie I'm a hypocrite. But I've realised after going crazy with next size up for DTwins that I'm making my life harder. Washing is a nightmare because I can let it pile up. And there's always so much to wear. DS now has far less than when he was younger but I could prob still cut it back and am trying

We went with very few clothes but let they wear what they loved, nothing was saved for best tbh.

We hung their clothes to dry on hangers so putting it away was quicker and easier too. Hung up as outfits.

I hasten to add my mother thought my dc looked like the "Bisto kids"! They played. They mostly needed comfy clothes to play in and not worry about.

Depends on the child and lifestyle. My child who lives in onesies at home & pretty much wears those or a school uniform most of the week has different clothes needs to the one who often wears layered outfits every day he isn't gravely ill.

If you're finding it overflowing, try having those old enough pick out their favourite 5 or so outfits, you add on a couple to round things out for needs they haven't thought of (sometimes that's dressier, sometimes that's temperature) and put the rest away for the season & see how things feel. If it's not enough, you can pull more out.

With my younger two, that tends to be enough while my teenagers I basically give them their space and if it's not fitting in or things are getting dumped on the floor, then they need to select and put others away.

Also, I find some wardrobes are more awkward/more easily feel overfull than others of similar size and sometimes we've had to play around with different types of storage.

I try to follow the moderate column for myself and DC. I do laundry once a week and we manage perfectly!

This

Put all the clean dry laundry to one side for a week instead of putting it away and then clear out the wardrobes of everything else (put them in bin bags or similar and store on top of the wardrobe/on the floor/under the bed … wherever is convenient)

It’s a bit of a hassle to dig out of the bags what people want, but after a month you’ll have a sensible working wardrobe.

If you’re brave enough, just dispose of the bags after that time. If you’re disciplined enough to look you might find a few things to sensibly retrieve.

I used to keep extra because I was t keeping on top of the laundry but I’ve realised it’s much easier to keep on top of it when there’s never a massive intimidating pile built up.

Do children not change out of uniform after school? We always did

@JurgensCakeBabyJesus

Do children not change out of uniform after school? We always did

Mine don’t. Some do. Uniform is so cheap these days and people do more washing to I think there isn’t the incentive to keep it clean/in good condition.

my DD is 12 in first year of high school S1 (y7)
in addition to school uniform she has this winter
1 pair of jeans , 2 pairs of trousers 1 pair joggers 2 pairs leggings 2 long sleeve tops 5/6 t shirts,
2 hoodies, 1 shacket, 1 coat ( if pouring with rain wears waterproof school coat) 2 jumpers, 3 coloured shirts 3 dresses 3 skirts, a bikini 3 sleep/lounge wear sets a pair of nice boots, shoes and trainers
Some of this is in age 13 the rest is woman's size 8 I expect it to last a couple of years with some things swapped in and others out
in the summer she will probably get a couple of pairs of shorts, 2-3 t shirt type tops and sandals / canvas "van " type shoes maybe a summer dress and a denim jacket this is more than enough washing mostly once a week I don't count socks tights and underwear

Mine have about 7 bottoms and 14 tops each. If they need something dressy I procure it ad-hoc as they'll usually have outgrown it before they need it again.

Underpants is something we have lots and lots of. Maybe 15 to pairs each. Also lots of socks.

A few jumpers, a hat, some gloves, 2 swimming cossies, a good winter coat and a smattering of dresses for the girl, for holidays.

I only have 2 changes of PJs for each of them. Maybe that's a bit stingy but they've not needed more.

I think they wear the same 3-5 things in rotation. But I have extras for school holidays. 🤷🏻‍♀️

most people only wear a certain % of their wardrobe children have favourites, you probably know what they are and they only wear other stuff if nothing clean or you tell them to

What do they wear after school? In primary DD just carried on with uniform as she had a full clean set per day.

In secondary she changes after school, in Summer and after PE days she needs a shower and she also needs comfortable clothes for two after school activities.

I think we always had around the same amount:

3 pair of leggings and 4 jeggings
Several hoddies or cardigans (often oversized so lasted more than one season/growth spur) and a couple of smarter jumpers.
Around 10-15 T-shirts

Can't remember shorts and always a couple of dresses.

@JurgensCakeBabyJesus

Do children not change out of uniform after school? We always did

He has free choice, sometimes he will, but he's 6 so I wouldn't reuse it the next day generally as he's a grub. Goes in one wash each weekend.

I think that that is a huge number of clothes.
I would have school uniform
A smart/ party outfit
Then about three bottoms eg jeans / trackies/ shorts / skirt
2/3 hoodies
Jumper or cardigan
5/7 t shirts
I might also have a couple of summer dresses for girls and 2 more pairs of shorts for boys
Tiny children need more but older children may need less.
I would expect a child over 5 to get a few wears out of the bottoms and hoodies but to wear a new t shirt daily.
Most clothes work for most of the year.