Do you keep hand me downs between your children?

[heartbroken22]

Does it depend on the age gap? Do you keep everything?

Everything that isn't too manky!
Mixed up with hand me downs from friends, charity shop stuff and new clothes. First child was a boy, but the styles of clothes I seemed to buy were not that inappropriate for dd* 3 years later.

These days clothes just go straight from him to her, no need for storage. Does DH's head in when he's sorting laundry.

I'm glad to note that others have also handed down shoes. Some my DD's were hardly worn, but some people were very funny about me doing that, as the received wisdom is that you should always buy new shoes.

I never had trouble handing when my two DD's got older either. In fact, the trouble was in the teen years, that the younger DD always wanted to wear things that then became age inappropriate for her with the 6 year age gap, and older DD got really annoyed when her stuff started disappearing from her cupboards!

Now they are both older teens, young twenties, they swap clothes gladly. It's lovely.

Just thought I'd add as well, my daughter wears a lot of the clothes that I was wearing 25 years ago as a baby and toddler!! It's lovely for my parents to see them worn again and reminisce ("oh that was your favourite little jacket!" Etc)
Some people I know find it really weird that she wears my old clothes (I even got told it was unhygienic?? They are washed thoroughly first and have been kept in dry storage?!) but I think it's lovely. I'll be keeping my children's things in the hope of grandchildren one day!

Kept everything and passed on as much as I could. Also swapped clothes between friends.

There was a ridiculous thread on here a couple of months back by someone who was equating posh hippy neglectful parenting with mismatched clothes and hand me downs.

I have two girls with just over two year age gap but DD1 is really big for her age so I usually have two or three sizes stashed between their current sizes. I keep everything and DD2 chooses what she wants, and gets bought a few new things as well - she is more fussy about how she looks than DD1 who just wants to be comfortable. Once we've finished with stuff it all goes to a friend for her DD.

I only keep my very favourite or expensive bits - I have a 5 year age gap plus very differently built children who suit different things. However I do donate and buy via a local lady so both of them probably have 25% of their stuff from new.

Yes, medium gap and everything that isn't obviously wrecked is kept to be passed on. There have of course been a few things the younger one didn't like, never got round to using or, when younger, that were the wrong season. I've also had other hand me downs from friends with DC aged in the middle of mine, iyswim, and anything that's still good after my youngest has finished gets passed on too. We do have the space to store a few boxes so that helps, I appreciate it's harder for people in small flats.

I also tend to find that some stuff shrinks a bit with being washed, so the gap between wears is often smaller than the gap between the DC themselves iyswim.

Yes I hand down whatever's practical to hand down. Have some bits from a ten year gap. E.g. A big t shirt always makes for good sleepwear, or even works as a cool summer dress.
Have now come to an age where my children are outgrowing me and I'm getting their hands me downs 😄

I keep everything and reuse as I wanted a really big family and we aren’t rich !!!

Yes!

Surely in this day and age with massively increased awareness about climate change, global resources and toxic consumerism the vast majority of people would pass clothes down through the family until they are no longer wearable? Everything possible here is second hand. If I have to buy something I get it on eBay or Vinted. DS2 is now 15 and tall and is now pinching all DHs old 90s/2000s stuff from the loft!

I think also it comes down to cost! No sense buying everything multiple times if you can avoid it. I realise once they get into their teens this may not work, but with younger ones, may as well take the opportunity while you can.

@Dannexe Not everyone has access to really old stuff though. I moved here from another continent, so don't have my childhood/early adulthood clothes and DH grew up in a tiny house, so all of his old stuff was either donated or binned ages ago by his parents. Similarly, people who have children with large gaps or were unexpected can't be expected to keep old clothing for years in houses with limited storage space.

I agree that siblings relatively close in age should use hand-me-downs where possible though.

Another one who says heck yes why wouldn’t you. Three year gap one winter one summer but same sex. All newborn stuff I bought in advance was unisex so planned to reuse that whatever. Everything still wearable was kept, second then had the choice of what to keep, for example younger one hates jeans so they have all ended up in the donate bag once retrieved from the loft. Have saved a fortune over the years. I also saved a fortune by not over buying so school shoes, trainers and another pair of shoes when they were younger not six pairs that my friend buys each time hers change size! 😱

That wasn’t the point of my post. Yes I appreciate not everyone will not have kept stuff for that long. I was just illustrating that even when they’re older it makes sense.

Mine 5 years apart same sex.
I keep the good stuff then donate after youngest is finished with them.

Why wouldn't you keep things if they were still usable and if you have the space?

I kept all DC1's things as I always knew I wanted another child. I've also bought new for DC1 as I hoped that all being well we'd get use out of it for a second. I do have 2 DC now, with a 3.5 year age gap, so they were born at different times of year and some of the clothes are the wrong size for the season, but we've reused as much as possible, and I've given a lot to my sister too (for her DS, my nephew). DC1 is a boy and DC2 is a girl, but a lot of DS's baby clothes were pretty unisex (apart from the gifts), and we don't mind putting DD in "boy"ish clothes, although we've received more "girly" clothes as gifts and I've bought her things too - mostly second hand although occasionally new.

I do seem to have ended up with mountains of clothes and it's a constant job to sort through them all, get rid or store, and buy things we need that we don't have.

I could do with clearing out my own wardrobe and getting myself some new bits but that never happens any more!

Oh and I don't really understand how it could work to pass on second hand school uniform, because DS's all got stains and/or holes by the end of the term year, but he's only 5 so perhaps it will improve!

Between the 13yo and 4yo, no. It would take too much space and things look dated after 10 years, even if you don't care about fashion.

Between the 4yo and 1yo, yes. I do weed out some bits that are stained/damaged/just not my favourite and top up with new, but keep 80% of it.

Tbh everyone's uniform gets a bit worn out a few months in so you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell who us wearing second hand and who is wearing new past the first few weeks.

Yes, I have an older DD and younger DS so consciously choose neutral colours so we can use them again. Saying that DS was more than happy to wear a pink winter hat last year at 3.

When they were babies yes. Now it depends. Dc1 is a boy, dc2 is a girl and won't wear some of his hand-me-downs. Three years between them. Football boots, some t-shirts, hoodies, pjs, christmas jumpers and socks yes, most stuff no.

Plan to. Only have a 7 month old yet. Kept all his clothes he's outgrown already and will continue. Most of them were handed down from his cousins and a friend. Feels good to not have to spend money on clothes.

I don't any more. When they were babies I re used the vast majority, only binned a few stained or ruined things and didn't get to use a few items that were wrong season, such as snow suits or shorts.

But my boys are 14 and 12 now and I have only passed down a handful of day wear in the past 5 years. They are different builds and suit different things. Also they don't have many outfits at a time so most of their clothes are very well worn (done) by the time they are outgrown. Exceptions are the likes of ski trousers and scout uniform.

And.... not the most important reason for me....but I find it's an unnecessary but of mental load. I rarely had a matching top and bottom in re useable condition, so if I wanted to get use out of the trousers I had to shop for a suitable top and it was restrictive and difficult....and often no cheaper