Organising my DC's clothes, how many do they need?

[ladywithnomanors]

I have a on going problem with my laundry. There are piles of clothes everywhere - bedrooms, kitchen, stairs. All clean btw I do manage to keep on top of the actual washing by doing at least a load a day but it's the ironing and putting away that's the problem. This is mainly due to lack of storage. My MIL has pointed out that the main problem is that the DC's have far too many clothes and that if they had less there would be no piles of clothes.

Anyway we've finally go around to get some decent storage for the girls bedrooms. I have decided that whatever clothes don't fit comfortably into here I have to get rid of. The problem is I have no idea what an adequate number of clothes is.
So I was wondering how everyone else organises their DC's clothes. How many of each item do I need?
Btw my children are 2, 4 and 6.

TIA

Ds is 2. He has 2 pairs of trousers and tops for each day he does nursery.
Loads of pants
Probably 10 long sleeve tops. Summer stuff is all too small so will be shopping this year.
6 non nursery trousers.
He has a couple of hoodies, a coat for nursery and one for therest of the time and a couple of waterproofs.
One pair of shoes, Wellies and sandals.
This is pretty minimal but as the washer is always on it is in high rotation. It's also seen us through potty training so is enough - just!

Dd is 9mo and will probably need more as she is in the teething dribbles and messy eating phase.

I won't even list what my girls have as its way too much even after chucking loads

i reckon 7 of everything should work? not 7 coats obv

DS1 has, to quote himself, 'Far too many clothes'. I've just checked, and apart from school uniform he has two sweatshirts, two fleeces, a sweater, four t-shirts, three smartish shirts left over from work experience week and a revolting one he wears for painting. Oh, and some underwear.

DD, OTOH, has around ten of each of the above and apparently still never has anything to wear.

I try to make sure they have enough to last a fortnight. Just find it makes it easier, particularly in school holidays.
I find it easier to buy outfits instead of separates, for some reason it seems to work better.
Shoes, minimum would be school shoes, trainers, party shoes, winter boots or sandals (depending on time of year) and wellies.

DS (almost 4) has one winter coat, one rain jacket, one pair shoes, one pair crocs, one pair wellies. Loads of pants as we were having lots of accidents until v recently. 3 or 4 vests. 3 or 4 jumpers/cardis. 7 or 8 trousers, 4 or 5 tops plus nursery tops (3 days). So I think the rule of 7 works pretty well for us - one for each day of the week, although favourites get worn more often.

The one thong we never had enough of was pyjamas. Wr had 3 but we had to change every day as theyd get snot or wee or cereal on them! 5 pairs now works well for us.

IME more clothes doesn't mean less washing, it just means more dirties lying around to be washed and loads mote to be sorted/stored once outgrown! I'd rather wash a load every day or so (we have a 16mo who gets through 2 lots of clothes most days so never a problem getting together a load!) and have fewer clothes to manage at any one time.

Given he has a relatively small number of clothes i do think quite carefully about what goes with what when buying so they are all mix and match - trousers are usually plain blue, grey, brown or denim, tops are usually bright mixed colours/patterns. And spend a little more on the tops so they wash well and look good.

We have too many clothes ( dd 3 yrs has at least 24 dresses, which I realise is excessive , but we have the space for them).

Twin dds 5 and 3 yr old dd:
One warm padded winter anorak/coat, one 'dress' (formal) coat, rain coat (and other waterproofs), summer jacket.

Yes, agree enough to easily last a fortnight. The twins have (each, of course) 10+ dresses, 4 skirts, 5 pairs of trousers/leggings. Lots of t-shirts and tops, more than a dozen.

Thanks for your replies.
I think 7 of everything is a good place to start. Then I'll see what I'm left with and probably keep the nicest clothes.
Hmmm it's going to be tricky!

I've been mulling this over too recently. I think my boys (2y4m and 8m) have far too many clothes, mostly because of my mum's love of shopping, but then can't work out what exactly we don't need!

DS1 has about 10 shortsleeve (FAR too many - only need 4), 6 longsleeve and 6 sleeveless vests. He does wear them under everything but they last a couple of days&nights so we don't need them all - but use each one occasionally!
About 7 each short-sleeve and long-sleeve tshirts - bearing in mind they range in size from some favourites in 9-12mo to more in 18-24mo. He could manage less but there are some that neither of us really like (gifts - haven't got round to deciding how to handle that).
Trousers are a problem - he has about 10 pairs which sounds far too many but there are only 2 pairs of joggers, 3 pairs that won't stay up and I keep in the drawer in the hope that one day they will fit, 2 smart pairs that won't do for the park and a pair of hand-me-down dungarees we have to be in the right kind of daft mood for. Doesn't leave much wriggle room for messy days.
3 fleeces, 3 cardigans, 4 shirts, 1 tanktop, 2 bodywarmers (2nd was a gift), 1 coat, 1 rainmac.

Mostly I think he has too many clothes because he is so titchy that they last him more than a season, so he has summer clothes that still fit fine that he can wear with long-sleeved vests and longjohns all in the drawer alongside warmer clothes. DS2 has too may because he has all DS1's stuff plus extra because I wanted him to have a few bits all of his own and because the seasons didn't quite match up.

I need to get ruthless. It is ridiculous.

Stop ironing
Make them wear stuff more than once

I need to be ruthless too.
I've decided all the things that I don't really love ie. presents or hand me downs from family/friends I will get rid of. Either ebay or charity bag depending on condition.
I also seem to have bits that don't actually match anything else - the question is do I buy more things to match or just get rid of original item .

Also my DD's are close in age so there are some things that don't fit either of them at the moment.