Too many clothes

[ggglimpopo]

I have got increasingly pissed off by the piles of seemingly never worn (but always in the laundry!) clothes - with five children we are drowning in clothes.

I have ruthlessly gone through the loft and all the cupboards and bedrooms and have 11 (eleven!!!!!!) big boxes or bin bags of clothes which I am going to give away/recycle/donate as appropriate. I also have three large boxes of baby stuff I can't bear to part with, and 5 large packing cases of handmedowns. I have got rid of anything I or the children don't like, anything tatty, stained, grown out of or just because... I have even raided the dds bedrooms and taken out anything I don't like but they do (black nylon tarty top, ripped and patched horrible denim skirt, jeans with chewed hems, grey bras, off the shoulder I'm a little minx' horror given to dd3 etc)

I cannot believe we have so much stuff. It all feels very liberating.

What do you do with your old clothes?

My sister and mum get first dibs on anything of mine (we're all more or less the same size), rest goes to Cancer Research (because it's closest).
Childrens' clothes still wearable go round a little cycle of families so someone else's dc wears them when otherwise they'd be 'put away' between children. Not sure where they go after the smallest one's had them though - probably another intersecting circle...

I did exactly that about a month ago. My pile included bags and bags (can't remember how many but i posted it here) of clothes, 2 carseats, changing mats, bottle warmer, sling. Also boxes of boxes of kitchen stuff, some brand new unused!!

I still can't beleive how much i've still got! Am chipping away every day!!

It does feel SO liberating.
Well done

We had a good sort out a couple of months ago. I've vacumn bagged all dd1's nice clothes for dd2 and put them in the loft.
Things me and dh don't want were sorted into 2 piles: one for charity shop and another for e-bay/car boot
Must admit most of the pile was mine but hey I can see into my wardrobe now. Also managed to sneek out some of dh's horrific clothes that I've been trying to get rid of from before we were married....why do men hold onto awful old clothes???

I pass on outgrown childrens clothes to friends with younger children or if that's not possible to a charity shop. I also send stuff to someone who appealed on Mumsnet for clothes which she takes to a children's home in S. Africa. Stuff that is too worn or stained goes into a textile recycling bin (as do shoes).

Our school has also just joined a scheme where they get £200 per ton for used clothing, etc so I'm going to have a good sort out this week for that.

I do a blitz of old clothes whenever we have a charity collection bag put through the door.
Decent stuff will go in the collection, and tatty, stained stuff will go in the bin.

With five kids, I buy them very little, and only when they are desperate. With their school uniforms in the week, they actually need very little for the weekends. Holidays are more of an issue, but at least summer clothes are not too bulky.

The hardest bit is organising hand-me-downs - what to do with the clothes that have been outgrown but still too big for the next in line.

Charity shops (mine is the youngest in the family so can't hand on really....)

some I give to people

but I met a woman the other day who was thinking of setting up a 'clothes library' for families on low incomes to be able to choose clothes from

also have heard - but not got round to this yet - that women's refuges are always happy to take clothes and anything because women turn up with their kids often with just the clothes they have on

I give ALL of them to charity or put them in a textile recycling bin. I tried to sell some goods, and it ended up backfiring into a dispute w/PayPal. So I took that as a sign from the universe that I was meant to give them away.

GIve them to charity, if you have loads they will send someone to collect them for you, call Cancer Research UK

I'm getting to the giving away stage - we have piles of DD's old clothes that I was wanting to sell, but don't quite know how to go about it.

How do you post sackfuls of clothes, or do you do local pickup only type thing?

I did the same on Tues and gave it to the charity shop.

Very liberating.

Saved all ds1's clothes for ds2 and all of ds2's clothes go to a friend with a boy.

Still have my baby blankets though and one or 2 bits but I will not become a hoarder!!

And SIL is PG so she can have all the baby toys.

I wait until a charity bag pops through the door. Then I fill it up and leave it outsdie the house and they come and take it away. No effort required