Keeping clothes for younger brother

[Mitropa44]

Hello - my 2 boys are 8 years apart. I have been keeping clothes from my older boy but my husband thinks that 8 years is too long and things will change and that I should get rid of the clothes. It's mainly T-shirts, trousers and tops. What do people think? Is 8 years too long to keep clothes for my youngest?

As long as you have the space to store it, I don't see why not. There is 5 years between my DC and I kept clothes to re-use, but only those in good condition. The rest I gave away. It was a nice surprise bringing down the vacuum bags from the loft.

It wouldn't occur to me NOT to keep them provided you have the storage space.There's a 7 yr gap between two of mine & clothes have always been passed on happily (many of them have been worn by another sibling in between!)

Once they're older & they have particular preferences it gets trickier but I've still found it worth hanging onto the clothes until youngest is done with them.

*7 yr gap

Depends what it is.
I stopped keeping leggings and cheap tops between DDs when they were 3 sizes apart. But keep party dresses, nice hoodies, bits of uniform (grey school skirts seem indestructible!), coats etc.

Now they are 8&10, younger DD choses what to keep.

It wouldn't occur to me not to keep children's clothing simply because of a fear of change in fashion?!

It's not as though it's your great great great granddad's stockings and doublet?! Presumably we're talking about jeans, tshirts, tracksuits?!

There’s 5 years between my boys and I keot lots, still do! Every so often I go through the bags and get the next size out. I try to keep them in bags labelled by age.

Of course

Personally I wouldn’t, and don’t. I have b/g DTs but they’re a couple of sizes different and there’s clothes that could be passed down but I don’t, it just doesn’t feel right to me.

However, I buy 80% of their clothes secondhand and resell them once they’re outgrown so that might go some way to explaining why I don’t. I dare say if I bought new from the brands I like to dress them in I would keep them for their twin!

So what does your husband think your child will be wearing if not t-shirts, long sleeved tops and trousers/shorts?

My nephew is 7 years younger than my ds2. His favourite clothes are the ones that used to belong to the "big boys" with bonus points if they both wore it.
My nieces are very cross that they don't get the hand me downs from their heroes

And actually some of those clothes were handed me downs from friends who had older dc than me. So potentially 10+years old. I can't see the problem personally.

The only things they've never wanted have been character things from programmes that aren't on any more so they don't know who it is. (Eg the lovely Lunar Jim dressing up outfit)

T shirts and trousers are not going to change massively in style in 8 years, for me it would be more a question of whether you have space to store 8 years’ worth of clothes.

I think it's too long. Clothes deteriorate too . Do u have the space? Even then I wouldn't.

I have four years between my boys and so I’ve kept most things in the attic - washed, bagged up and labelled. But I’ve found that when I get them out, some of them aren’t quite right. Like they’re too wide and short (tops), or a bit faded. It’s not a quality thing - I usually buy Frugi, Boden and M&S. I just think some things dont keep so well. That said, little white company sweaters have stood the test of time and some.

I think styles of jeans/trouser/shorts can change quite markedly in that time-frame. This may not bother you (it didn't me) .

Other than that, I always bought classic styles, plain t-shirts and hoodies, stripey tops etc and re-used whatever the age gap. Only ever bought character patterns as pyjamas.

Hold up a stored item and think 'would I buy this today?' If yes, it's a winner.....if not....charity shop!

@faithfulbird20

I think it's too long. Clothes deteriorate too . Do u have the space? Even then I wouldn't.

Clothes deteriorate? Not to that extent! People still wear vintage clothes. The elastic sometimes crumble but the fabric lasts. Mine wear clothes that used to be worn by 22 year old cousins. Absolutely fine and not particularly different to current fashion.

We got quite a lot of second hand stuff for our first seven years ago that our third will wear. To be honest I have noticed that a few of the colours are no longer "in". But they are preschool ages kids so I really don't think this an issue! As long as they are not damaged or stained I keep them.

Keep the clothes if you have space to store them, there is a 5 year age gap between my boys and I bagged the clothes in age categories and stored them at the top of our wardrobe.

The other day during the very heavy rain I found a 3 in 1 Mountain Warehouse coat which my youngest is now wearing for nursery. I have used a lot of the t-shirts for messy play and nursery. Most of the stuff I saved were bright plain clothes and snuggle fit pj's.

Mine are 2 years apart.
When they were little, most stuff was either destroyed or passed down.
From about 6, the youngest had different preferences to his brother, and actually suit different cuts and colours (everything was bought to suit his exceptionally skinny brother, and doesnt always work on the more normal sized child!).
We now keep odd bits, or stuff I know will come in useful (school uniform, Christmas jumpers, spotted teeshirts, anything I've had to buy explicitly for an event at school, stuff that might be needed but DS2 wouldnt choose to wear). Everything else goes to charity.

Partly depends how old they are. Unlikely to work with teens! However, no harm in keeping them, and if No 2 doesn't like them, they can be sold on ebay/go to charity or freecycle.