How many clothes?

[IsSpringSprangedYet]

Hi everyone, hope this is the best place for my question!

I was just looking at my mammoth pile of washing that I always seem to be trying to get through, and think I need to cull a lot of clothes - mine, DHs and the kids. We don't have much room either, so just a few items would be ideal, then upstairs would look so much tidier and I'd be able to find things easier if I had less to wash. I put a load of stuff away when I became to big for them when i was pregnancy and i'm thinking of sending it straight to the charity shop as I haven't missed any of it. I have a few bits I seem to live in at the moment.

So just out of interest, i have a couple of questions for you - how many items of clothes do you own? And for your kids too? Do you store out of season clothes (and how?) or do you get rid and buy ready for the summer/winter? And how do I begin to set up a realistic capsule wardrobe?

Sorry it's so long, and thank you!

F.

Hahaha seriously no idea. I know DS has too much. I know I have clothes I don't fit atm or In the last year. I don't know how to scale back

I aim to have about 2 weeks worth of clothing for my children. This is normally about 5-7 pairs of jeans, jogging bottoms and trousers and about 15 tops, including long sleeved and short sleeved.

My children are in primary school so they are in school uniform for most of the week. Whilst it may seem a lot of clothes, it means we have enough clothes to cover the school holidays, especially the long summer one. I'll also buy a few pairs of shorts and cotton dresses as well during the summer.

Not sure on exact numbers but most of my clothes fit in a standard double door wardrobe and aren't crammed in.

The left side is work clothes (smart, professional) and right side is casual clothes for mum of four plus smarter 'going out' clothes.

Shoes are in bottom of wardrobe, bags on top. I have X2 very small drawers in bedside table, 1 is underwear and other is socks.

I have X2 larger drawers (in unit shared with dh). 1 is pjs/swimstuff/gymwear/1 set of scruffy stuff for weeding, painting etc. The other drawer is for miscellaneous things which sounds random but is really useful. I keep things I'm deciding if they should go to charity, things off ebay/charit shop I'm deciding if I should keep, things I am a tiny bit too big for, things that nerd repairing/ handwashing etc. I revisit it about once a month and play around with contents to decide what I'm doing with them.

Finally (phew) I have 1 plastic container under my bed. It has seasonal things so either cashmere jumpers/leather pencil skirts etc or linen trousers etc depending on season and also a couple of dresses that just come out for wedding etc.

I realise that sounds a lot but 99% of time just using drawers for underwear and 1 half of wardrobe depending on if I'm at work that day or not. I would say each 'half' of wardrobe has 25-30 items. If I didn't need two such different styles, I could get away with far less.

I do have some things that would work for either professional /casual but stopped mixing the two (other than footwear) as didn't feel smart at work because (for example) I'd had blouse on for toddler group that week or felt frumpy on night out with dh as wore pencil skirt at work etc. I really enjoy having separation and also limited choices for each which makes dressing easier.

Well done if you read all of that.

Kids are pretty much the same as chanie44 , though most is passed on from friends so sometimes we just make do with what we have.

Dss 14 has about 8 tracksuit bottoms, 20 t shirts, 2 jeans (he hates them) 3 jacket. 4 shoes
Dd 4mo has a ridiculous amount of clothes I wouldn't even bother counting. But we have lots of storage for her so it's not a problem.
Dh has about 15 tops, 5 shirts, 6 shoes, 4 jackets, 4 jeans and too many hats but he won't let me get rid of any.
I have about 20 tops, 5 jeans/ trousers, 2 skirts, 8 dresses and 6 shoes. Too many pyjamas but I wear them until they are knackered.
I don't store winter clothes away I just get rid of them when it's not cold anymore, unless the item was expensive/ one of my favourites. I give them to charity. And then I buy back from charity when the next season comes around. I would rather my children had new clothes than me.
I sort mine and dcs clothes when we have a clear out. I leave dh to sort his own.