Kids Clothing Confession

As an adult lady, I totally wish I was more stylin’.  I’ve tried, I really have, but just have a terrible sense of style.  I constantly rock tees and cardis, the same 4 pairs of jeans, the same three pairs of shoe and a few dashes of jewelry.  It’s my MO.  So when it comes to my kids’ clothes, guess what, I’m the same way.  What they wear does not stress me out.  I buy all the boys clothes at one consignment sale and most of Harper’s there too, throw them in their dressers and they dress themselves.  It saves me time and energy every day.  And you may gasp, but they have no church clothes or church shoes.  Eeek.  Some of you are dying right now.  That’s right, the same clothes and shoes they wear Monday-Saturday are up for grabs on Sunday as well.  I think God is totally fine with it.

We live in a small house.  We are still looking to move…EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. but the housing market is kind of craptastic right now.  Our house has a grand total of 2 closets…one in our room and one in Harper’s room.  Oh there is also this tiny closet under our steps that holds our vacuum.  Forgot about that bad boy.  The boys have no closet.  When we look at houses, I always admire the closets.  I dream about closets.  Closets make me all hot and bothered and blush a crazy shade of red.  I can’t wait for closets.

Ever since Hudson was born they have used the exact same little green dresser.  First drawer: undies & socks.  Second drawer: pants.  Third drawer: shirts.  Fourth drawer: PJs.  It’s a free for all when they get dressed…whatever suits their fancy.  And they are so rough on their clothes, I buy a very minimal amount because more than likely it will end up stained and with a hole in it.

Side note:  I noticed after taking this picture the boys were proudly displaying a pumpkin stem in their room beside Sol’s Skylander.  They have so many weird things collected, but this is one of my favorites.

Since Amon came along, we’ve been talking about getting a bigger dresser of Mom’s out of storage.  Here’s Amon’s “closet”.

Yep.  Those two little baskets hold all of his clothing and they reside on a shelf in our closet.  And when I’m behind on laundry…he’s pants less…which is often…because I hate laundry…and toddlers are allowed to go pants less…not adults.

Harper, goh…it’s the same song just more colorful.  Ha.  We bought her little dresser before she was born and painted it white.  It’s so beat up and old and the drawers are all wonky, but I love it.  I’m just realizing my sneaky OCDness…same as the boys…First drawer: undies and socks.  Second drawer: pants/skirts/tights.  Third drawer:  shirts.  And fourth drawer: Pjs.  Pay no mind to her crooked lamp shade.  You can’t stop looking at it can you?!?!?  IT’S.ALL.I.CAN.SEE.NOW.

Sidenote:  So what about that monkey picture?  Nice interior decorating Harper.  After she watched Night At The Museum with Susan, she tore this sucker out of one of Josh’s magazines because it reminded her of the monkey in the movie.  Cracked me up.

Harper actually does have a closet, but it’s main purpose is to organize toys that belong to everyone…puzzles, games, legos, craft supplies, kitchen toys, etc.  Other than that there are a few dresses, jackets, dress up stuff and one lonely snow suit.  It also holds everyone’s jackets since her room is by the kitchen and back door.

I know when you have a baby you tend to have way too many clothes bought up.  After Harper’s first year I remember sitting in a sea of clothing and realizing she hadn’t even worn some of the outfits once and most of them she had only worn a few times.  That kind of thing overwhelmed me for some reason.  When you have a small house and not a lot of space you typically only hang onto things you really love or need.  Same goes for our kids’ clothes.  And it’s one thing I can do to make our life just a little more simple.  The things I do for my sanity.  So if you see us out and the boys are dressed like ragamuffins with holy pants or Harper is colorfully dressed in wrinkled stripes and plaid and rainbows, just remember I had nothing to do with it 🙂

Happy Wednesday!

14 Comments

  1. First of all I love all the color and art all over your house. Secondly, I despise folding and putting away laundry so we just live out of laundry baskets. I’m pretty sure I could get rid of the dresser in the girls’ room and never miss it. It’s always EMPTY!

  2. amen–

    church clothes? nope

    we don’t even do easter dresses or christmas outfits.. why?

    i gave up dressing my kids when our numbers hit 4 kids… i just couldn’t do it– the only time i dress them is when i want to do good posing pictures of them.. 🙂

  3. I love this. I still dress my year-old twins, of course, but they wear the same 5 or 6 shirts and pants all. the. time. And my 5-year-old boy gets to pick. And he picks the same 3 shirts all. the. time. (Two of which are a Carolina Panthers shirt and a Duke Blue Devils shirt. Ain’t mad at it.) Some members of my family try to “suggest” to him that he wear other things, but this is what he likes. And I have other things to worry about, honestly. And I approve everything in his closet/drawers, so yeah – if it’s in there, it’s fair game. Even if you wore it yesterday. And the day before. (But let’s be honest – I don’t do laundry that fast.) Good for you! Embrace it. 🙂

  4. Raegan’s wardrobe is the same as your kids’. Pretty much anything is fair game as long as it’s clean, fits, and weather appropriate. She’s been dressing herself for a long time and has very decisive (and questionable) opinions on what she wears. I love it when I do a quick mental scan of the outfit… “Shirt – cute, skirt – cute, leggings – okay, whoa! Hello Kitty socks up to the knees OVER the leggings and sandals.” Whatev. It’s not a battle worth fighting to me.

  5. This might be one of my favorite posts of yours! I found myself totally laughing and relating way too much. My kids have been known to show up at church with no shoes on. Seriously, even my ten year old got in the car with no shoes one time. He should know better. And I’m a mom who doesn’t notice those things until we arrive and I realize just how crazy my kiddos are dressed. Annnnd my husband is the pastor so hopefully everyone else feels fine about their families since ours is so crazzzzy! Haha!

    • This is AWESOME! And now I want to visit your church! 🙂 Totally feel the same way! Everything in my girl’s closet I purchased so clearly I approve of so… whatever! It all works for me!

  6. Good for you! I’m sure this is great for you kids’ mental health. I have a lot of trouble not picking out my kids’ clothes because it really bothers me when things don’t match. It’s not like I’m fashionable or anything or spend a lot of money or time on how I look, I just really like things to match and I can’t let it go! I’m aspiring to be more like you when it comes to kid clothes so thanks for the post as a reminder. I have no idea how you doesn’t fixate on the clothing ensembles – lucky for you kids I guess that it’s not one of your things! I thought I would be finding it easier as they get older but it’s actually even harder to let my 9 yr old pick because she’s at an age and in a class of girls that actually care about how you look and snicker about it and she’s pretty clueless about fashion. This year my strategy was to buy mostly jeans as bottoms or sets that get hung up all together in her closet this way if she grabs a shirt it’s bound to look okay with jeans or she can grab the already coordinated set that’s hanging together. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to let go of my son – inside out, backwards, mismatched, it’s all just too much to ignore. Again I think you are lucky your OCDness isn’t bothered by these things!
    And, I’m so sorry about your closet scarcity. Wishing you a house with a closet in every room!

  7. I could NEVER do that! I am completely OCD when it comes to my daughters’ going out clothes. The 4 year old has a play clothes draw and a good clothes drawer (which by the way I rarely pay full price for…consignment, clearance, big sales for me) and the baby, who is only 2 weeks old, will have some good clothes set aside once she starts crawling and such. Play clothes I don’t worry about though. My hubs won’t get them dressed to go somewhere unless I put out clothes for them. Its bad, I know. But on the other hand my house is never spotless, there are always dishes in the sink and laundry piled in baskets…but the kids look good!

  8. You are wise and simple. Many times reading I feel so understood because that is us. Many times and it might even be are norm, my kids will rock the pajamas all day or underwear. Haha! Yep and I will even take them shopping and sometimes to church like that, well maybe not the undies. Need some friends from Florida?

  9. I LOVE how real you are!! i feel the exact same way. we should be neighbors:)

  10. I love this about you guys! I have an 8-month old and trying to keep the clothes minimal, even if that means she’s wearing the same things most weeks. Hey, at least she’s got clothes, right?!

  11. Just want to send out an amen regarding the craptastic real estate market. Just went to look at a house yesterday. One of the rooms had no closet. That’s not a room! Good luck to you!

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