I just finished a purging (really, the only word that truly describes it) of my almost-7-year-old daughter’s closet. It started as I was folding her laundry and running out of hangers for her shirts and dresses. I knew that she had way too many . . . shirts.
I have kinda-sorta been trying to get rid of some here and there. Well, I had a stack of shirts to put up and a full bar . . . of shirts in her closet. OK, enough was enough. I called her into her room and counted them all, including the one she was wearing and the two in her hamper already. 93!! That’s how many I counted!
I could hear you in my head saying ‘Oh my word’ and laughing good-naturedly at the situation.
How did we end up here? Well, we are (overly) blessed with living close to both grandmas. They, as well as myself, love shopping for little girls’ clothes because they are so stinkin’ cute. She is the only granddaughter on one side of the family, the only young one on the other side, and our only child . . . yeah.
So, I explained to her that with that many shirts she could go three months without wearing the same shirt twice. Plus, she has dresses! We needed to get rid of some because that was just a crazy amount. My goal was to cut the number in half.She did pretty good about choosing some to keep at the grandparents’ houses so she had extra clothes when she was over there and then others to donate. We didn’t quite make it to the half mark, but we did get about 40 of them out of the house. Yea!I, of course, told both grandmas what we did and that she did not need ANY MORE short sleeve or sleeveless tops and they readily agreed!I have been listening to your podcasts recently, and I love them. You have been a huge help and motivation. I have been a reader for about a year and a half and like most of your other readers, I feel like you are telling my story when you talk about the struggle with clutter and general housekeeping. But I have hope. Thank you for being real and practical and honest.Sincerely,Kristin R
I have felt a little bit of 93shirts’ pain. My oldest, when she came along, was the only grandchild, on both sides of the family, for 2.5 years. And, she was Gerber Baby cute. Thankfully we didn’t wind up with quite that much well-meant clutter, but it was still more than one child (and 1 mom) could handle.
My parents are moving down to where we are and I’m secretly fearing the shopping that will happen. My daughter is the only grandchild on my side of the family and my mom loves to shop. At least you got a good bit of them out of your house!
Maybe you could tell them the container rule/1 in 1 out rule. Throw it into causal conversation at first, “I feel so much organized since…” if they buy her so much stuff they might eventually find you are giving away what they bought just a few months ago.
Or a running list of what she needs – anticipating the future; raincoat, boots, leggings, etc. they can buy what they want as long as it is on the list!
(All easier said than done 😜)
OMG The little girl clothes. We have the same thing. When I put her laundry away, I put the shirts/dresses back on the right side of the bar. If something has been hanging out on the left side for too long, I put it in a box for incoming Kid 2. She “likes” all her clothes, but she definitely doesn’t wear all her clothes.