Family, Faith, and Fridays: 34 Weeks of Clean 2019! Week 27- Clothes Storage

I know last week was kind of overwhelming, so let me encourage you for a moment. You CAN do this! I promise, if I can, you can! Really - have you looked at some of my before pictures? And this is the FOURTH time I have done this!! This is a family that moved every two years or so for 26 years! We carried a lot of "just in case" items with us from place to place and we are just now finally going through a lot of that stuff and purging. I understand about storage rooms. But know this- there IS such a thing as too much and we are working towards breaking the cycle and clearing things out. So if you have not started or just haven't quite finished- KEEP GOING! I am cheering you on and still working too.

In the meantime- this week we are conquering the clothes storage areas in your house. That is going to look a little different for everyone. For years we had storage bins with clothes that we passed from girl to girl, or boy to boy. Now that they are all older, and because there is such a large gap in age and size between the boys, those no longer exist. We also use to have different seasons of clothing to keep stored, but living in Arizona has made that a moot point, honestly. It is either HOT or REALLY HOT here so there is not a lot of off season clothing hanging around. We keep one winter jacket per person in an upstairs closet but for the most part, all of our clothes are in our closets. The exception is one storage bin that we have for Colby of clothes to grow into that I couldn't part with.

I also use to buy off season sales, so anything I found I put into a bin for the upcoming season. Again, not an issue for me due to where we live, but I know lots of people who save a lot of money doing so. If that is you, make an inventory list of what the needed items are and attach it to the bin. That way, when sales come up, you can easily reference your needs. Not wants!

If you too have large gaps in the ages of your children, consider a few things.

Will the stuff still be in style by the time you get to it?
Is it worth the space it takes up to save it?
Could someone else be more blessed by the clothes right now?

Again, we finally decided that it was just better to bless others with the hand me downs they could use now. By the time our youngest could use them we would have either hauled them around for years or they would have no longer even be worth wearing. Anything that was worn or terribly outdated went into the trash. Things I thought just wouldn't get worn by the youngest (different styles, tastes, or body types) went into a Goodwill pile. It only took a short amount of time and took about 5 large totes out of our lives.

So this week is pretty simple.

Pick your favorite method of storing clothes- by gender or size or specific child, and get organized!

Go through the clothes storage you have, purge and re-sort if necessary.

Make a list of any items you know you need so you can take advantage of off season sales.

*A quick note about clothes. Please keep in mind that one of our goals in this series is to declutter our homes and lives. This includes clothes. Just as we did with our own closets, we must evaluate what we need and what we don't.

Do not confuse needs with wants. There is a difference.

Face facts, we can only wear one outfit at a time. Having closets and storage bins with clothes popping out of them is not needed. Be honest with yourself and evaluate if you are not only being good steward of your space but also your money. (Trust me, I am preaching to myself here, I have a clothes issue.)

So how did you do with last week's assignment? We always love seeing your progress!

And homeschooling moms- next week is just for you! ;)