This week I decluttered my daughter's massive amounts of clothing. I've been saying since June that she's got too much clothing, but no one ever listens to me. I'm very grateful that we have so many relatives that love us and our baby enough to send gifts, but honestly...enough is enough. The child has more clothing than my husband and I combined.
And the worst part of it is that they are mostly gifts. Brand-new gifts from a loving doting relative. Who expects pictures of her in the various outfits. As a result, I can't give them away or sell them - I must keep them and hound my child like the paparazzi. But seriously, the next person who sends any article of clothing, socks, shoes, accessories, or anything else that can be worn, will be responsible for purchasing a brand new wardrobe, because mine is now stuffed to the breaking point.
I know I sound like an ungrateful little witch for complaining that my daughter has too much clothing when some kids have nothing, but seriously now...what 5 month old has a full TUB of house onesies? Not just onesies...but "house" onesies. These are onesies that aren't pretty enough to be worn outside. But that's okay, because we've got more than enough dressy onesies - a full basket of short-sleeves, and a full basket of long-sleeves. And don't even get me started on her one-piece footed PJs. She has a full tub of flannel/terry-cloth PJs, and then an overflowing basket of "normal" PJs. She can wear a new set of PJs for every day of the month and still have enough to spare.
The good news to my major clothing overload is that I can not do laundry for a good month and still be okay. And I'll make a small fortune at the consignment store in a year or so. The bad news is that I am seriously running out of space, and it's just downright unfair that a mother can't even buy her first child cute clothing because everyone beat her to the punch.
I seriously have nightmares about this upcoming Christmas. I'm trying to nip the demon in the behind by sending out the above slideshow to demonstrate my clothing overload, and I've already started working on a Christmas wishlist on Wishpot that I'll distribute with our Thanksgiving cards. But you KNOW there will always be those people who don't look at your wishlist or gets you a whole collection of clothing just because "it was too cute to pass up".
Can I please take a raincheck on Christmas? Please?
And the worst part of it is that they are mostly gifts. Brand-new gifts from a loving doting relative. Who expects pictures of her in the various outfits. As a result, I can't give them away or sell them - I must keep them and hound my child like the paparazzi. But seriously, the next person who sends any article of clothing, socks, shoes, accessories, or anything else that can be worn, will be responsible for purchasing a brand new wardrobe, because mine is now stuffed to the breaking point.
I know I sound like an ungrateful little witch for complaining that my daughter has too much clothing when some kids have nothing, but seriously now...what 5 month old has a full TUB of house onesies? Not just onesies...but "house" onesies. These are onesies that aren't pretty enough to be worn outside. But that's okay, because we've got more than enough dressy onesies - a full basket of short-sleeves, and a full basket of long-sleeves. And don't even get me started on her one-piece footed PJs. She has a full tub of flannel/terry-cloth PJs, and then an overflowing basket of "normal" PJs. She can wear a new set of PJs for every day of the month and still have enough to spare.
The good news to my major clothing overload is that I can not do laundry for a good month and still be okay. And I'll make a small fortune at the consignment store in a year or so. The bad news is that I am seriously running out of space, and it's just downright unfair that a mother can't even buy her first child cute clothing because everyone beat her to the punch.
I seriously have nightmares about this upcoming Christmas. I'm trying to nip the demon in the behind by sending out the above slideshow to demonstrate my clothing overload, and I've already started working on a Christmas wishlist on Wishpot that I'll distribute with our Thanksgiving cards. But you KNOW there will always be those people who don't look at your wishlist or gets you a whole collection of clothing just because "it was too cute to pass up".
Can I please take a raincheck on Christmas? Please?
8 comments:
I totally agree! And I have twins, and we still have too many clothes!
We have the same problem with toys, too. I am dreading Christmas. I don't want to be ungrateful, but our house is getting overwhelemed!
LOL.... well at least you did a GREAT job decluttering and reorganizing all the wonderful clothes!!!! :)
I'm' a new subscriber to your blog, and this i s my first comment. I've really been enjoying it!
Reading this post I had several thoughts. The first was that I'm impressed with how organized you are!
Then I started thinking about what you are saying about having too many baby clothes. I think many people are in this same boat - I just sent lots of stuff that my son never wore (but had saved for a 2nd child that sadly will not be joining us) to consignment, kept some for future gifts and sold the leftovers on Craigslist. Why can't you do that now?
I'll also say that I never "expect" to see a photo of a child wearing something I gifted to them. Sure, it's always a nice surprise but with the exception of grandparents it's not something I'd feel I had to do.
I know you did not ask for my advice, but I'm a big motherer so I'm always full of it (pun intended). Why not get rid of some of it now? The first thing I'd do if I were you would be to donate every single house onesie to charity. Why should your child not wear the pretty things even around the house, ifyou have so much of it? Of course you want to save some special things from the indignity of everyday spitup, but I say enjoy the pretty clothes!
And why not go now to the consignment shop with a big old bin of stuff you'll never use? New stuff with tags brings in pretty good prices, usually.
And, finally, I want to comment on the wishlist. I think wishlists are terrific ideas. I often struggle with what to get people, and knowing what they'd like sure helps. That said, I am one of "those people" that thinks it's very rude to provide a wishlist UNLESS I ask for one. I couldn't help but cringe when I read that you ares ending those out with your Thanksgiving cards. To me that is just tacky, though I know others disagree. I'm not trying to attack you, I promise. I just want you to know that not everyone welcomes these.
One more thing and I'm done, I promise! There are people who are going to want to get clothes no matter what you say. What I've been doing (my son is now 4)is to ask for larger sizes. In fact my sister called not 5 minutes ago while standing in a Children's Place outlet in New Hampshire. She asked my son's size (she saw something she wanted to get him for Christmas), and I told her to buy 5T, even though he's a 4T now. That has helped me be prepared for growth spurts, saved lots of money and caused me to have fewer space and overabundance problems.
I also hope you understand that I did get the tone of your post, and you were perfectly respectful and humorous.
I look forward to following your blog for a long time to come!
Your slide show was a good idea. Could you suggest that they donate the (cute) outfits straight to charity if they really want to buy them?
good job decluttering :) I love the lined baskets, they're cute.
I felt this way too with my daughter too much . Then around the time she turned 5 it slowed down and I realized how much although it was too much I was happy to have had them buy all the clothing in the early years.
Oh, I laughed when I saw all those clothes. She has more than the two of us too!
My suggestion is to tell all the relatives that you LITERALLY have too much (send pics) and rather ask them to donate to a children's charity in your daughter's name.
Who knows if it will work but it's worth a try?!
Marcia from Organising Queen
Couple of replies:
You're not the only ones who are seeing the slideshow - I've emailed it to everyone =P.
One of the problems I'm having is people ARE buying in a larger size for her, but she's so teeny. She's 5 months old and some of the 3-6 months stuff is still big for her. She fit into "newborn" pants last week, with room to spare.
And they're not going to donate them straight to charity - they buy it because they want to see her in it. When I send out pictures I get responses like "Oh! She's wearing that outfit I bought you at the shower!". How they remember, I have no idea.
As for the wish-list, I just have to say that there is no other way to keep things under control. We do not live close to our family, and no one has any idea what we like, or what the baby likes. And this is not going to change for the next two decades. It's either wishlist, or get bunch of crap that we wouldn't use a billion years. If people are going to spend money on us, I'd rather they do so on stuff we'll use and enjoy.
And if you think about it...a wishlist is just a baby/wedding registry but without the baby/wedding attached. No one thinks it's rude or tacky to include the baby/wedding registry info with shower invitations (showers are just "give me STUFF" things anyway), so I really don't see why people think it's rude to include a "Christmas registry". It actually makes more sense to me to include a "christmas registry" - with a baby/wedding shower you kind of know the things to get - baby things or household things a new couple would need...but "christmas" is kind of open-ended.
Thanks for all the suggestions and comments though - I appreciate every single one of them!
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