Cleaning out the closet

I must confess, my daughter has too many clothes. Most of them weren’t bought by me, as we have wonderful hand-me-downs, and we both love them! Hand-me-downs were my favorite when I was little, and my daughter shares that excitement for them…it’s immeasurable. She’s also a bit of a pack-rat, like me. Thus, too many clothes = Too Many Choices, which often equals a meltdown before 8 a.m.  We planned to change that this year…

Skye started Kindergarten this year.  So, the week before school officially began, I made a date with her to go through her closet. It was almost a mini-shopping spree as we tried on all her clothes. I had a two-fold plan: 

1. Weed out the clothes she had outgrown
2. Commit to wearing what we were going to keep.

My daughter was a trooper and tried on everything I asked her to.  We celebrated when pants were too small, cheering because she had "grown SO much".  We made several piles…the keepers, the hand-me-down givebacks, and the giveaways.  She wanted a fourth pile that she could sell at our garage sale, but I convinced her we should give them away.  

It was tough to convince her to give away a few items that she LOVED, but in the end I told her we needed too so we could buy new school clothes.  That worked like a charm, and I was delighted.  It was a smooth process with absolutely no meltdowns. Only a few tears came at the end as she laid her head on the giveaway pile and said good-bye to her old clothes.  But it didn't take her long to bounce up with a huge smile at the prospect of filling up the holes in her closet with lots of 6-T's!

An now, with winter right around the corner, it's time to do it all again.

She's so big now…