Summer of Productivity and Organization #1: Hand-me-Down Clothing Boxes

Welcome to the Summer of Productivity and Organization!

Your first assignment is to knock out the hand-me-down monster!*

I don't know about you, but I LOVE hand-me-downs. I love the money it has saved me over the years! With three boys and two girls, passing clothing down from older to younger is just smart. And whenever my sister-in-law asks me if I'd like the clothing from her kids (both older than mine), I always jump at the offer!

Also over the years since my kids were very little, I have always said yes to any clothing anyone wanted to bestow upon me. Everyone is always so gracious and they say, "If you sort through and don't want something, just pass it on to the next person or donate it to a thrift store." And I have.

The problem:

1. Too many hand-me-downs that I don't want to process because thinking of what sizes my kids might be in the future makes my brain shut down. 
2. Wasting time digging through things, never remembering what was in which box.
3. Not being able to find what I wanted and giving up and just buying new stuff.
4. The result was wasted money.

The solution:
The Hand-Me-Down Clothing box.

You might say, "Big deal. I always toss our hand-me-downs in a box in the basement or storage room." Well, it IS a big deal because I took the time to actually sort through every piece of clothing, decided what to keep (Sam is a slim guy so I got rid of all the baggy pants I knew he'd hate), and then typed up a list and printed it out. The list contains the brand, color and size and anything special, like if they are cargo pants versus regular pants. Then I put it in a page protector and packing taped it to the box. Then it went on a nice, organized shelf in the storage room of my new home.

Tip: Make sure you don't tape the top of the page protector so you can pull out the page and make changes to it over the years ... or entirely revamp it depending on what you get rid of and acquire and how old your kids are now. My youngest child is 8, so this entire box is pretty much stuff that's saved for him.

The result so far that I've seen in my home is a lot of money and time saved shopping. My middle son needed shorts for a week of camp and had maybe one pair that would work. They would not be doing laundry there. I raided the hand-me-down clothing situation in the storage room and tossed a bunch of shorts at him that his cousin had just sent over via his mom. Several of them fit and he's all set for summer now. When he's done with them, they'll likely go into the box of too-big clothing for his little brother.

*Yes, I do remember what it was like to have tiny ones and to never want to get rid of their clothing. I kept tiny clothes far too long. Your nostalgia fades a little bit each year until you realize you don't need to keep that onesie with yellow stains, that you can make a quilt (or pay to have one made or ask a family member to make you one for Christmas) out of the clothing, that others would love to be blessed with your hand-me-downs, and that ... if you have another baby anyway ... baby clothes will be showered upon you in droves in the form of new and hand-me-down clothing and blankets. Save a few special things for a potential new baby and call it good. Leave some new memories for the new kid ;-)

Your other assignments:
#2 Entertaining Box

Co-op Class Binder and Bag (coming soon!)
Homeschool Binders (coming soon!)
Homeschool Bookshelf (coming soon!)
Homeschool Closet (coming soon!)
Writing Crate (coming soon!)