I pulled out all of our stored clothes in sizes 0000 through to 4.
There were a lot of clothes. About 8 boxes in total. I counted 35 shirts in size 1, and ten of those had long sleeves. I live in the tropics!
I don't need to keep it all. The Big Boy has always had too many clothes, and I have been quite happy with the smaller rotation of clothes The Small Boy has had: 5 or 6 t-shirts and 5 or 6 singlets/vests and 4 or 5 pairs of shorts (he wears just a nappy without shorts around home). During the cooler months he has also had 2 long sleeved t-shirts, 2 long pants, 2 jumpers and 4 growsuits for bed. I found as The Big Boy got older he wore singlets less often and t-shirts most of the time, and I anticipate The Small Boy will do the same.
I decided to keep in each size:
- no more than 8-10 shirts
- no more than 5 or 6 pairs of shorts
- no more than 3 long pants
- no more than 3 long sleeved shirts
- no more than 3 jumpers
I kept an extra pair of winter clothes because the toddler years are just that bit messier than the baby years, in my experience.
The remainder of the items were divided into two piles. Things I didn't really want to keep because it was used but I wasn't enamoured with it have gone to a charity shop. Things that still had price tags on (mostly gifts, some stuff that I had bought and put away then not needed) has been listed as bulk lots in each size on Ebay. A few brand new things I kept because they were given to The Small Boy as gifts and I quite like them.
I managed to get all the clothes down to 5 1/2 boxes, and there is still room for the Size 0 (which the Small Boy is in now) clothes to go into in the next month or two.
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
School uniforms
The Big Boy starts school next week, and needs uniforms. We have decided to send him to the private school that my husband teaches at, but it means they are a little more particular about uniforms than I want to be!
He is required to have two different uniforms: day uniform and sports uniform. (After grade three he'll also need a formal uniform.) Different shirt, different shorts, different shoes. At least the hat and socks are the same. He will also be required to have a house (sporting team) shirt, and a school swimming costume. This year he can wear his sports uniform all day on the days it is required, but from next year he will need to take it with him and change in and out of it.
Until I actually read the list, I had assumed we would need two day shirts, one sports shirt, three pairs of shorts (interchangeable between day and sports uniforms), a pair of shoes, six pairs of socks, and a hat. According to my mum, whose seventh child starts high school this year, two sets of uniforms bought on the bigger side should last two years. No-one wore hand-me down uniforms because she always bought just enough that they'd be worn out before we grew out of them. However, because we need so many uniforms The Big Boy is not going to wear them out before he's grown out of them. Hopefully they will still be in good enough condition that The Small Boy will be able to use them.
We have been given some secondhand uniforms, which was kind and generous of the family who was passing them on. They fit him nicely now, but I anticipate we will be replacing them before the end of the year. And the quality of the sewing doesn't give me a lot of confidence in their durability. Mum used to make all of our uniforms, but most schools, including ours, require school logos or specific detailing which means that me sewing uniforms is pretty much out of the question.
He needs to have a pair of black 'academic' shoes, and plain white joggers. We needed to make a decision whether we should buy expensive shoes, or cheap shoes. We settled on cheaper black shoes - $25 as opposed to $100 - and mid-range joggers, because plain white are hard to find. I'm willing to go by trial and error as to whether we should by cheap shoes or expensive shoes, and whether it's better to wear out or grow out of shoes first. I'm not a big fan of hand-me-down shoes.
But at least we only need one hat!
He is required to have two different uniforms: day uniform and sports uniform. (After grade three he'll also need a formal uniform.) Different shirt, different shorts, different shoes. At least the hat and socks are the same. He will also be required to have a house (sporting team) shirt, and a school swimming costume. This year he can wear his sports uniform all day on the days it is required, but from next year he will need to take it with him and change in and out of it.
Until I actually read the list, I had assumed we would need two day shirts, one sports shirt, three pairs of shorts (interchangeable between day and sports uniforms), a pair of shoes, six pairs of socks, and a hat. According to my mum, whose seventh child starts high school this year, two sets of uniforms bought on the bigger side should last two years. No-one wore hand-me down uniforms because she always bought just enough that they'd be worn out before we grew out of them. However, because we need so many uniforms The Big Boy is not going to wear them out before he's grown out of them. Hopefully they will still be in good enough condition that The Small Boy will be able to use them.
We have been given some secondhand uniforms, which was kind and generous of the family who was passing them on. They fit him nicely now, but I anticipate we will be replacing them before the end of the year. And the quality of the sewing doesn't give me a lot of confidence in their durability. Mum used to make all of our uniforms, but most schools, including ours, require school logos or specific detailing which means that me sewing uniforms is pretty much out of the question.
He needs to have a pair of black 'academic' shoes, and plain white joggers. We needed to make a decision whether we should buy expensive shoes, or cheap shoes. We settled on cheaper black shoes - $25 as opposed to $100 - and mid-range joggers, because plain white are hard to find. I'm willing to go by trial and error as to whether we should by cheap shoes or expensive shoes, and whether it's better to wear out or grow out of shoes first. I'm not a big fan of hand-me-down shoes.
But at least we only need one hat!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Stocking Fillers
The Christmas junk mail has been arriving in my letterbox, full of pages of 'stocking fillers'.
When I think of a 'filler' I think of inessential things that have been included to make it fuller, or look fuller.
And that seems to be what 'stocking fillers' are, too. Gifts that you buy people just so that they can have more stuff at Christmas, or to make it look like more. Buying for the sake of buying.
We aim to have a small number of carefully chosen gifts at Christmas. There are thousands of things we could buy for our children, but we don't want Christmas to be about getting a pile of presents that end up forgotten about. For me, Christmas has a twofold meaning: celebrating the birth of Christ and celebrating family. We don't do 'stocking fillers', though we do have an advent calendar with a treat each day - something yummy, a small toy, a fun place to go - and it is for the whole family, not just the kids. This year we are adding the unfolding Christmas story in each window as well. But the challenge is giving just the right amount of gifts, because opening presents is a lot of fun, but too many becomes overwhelming and wasteful. We gave the Big Boy nothing for his first Christmas, and only one present for the next two Christmases, and three presents for the last two Christmases. That combined with presents from grandparents and aunts and uncles is well and truly enough for someone so young. The Small Boy (who is only one) this year will probably get just one present from us, and The Big Boy will get three or four or five, plus they'll each get six advent windows and maybe something from Santa (I'm not overly keen on Santa, and have taken The Big Boy's lead as to whether he would like Santa to visit).
NB: Yes, I get junk mail. You can tar and feather me right now. I don't mind reading it, and watching out for things to be on sale that I genuinely need/want to buy. They don't really tempt me to buy more stuff: in fact, I'm working out that most things don't look anywhere near as good in real life as they do in the catalogue. Plus, I used to deliver catalogues to earn extra money, and it made not one iota of difference to the number of catalogues I was given to deliver and the number of No Junk Mail stickers. The number of catalogues had to do with the number of houses in the area, and I didn't need to report back how many weren't delivered.
When I think of a 'filler' I think of inessential things that have been included to make it fuller, or look fuller.
And that seems to be what 'stocking fillers' are, too. Gifts that you buy people just so that they can have more stuff at Christmas, or to make it look like more. Buying for the sake of buying.
We aim to have a small number of carefully chosen gifts at Christmas. There are thousands of things we could buy for our children, but we don't want Christmas to be about getting a pile of presents that end up forgotten about. For me, Christmas has a twofold meaning: celebrating the birth of Christ and celebrating family. We don't do 'stocking fillers', though we do have an advent calendar with a treat each day - something yummy, a small toy, a fun place to go - and it is for the whole family, not just the kids. This year we are adding the unfolding Christmas story in each window as well. But the challenge is giving just the right amount of gifts, because opening presents is a lot of fun, but too many becomes overwhelming and wasteful. We gave the Big Boy nothing for his first Christmas, and only one present for the next two Christmases, and three presents for the last two Christmases. That combined with presents from grandparents and aunts and uncles is well and truly enough for someone so young. The Small Boy (who is only one) this year will probably get just one present from us, and The Big Boy will get three or four or five, plus they'll each get six advent windows and maybe something from Santa (I'm not overly keen on Santa, and have taken The Big Boy's lead as to whether he would like Santa to visit).
NB: Yes, I get junk mail. You can tar and feather me right now. I don't mind reading it, and watching out for things to be on sale that I genuinely need/want to buy. They don't really tempt me to buy more stuff: in fact, I'm working out that most things don't look anywhere near as good in real life as they do in the catalogue. Plus, I used to deliver catalogues to earn extra money, and it made not one iota of difference to the number of catalogues I was given to deliver and the number of No Junk Mail stickers. The number of catalogues had to do with the number of houses in the area, and I didn't need to report back how many weren't delivered.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The high chair dilemma
We have a high chair that we used with Big Boy. Small Boy is almost ready to use a high chair. The problem is that the high chair has been sitting out in the garage for 3 years and is looking a bit yuck. A quick Facebook poll yesterday showed most of my friends would bin it and buy a new one. There is an appropriate one on a good sale this week: simple, easy to clean, $34.
But, waste is still waste, and $34 is still $34. I'm trying to learn to not buy things just because I want them.
I'm going to use up the last of some generic brand Napisan that doesn't work as well as the real thing and give the chair a scrub, douse it in some vinegar, and leave it in the sun for a couple of hours. I've got a roll of that sticky book covering plastic that I don't need, and that will make a good cover for the tray - the only bit that food comes into contact before going into bub's mouth. If I don't think it has come clean enough for my baby to eat from - and let's face it, in a few months he's going to be crawling around on my floor (gasp!) anyway - then I will buy a new one.
My new motto, which I read somewhere on the blogosphere but can't for the life of me remember where, is Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. I will only buy new things if I genuinely need it and actually have the money for it! Even high chairs.
But, waste is still waste, and $34 is still $34. I'm trying to learn to not buy things just because I want them.
I'm going to use up the last of some generic brand Napisan that doesn't work as well as the real thing and give the chair a scrub, douse it in some vinegar, and leave it in the sun for a couple of hours. I've got a roll of that sticky book covering plastic that I don't need, and that will make a good cover for the tray - the only bit that food comes into contact before going into bub's mouth. If I don't think it has come clean enough for my baby to eat from - and let's face it, in a few months he's going to be crawling around on my floor (gasp!) anyway - then I will buy a new one.
My new motto, which I read somewhere on the blogosphere but can't for the life of me remember where, is Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. I will only buy new things if I genuinely need it and actually have the money for it! Even high chairs.
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