Did You REALLY Reuse Your Child's Clothing for the Next One?

Absolutely! Especially after having 2 boys and similar seasons. I have still bought my second a few things (some for fun and some because we really did need it) but it has been a hugs cost savings! If you know you are having another, why get rid of anything that you could use again?

I did back in the late 70s. Whatever my son outgrew was kept and when my daughter came she wore the baby clothes that were not too male looking. The jeans and things she wore and then they were given away to others.

It helped all the people around because we were overseas at the time and we all shared kids clothes as someone's kids were always outgrowing something and it helped us all.

Save the specials and then part with the rest. I wish I had saved the knitted sweater dress I made my daughter. The rest was not as special.

So do what you feel comfortable doing.

The other S.

PS The only time I was upset was when I was asked to donate some clothes for a garage sale. All the clothes I put up looked brand new compared to what was there. I wanted to take mine back but I had made a commitment and left them. That was the only time I did a garage sale thing.

I reused a lot of stuff. Definitely jammies. And shorts and pants that were not showing wear and tear. Shirts or onsies I did give away or throw away if there were spit up stains etc.

Oh my, of course my kids wear hand-me-downs. I have 3 boys. Whatever survives through one kid definitely gets worn by another.

Yep, our girls are 22 months apart so everything my 5 year old has gets handed down to her sister. Usually right after she outgrows it!

I'm 5 months right now and I have a 6 year old boy. Not sure what I am having just yet, but either way I will be using some if not all for this next baby. It's a big money saver and I only keep the stuff that was nice w/o stains.

Of course I did! Except for the real seasonal things where their sizes were totally different. Example: my eldest was tiny so even though he was born in fall, he had winter clothes in one size....my youngest was big so even though he was born in fall, his winter clothes were totally different sizes (like one had 12mo coats but the other needed 18mo or a 2T coat). Other than that though: onesies, pjs, tshirts, pants, shorts, heck yes I reused!

yep. I received hand-me downs that my kids used. When they are done, if they are still decent, I hand them down.

Heck yes I did/do! My daughter is wearing an outfit of her older sisters today. (And actually it was one that I bought at a mom to mom sale.)

However, you do need to take into account the season your having your second. Mine were born two years apart but in the same month.

I second Cheryl's heck yeah!

I have a 6 year old niece, a 4 year old daughter, a 2 year old niece and a 1 year old daughter. We save clothes to trade back and forth all the time.

Niece #1's clothes come to my 4 year old, my 4 year old's clothes go to Niece #2, Niece #2's clothes come to my youngest daughter.

I'm done having babies, as is my sister so I have sold a few of my youngest daughter's clothes but I donate the majority of them to Goodwill.

Yes, I saved and reused as much as I had room to store :)

oooh heck yeah!!!

I STILL do!! Nicky is fast outgrowing his size 10's and I've got to find the box where I had stored size 12 stuff!!

Even has babies - I reused a ton of stuff!!

oh yes!! My third boy is still wearing things from my first, keep those clothes :D It is such a blessing bc each child has things from the last and a few new things of their own. I am just now giving things away as my third and last babe grows out of them. I have not let one stitch of clothing go bc I knew I would use it. So I vote for keeping the clothes, babies grow fast and clothes are that cheap. Good luck!

I kept outfits I really loved and pjs. I ended up having a girl the second time (boy the first time) and so I had to get rid of a lot more. I saved jeans and gender neutral things. Saved pjs though and my daughter is almost five and loves her dinosaur pjs. LOL I gave a lot of stuff away to my sister-in-law and donated the rest. Too much hassle for me to sell them.

I am not planning on having another, and "got rid" of my son's clothes - basically gave them to my sister who's youngest is a little less than a year younger than mine. Now, I have a friend who's son is a few years younger that I give clothes to. If I were in your position (keep in mind I am a purger) I would go thru each box and determine what is unisex and what you HAVE to keep. My son has shadow boxes in his room of the few clothes that I LOVED while he was growing up. I have shadow boxes of all his athletic jerseys (bears, hawks) and of some of his first "rock n roll" shirts. He LOVES them hung up in his room as his wall decorations. In short if you have a boy now and have a girl next(or vice versa) and you keep it ALL you will have waisted all that storage space. If you do have the same sex child then you already have some clothes and may need to supplement in a small way. Really, what do you need for a child under a year? 5 or so onsies and a few "outfits" for going out in and some pajamas? So, I would go thru everything, keep the unisex items and favorite outfits and get rid of the rest.

I have 3 boys (6, 3, and 1) and I recycle clothes for sure! I did the consignment sale last fall and was quite disappointed. It took me 8-10 hours to tag and record clothes (all GAP, Gymboree, Polo, etc) and I made about $250.

Yes, then I passed them down to others, then they passed them back to me for other grandkids, etc...if they are take care of most baby clothes can be used over and over. Onsies don't go out of style, sleepers or one piece outfits, overalls, all kinds of generic baby clothes.

There are some that do age though. Those little cotton dresses that are really short and lace covered. Ugggghhh. Those were dated in the 80's. I think that most mom's would just take care of the clothes they get and then when they are done pass them on.

But that is not to say that you are not tired of stuff and want new. That's okay too. Just be sure and weigh the value. Do you want to sell them for little of nothing? Just to get rid of them? That's all they will bring in the consignment sale. Clothes need to be priced to sell, not to make money. They will all come back home if the prices are too high. Lots of poorer people shop consignment sales and can only buy the least expensive clothes.

I usually spend about $35 at one of these and I try to buy as many items that I can. If it is more that a couple of dollars I have to pass it up.

I had girls that were 2 years apart exactly. While saving my 1 year olds clothes for a friend I learned #2 was on the way. I used everything again and then some more that I bought. Now that second girl has grown faster than first girl, they are almost in the same size, so yes they share clothes more often than not. I use everything from them.

my boy is my only boy, he was last and I am not having more but I kept all his baby clothes for friends I knew were not done having kids. I will keep them for about a year, if I dont have anymore surprises or friends seem done, they are going to be sold.

Some of them I did.....My oldest is a boy, but I could use some of the stuff for my daughter.....she is 5 years younger than him........I saved some of the stuff and then 4 years later i had my surprise baby. :) he wore some of the stuff, and the rest I gave away. Now I cant really do hand me downs due to the age difference of the oldest and youngest. although my daughter likes to dress her little brother up in her clothes, i cant send him to school in a dress. :)

Yes, I kept the clothes and the kids passed them down and they were maybe not 'in style' but not out of style either. The clothes were always boxed and labeled and the older two still dread the thought of getting the boxes out for the next season/kids, etc. It saved us a lot of money on clothes and when the last one didn't need them we gave them away. They were still in good shape actually. I think most consignment shops only take clothes that are less than 5 years old, garage sale you might as well give them away for what you get. If you knew someone who needed them they would probably appreciate them when done with them.

Yes I did, I only got rid of things that the youngest couldn't use because they were born on different seasons and climate or that were not looking too good, other than that, I specially kept winter coats and boots, PJ's, swaters, etc.

For sure! I have two boys 20 months apart, then a girl who followed about 23 months after the second boy. The boys wore ALL the same clothes, even though the birthdays were spring/winter. The newborn stuff was all worn twice. My daughter got new stuff (read gently used) but she still loves wearing her brothers old jammies and jeans.

J.

Throw away everything that isn't in perfect shape or that you don't really like. Then by all means save the rest. My youngest is the handmedown queen. Between our family & two huge families we are close with she is the very last little girl so she gets it all. They have great taste and the means to spend some money so she is very well dressed.
The best are the outerwear and dresses. Jackets, sweaters and dress up stuff wears well and gets less wear and tear. I have found that pants styles change too much, when her sister was little, flare jeans were so cute, now she wants everything skinny style so we do buy her new pants. Other than that shopping for the little one is for fun, not necessity. Hand me downs are awesome!

I found that I reused about half of it. But children's clothing gets a lot of stains, and with the frequent washing, they fade easily. Basically, the types of clothes that are not good for resale are not going to be the ones you will want to reuse either. and shoes! forget about reusing those.
Save the nice things to reuse, and if its in good condition, but you didn't use them much, you won't use them much with the next child either so get rid of it. I reused jammies the most.

My third baby is wearing his oldest sister's long sleeved onsie right now...so yeah, I have reused many clothes through 3 children....I have also given away, sold and thrown out a lot too...I was amazed at how many clothes (esp baby ones) went into the storage container clean and came out a couple of years later with yellow spots and stains....if you have clothes from good durable brands (not JCP, Walmart, Target store brands) then they are probably worth keeping, at least the basic pieces that never go out of style ....anything trendy or cheap I say get rid of.

Yes and no. :) To explain: Our first was a boy, our second a girl. We kept our favorite outfits of his and put them in storage in case there was another. When we found out M was a girl a year later, I went through the boxes, gave the cuter, obviously boy stuff to a friend of mine who had just had a son, re-used the more gender neutral stuff for M, and sold the rest.

I have stuff all three of my kids have worn.....That on top of it came from consignment shops.

The one thing I have learned is that clothes can be worn until it is falling apart.

We do not dress to impress here...We dress to stay warm...keep covered that sort of thing...So as long as I can not see through it....and it fits them..They will wear it!

What I could, yes. I had a boy and a girl, so I picked out what was universal and donated the rest.
However, my SIL has 2 girls, and gave us all of their stuff, which we ABSOLUTELY use for DD.
Now DD gets her own gifts and new stuff, too, but 75% of what she's wearing are hand me downs.

I'm a minimalist when it comes to clothing for the kiddo. I buy what DS needs and he wears it out. If I had clothes he didn't wear, I took them to consignment to buy the next size. For some reason, though, I ended up with a ton of clothes for 12-18 months and fewer pieces on either side of that age range. So, while I plan on fully utilizing the clothes I currently have for DS #2 who will be born in the same time frame (read: same season), I know I will still have to fill in some "holes" in the wardrobe.

I'd keep some of the nicer stuff that you can't recover your money on, get rid of the stuff with more than a bit of wash wear, and wait until all your kids are out of that size to do the big purge since storage isn't an issue.

Using them right now. My baby has an unbelievable wardrobe from his big brother. And all I have to worry about is buying new clothes for the older one for Christmas and birthdays because the little one will never need them. Its a great money saver. I figure I can sell/donate them when I'm done having kids. For now, I'll keep them in storage and save myself some money.

yes, but I had two boys 2.5 years apart. I also had new things for the second one. Then by age four the older one started being harder on the clothes so there were not as many things to pass down. And also they liked different styles.

My sister and I have 4 boys between us. Hers, mine, hers, mine. All four of them have shared clothes and now everything that still looks good and can be re-worn is being handed down to my brothers son.

Yes, I absolutely used the clothes we saved for the next child. I sold the clothes as my son grew out of them. I did craigslist mostly. But...the consignment sale you are talking about is a great way to get rid of all if you want to-its up to you if the clothes have value to you or you want your next child to wear them.

M

Of course we reuse/reused clothing from one child to the next as long as it's still in wearable condition and fits. My girls actually look forward to it. When it came to baby clothes, I was lucky in having all girls. When friends and family had girls after my girls all were out of babyhood, they were happy to take what I had that was in good and excellent condition.

It just seems like common sense, especially when you think about trying to help reduce your footprint.

Yes...but that's partially because I can see where it's going to be used. Our boys are 1 1/2, 4, and 6...It doesn't take long for one to grow into something that has been saved. My daughter however (8)...when she outgrows stuff we pass it on to someone else (even tho' we are hoping that this little one that is due in August is a girl...it just would take up too much space for too long). I won't keep it unless it has a lot of sentimental value (she has a few of my old dresses from when I was her age...that she just LOVES). We have several really good thrift stores around here tho' - so I never really spend much on their clothes in the first place...my kids are dirt-digging-tree-climging kiddos...they're too rough on clothes for me to spend more than a few dollars a piece for jeans and shirts.

Yes I did that when they were young, and as teens i still do it with shirts and jeans, since they mostly always still look great when my older son outgrows them.

I actually just started going through my 12+ boxes of boy/girl clothes sizes 0-4t!!! We do want more kids in the future but not for a few years so I know some of that stuff will be 'out of style' (especially larger baby items like pack n play) so I have three piles when I'm going through the boxes: donate, sell and save. Just by going through about five boxes, I gave away an entire box of stuff and have another one to take pictures of and try to sell. I did keep anything I thought was adorable or cute or would buy if I had another kid. I think even with giving away/selling stuff I'll still have plenty of clothes for another boy or girl!

Yes, I reused but got rid of a lot also. I found with each child, they needed less and less. We needed the extra room, more.

Yes. Even though I had a girl then a boy. My sister-in-laws and I pass around all the maternity and kids clothes. It's great as I hardly ever have to buy any clothes the first two years. We all get rid of pieces here and there but it's mostly the worn or really stained stuff.

If I were expecting, I'd reuse a lot of clothes. I also trade clothes with friends and family so that the clothes get used by 2 or more children. There are some handmedowns that I don't care for (theme or style) and those get rehomed or I would sell them in your shoes.

You betcha! In fact, I know that I am done having children and have saved my daughter's clothes. Why? Because a lot of it is so gently worn that they are still in great shape and I just sent a big box to my cousin who is having a little girl. Also gave a big bag to my friend's niece and another bag to a friend whos young daughter is having a baby. I also save my 9 year old's clothes for my 6 year old.
L.

I would save a few clothing for the next baby. I had a boy and girl. I saved a few of them that were special. cute dresses christening outfits etc. So when they had children of their own I passed them down to them.

I had two girls and reused everything. My girls were born in opposite seasons so I was worried that wouldn't work, but I just moved up a size a little early to accommodate and it was fine. It also helped that our second daughter has a long torso so needs the larger sizes.

YES!!!! I have reused a majority of our things from each child. I have some outfits that have been through all 7 of my children. I do from time to time go through the stuff and give away thing that we didn't wear very often or that I have found I didn't like the way it looked on a child.

My girls are 15 and 12 and my sister's girls are 4 and 8 months. We still have some clothes from my 15 yo in circulation, mostly sleepers, onsies, things that don't really get very dated. My 4 yo niece, however, is still wearing LOTS of my 12 yo's clothes. Their sizes are so different that she can wear her things a lot sooner than my daughter wore them, and my sister is very grateful to have them.