Should I Donate My Son's Clothes or Keep Them for Brother

Jeans, shorts, coats, dress clothes,and jammies are what I save. You can get undies and shirts pretty cheap and those are the things that change style regularly...

I'd keep them unless they are worn out or stained really badly. Styles don't change that much, and hopefully your kids aren't that attuned to them anyway, lol! I mean, if you have a hundred shirts, you'll want to weed some out, but otherwise I'd keep them. Also it depends on how often you can do laundry (or are willing to do laundry). If you can only wash once a week, keep enough to get him through a week, plus a little extra (kids can get really dirty sometimes, it is part of their job description!). If you can wash oftener, you don't need to keep so much.

HTH

K. Z.

I would keep them! My boys are 2 years and two months apart, but I try to buy for the year ahead for my oldest at end-of-season clearance and garage sales. My MIL does this for me too. So even though my boys are 2 years, 5 months and 3 months, I have clothes up to size 4T in the basement. And I already had to pull out the 3T for my oldest. And my youngest is a big guy, so even though there is two month difference of birthdate, I think he's going to fit right into the seasonal stuff.

Another option for getting rid of the clothes would be consignment shops, if you have some in your area and don't want to do a garage sale.

i would keep the better looking clothes like maybe the jeans and some of the play clothes because it really doesnt matter what those look like any way since they just play in them any way. i have 3 boys 6, 4, and 5 mths and i pass clothes down. some i throw away like the clothes that were worn to much or jeans and shirts that are stained.but keeping some clothes are good because boys really dont care what you put them in at this age and why go out and spend a fortune for more clothes when you can keep some for the youngest. have you tried to put them in a basement or attic or maybe in some boxes in the back of the closet. Just some ideas. i would recomend putting them in the plastic containers though they seem to stay cleaner and better in those. So good luck. I know how you feel having boys anyway.!!LOL

Keep them. It would be a waste to toss and re-buy usable clothing. Children's styles don't change THAT much. I've even gotten to reuse a few of my clothes that my mom saved on my girls.

I had the same dilemma with the same time span between my boys! I kept everything... we had 14 bins in the basement. As it turned out, nothing fit my baby until just now. They were total opposite seasons for everything until my son hit 4t and it just so happened that my oldest actually stayed in that size for 2 seasons in a row. We have been rebuying every size up until now! Figures! It's all still really cute stuff though. I want more babies and now that I have boy clothes in every size for every season, I'll end up with a girl. LOL In the meantime, my friend has two baby boys (23 months and 3 months) who fit perfectly between my baby growing out of his clothes and me finally having #3, so I took everything to her house. :-)

first question is where they born in the same time of year? if they were born more than a couple months apart the seasons are probably going to be off so why bother saving them.....if they were born in the same time of year then yes save them but you are getting to the end of when the clothes are saveable......your oldest is going to start wearing his clothes out......about 4 is when my daughter started wearing holes in her jeans while playing because she started staying in the size a little longer........get rid of the stuff the youngest has outgrown......have you considered having a yard sale to get rid of the stuff you no longer need? yes they are a lot of work but you can make some decent money in a weekend especially if you get some of the others in your neighborhood to participate (the more sales in an area the bigger the draw)......there are also consignment(sp) shops that will go through what you bring them and pay you for what they want to try to sell and then you could donate the rest (yes a tax write off is nice but I prefer cash in hand as soon as possible)

I kept things that would not go out of style-jeans, short, pants. Boy stuff really doesn't change all that much, not like girl clothes. I say keep what you can, you will be glad you did-I was! My sons are 2 1/2 years apart, and my 1 year old wears and wore all his brothers old clothes.

I have the same dilemma, except that my boys are 6.5 years apart. What I have decided to do is save the jeans because so far my oldest hasn't been hard on them, and I save my favorite things as long as they have held up well. My boys are almost 6 and 12, and as they get older I save less and less. I donate tons. I gave some things to a friend of mine who has a son between my sons' ages, and she passes those back to me. That has worked well.

My vote = Save your money. Keep them and then donate after you're done with them. Boys wear very basic clothing, jeans and t-shirts, which never go out of style. The Storage bag suggestion is great.

Hi M.,

I think it depends on what is most important to you. If space is at such a premium, you may want to just let go of the clothes. But if your finances are such that you don't want to spend money on clothes that you already have, then you should keep the best of them.

My nephew is 3 years older than my older son. My S-I-L has shared all his clothes with me, and my older son AND my younger son wore them. It was a blessing. And wonderful because I never had to figure out what to buy for boys - I just followed the fashion my S-I-L followed. LOL! So I agree with what Diana said - boys' fashions don't change much!

D.

Three ideas/thoughts:

1. Find a friend with a boy in between and give her everything on the understanding you get it all back plus whatever she doesn't need anymore (and don't give her anything that would break your heart if you never see it again.) Then donate everything the baby is done with and share the tax deduction (which won't be much but it gives your friend an incentive to hand down to you as much as possible.)

2. Space Bags -- pack them and apply vacuum cleaner, you can store fleece and outerwear and sweats very efficiently this way, even in unfinished areas like attic eaves.

3. Elastics don't store well, esp if they have been in contact with chlorine, so purge swimsuits and elastic waisted shorts and pants that aren't really great, they have a high risk of disappointing you 4 years later.

I would keep the clothes since you have already spent the money. Unless, like another poster said, your boys are born in different seasons. If so, you may not be able to use all of the clothes with your new baby.

Instead of donating clothes, consider renting table space at a Mom2Mom sale http://www.mom2momlist.com/. Make some money to buy new - or gently used - clothes for your baby.

Another poster's suggestion on Space Bags will work for your storage issues. Go to Bed Bath & Beyond - don't forget your 20% off coupon.

Good luck with whatever decision you make!

In this day and age and the shaky economy, I'd keep it. I have one in a size 5 and one in 18 months right now and I don't even want to THINK how much $$$ I'd be shelling out to replace it. There are some outfits that aren't available anymore that I thought were the greatest for my kids, and I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have the hand me downs. Especially when it comes to the boots and coats!

If you are sure your husband or you will have a good income in the coming years and you are sure you can purchace new clothes then donate them, some poor children could really use them. My grandkids were all October, November, December babies so the seasons went just fine. After teh kids get a year old or so they can adjust up or down a bit for early Fall, Winter, Early spring, and into Summer when it's really hot. Otherwise the clothes fit fine for whatever the season.

Otherwise, store them under the beds, in the top of your closets, on shelves in the garage, etc...we have clothes by size and by season for 6 kids stored in a medium sized mobile home with no garage, no attic, no closets other than the ones in the bedrooms, etc...and I do it because I can't afford to go out and buy new.

Oh my goodness, keep them!!!! I have a six week old boy and a five year old boy. The baby is wearing one of his brother's outfits right now! I saved everything! It's all in storage containers separated and labeled by age/size. Baby/kid styles don't change that much. Baby clothes are mostly sleepers and pastel colors. That won't change. Jeans and t-shirts won't change either. Don't throw your money away!

keep, why would you want to spend that money all over again?

I made the mistake of saving everyting from my first for my second. After baby came i went through and donated half of it, and kept pajamas, Jeans, onsies, coats and my favorite items. Much easier to store.

I think that boy's fashion doesn't really change a whole lot at those ages. Maybe, go through everything and save just the best things that you know you will put on your youngest son. The other things you can donate. That should free-up some of the space for you :)
D.

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Best wishes,

Kimberly

Well, boys clothes don't change much, like you said, it's basically jeans and t shirts. I am saving my almost 4 yo sons clothes for my 6 month old. I feel like it's a waste of money to buy more of the same clothes later on, when I could just save clothes for him, and use the money I save later on for something else. (also, I don't know what my financial situation will be when the time comes, so better safe than sorry!) Besides, kids grow so fast, he'll be fitting into it before you know it!

I would just donate them to a rummage sale. If there's something extremely cute that your older wore and you just can't part with, hold on to it. But, y'know, with the 2 quakes that just took place, there are kids now that could use the clothes. I appreciate the hand me down philosophy. Lived with it, and my boys did the same. But they don't always have the same build so that clothes automatically fit. One was thinner, two were larger in build. So that has to be considered too.