Keep or Consignment?

Updated on January 22, 2011
J.S. asks from New Port Richey, FL
18 answers

How much of your child's clothes do you keep after they grow out of them?
My son is 3mo and I found a great consignment shop to take his smaller clothes and get bigger sizes, but I don't know what I should keep for sentimental value. I know I will keep his coming home outfit, first shoes and Christmas sleeper. But other than that, is it really necessary to keep a tote full of little clothes? I don't plan on having anymore chidren anytime soon and I don't have any friends I could pass stuff on to. I also don't have alot of storage space and the credit the consignment shop gives me helps with getting the bigger sizes.
I'm worried that I'll look back and wish I would have kept more, but then again I hate clutter. What to do?

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R.J.

answers from Seattle on

I keep all the ones I get emotionally attached to / have fond memories of. I'm saving them in a plastic tub to make a memory quilt ... for when I'm empty nesting when he grows up and moves out.

2 moms found this helpful
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S.H.

answers from Detroit on

I kept one outfit because it was personalized with her initials, and it fits her teddy bears. Other than that, I get rid of it all! And... I have not missed any of it!

1 mom found this helpful

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V.F.

answers from Santa Fe on

What I have kept are about 3 really tiny outfits that she wore when she first came home. I have pictures of them looking big on her, and they are preemie size! Still hard to wrap my brain around how tiny she was! (Having a photo of her wearing them is half the fun!)
Other than that, I see no need to keep more items. Keeping more just seems like it would get in the way.
(To be truthful here though.... I kept MUCH more as we have planned on having 3 kids. The other two are boys - so I'll be giving away/selling all the other girl things now that we know. :) (I have about 3 months to go on the last boy. :) ) )

1 mom found this helpful

M.R.

answers from Rochester on

I didn't keep anything after my second except some Christmas outfits in the hopes of passing them to someone who needed them in that size. My husband was pretty sure he did not want more kids but now we're expecting our third boy so starting over. I had some favorite outfits but it never occurred to me to keep them. I have pictures. :) I think that kind of thing (like one special outfit) is more important to girls than boys as adults anyway. I don't care that I don't have any, but I do have special blankets and animals and books--much nicer now than some older clothes would be.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.K.

answers from Phoenix on

I never kept anything of my children's. I ended up have 5 kids too and not a single hand-me-down. I never missed the clothes. If I especially like an outfit, I would take lots of pictures of them wearing it. Otherwise, they went to goodwill pretty quickly. =) Congrats on your little one!

1 mom found this helpful
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R.W.

answers from Tampa on

My girls are not 23 and 25. We just went through the stuff I saved for them last month. It was fun. Here is what I saved them. I saved their coming home outfit. All of the special hand made blankets from friends and family. One super cute dress that my Mom got for them. Sleepers from their Great Aunt. And thier first shoes. That was about it. But of course I saved them special things all through their childhood. Crafts from school. Special certificates. Special toys. LIke my youngest wanted a semi that it's horn blows and it talks for her second or third Christmas. She still has it. I saved all their toys and when they were 10 and 12 they went through them and got rid of a lot of them. They donated them to families that didn't have toys. It was a great experience for them. I saved all of their books also. They had fun a few years ago going through them and picking out books to give to other children. It was a lot of fun for them. My youngest had her first Christmas in her own place this year. We went through the Christmas decorations and she got to take all of her decorations she made through out the years and hang them on her tree. So save things that are dear to your heart and mean something special to you. Also be sure to take plenty of pictures, not just holidays but every day. Take them when he is not looking and doing every day things. Those are the girls favorite pictures. And all of this means as much to a boy as it does a girl. My daughters boyfriend has all this stuff his Mom saved and he loves it as well. My other daughters boyfriend said he wishes his Mom would have saved things like that for him. It shows your love for them.

1 mom found this helpful
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G.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

Someone once said if you haven't used it withint 6 months it's time to get rid of it because you don't really need it.

I still have some of my own baby clothes that my daughter and then my grand daughters have worn. I am very organized at times and don't have an attic or garage. If you have a few soecial pieces you want to see then keep them, if not then get rid of them.

Some of my grand daughters favorite pictures are the ones that she and her mom have on the very same dress. It's very fun for her to know she wore the very same dress and has a picture of it and she is in alomst the exact same pose.

1 mom found this helpful
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R.P.

answers from Cleveland on

so far what i have kept is her first bday outft her mouse jammies and her halloween costume, a few other things that i just couldnt part with everything else went to people with younger girls

1 mom found this helpful
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R..

answers from Chattanooga on

I am just keeping my absolute favorite pieces... or the things that were more expensive. The rest I pass on to my SIL. (I would consign them, but her DD is 5 months younger than mine, so this works perfect for us.) I hate clutter, and I really don't look through sentimental things that often... so all it would do is take up space.

1 mom found this helpful
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T.O.

answers from Jacksonville on

I have the opposite problem, i find too many so cute and want to pass them on to my granddaughters some decades away. I have limited myself to one bag full max and when it gets full to look through it again . Anything handmade by my mom (halloween costumes), way too cute, or hard to find items stays. Also, I take pictures of special or favorite outfits.

My mother gave me an outfit one of her favorite outfits that I wore as a child and the baby blanket made by my aunt. My oldest now claims it as her special lovely.

1 mom found this helpful
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D.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

We're military, so we move a lot and I HATE having to move with lots of stuff. I pass down all the good clothes to other families but the ones that are worn or have stains, I keep and make a quilt out of (actually my mom does). That way, we have something and I don't have to haul around clothes wherever I go.

1 mom found this helpful
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S.S.

answers from Daytona Beach on

the only thing from my daughter that i kept was her first christmas dress and the stuff she got at the hospital that volunteers knitted (some booties and cap) from my son i just kept the stuff from the hospital.

1 mom found this helpful

L.!.

answers from Austin on

I kept everything, in the event that our next baby was also a girl. (She was!) However, she was born in fall instead of spring, so there's a mismatch on the clothes we saved and the current season (for that size). Those 3-6 months clothes that my 1st wore when it was summer don't really work for a baby in January! So now I feel silly for saving so much and am purging as soon as our 2nd doesn't need.

I saved the outfit that each daughter wore for their newborn portrait and a pair of shoes. I have shoe love so keeping a few baby shoes feels right.

1 mom found this helpful
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V.M.

answers from Erie on

Sounds like what you have selected already will fufilll you sentimental needs just fine. I second having pictures taken in your absolute fav outfits.

Look at it this way, it's not like he's ever going to wear them again and chances are your grandbabies wouldn't either and if they did you have those outifts that are most meaning ful to you. Let them go, and Bless the world.

1 mom found this helpful
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K.M.

answers from Jacksonville on

Hi J.

I have done the same and only kept the outfits they came home in or the Tshirts they wore in the hospital with the caps.

But for mine and my husbands coming home outfits, I have 2 shadow boxes (each with a pink and a blue matt inside, with an oak wood frame) that I placed ours in along with the baby stats and a picture of us wearing the outfit. I have them hanging in our bedroom. I got the idea from a craft show one year!

1 mom found this helpful
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K.H.

answers from Tampa on

My MIL passed away almost two years ago, at age 99, my husband was 64. When we cleaned out her house, I found a large drawer full, with several pairs of baby shoes (they were all high top leather shoes in those days) several little tiny baby outfits, hand knitted, or hand sewn, a couple of hand made blankets.....since my hubby is an only child, it was all his stuff. I guess she'd had all that stuff in a drawer for 60+ years....for what purpose, I haven't a clue...LOL!

1 mom found this helpful
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S.K.

answers from Miami on

My sons are all much older now. We kept their baptism outfits and their coming home outfits. Plus one favorite outfit from when they were babies. That was it. Pictures show how cute your baby was in all the rest.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.P.

answers from Tampa on

Keep the holiday outfits and the coming home. Take lots of photos of your son in the outfits. It's a nice reminder of the outfits without the clutter. I have some clothing stored away that I never take out and never reminisce over. But I do flip through the pictures and remember how cute they were in certain outfits.

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