When Do You Stop Saving Your Child's Clothing?

I saved everything of hers until I gave birth to my second child and knew 100% of the gender (that would be 3 1/2 years of clothing and baby stuff/equipment etc.). I had a boy so I got rid of all of the "girl" stuff w/in a few months post partum of the second baby and kept the gender neutral stuff.

I packed all of my boys clothes up until school age. At school age I saved what was still in good condition and get rid of the damaged clothes. Mostly I kept dress clothes, unstained shirts, school uniform shirts that were not damaged (most aren't but some are, my son let another boy hold him down and cut the cuffs off almost all of his uniform shirts with a pair of school scissors the year before last). I threw away jeans and school uniform pants that had holes in the knees or were stained from crawling around on the school asphalt portion of the the playground. My third child was a girl and I had my tubes tied. I recently gave all of my youngest boys outgrown clothes to a cousin for their young son. I have been giving my daughters clothes away as she outgrows them.

While they are small, damaged clothing such as stained or worn clothes can be used for playing outdoors at home or for eating Popsicles or suckers, etc. So I did save some damaged play clothes up till they were about 4. After 4 they eat a little neater and it may not be necessary.

I might add, I packed them away in huge 33 gallon stack-able storage tubs in our very small shed. The stack reached the ceiling before my second son was born.

here is how I feel. my son (my only child) just turned one, if we saved everything he owned we would have to add on to our house lol. I started saving everything but then I realised that I would want to buy a new baby some new clothes and if I had another boy he would pry get clothes as gifts from my family. So I only save the outfits that are my favorite (little over all sets but so many sleep and plays) So we only have one garbage bag with baby clothes instead of four of five. also we bought a lot of my sons clothes at Goodwill (I dont see the point in spending a lot on clothes when he will out grow them in three months) so it doesnt have to be expensive

I don't keep anything past 24 months unless it was really like new and used very little or special for some reason.

I have only kept items with sentimental value from her first year. I think she will stay a single child - and if we ever get surprised we'll buy new clothes.
If you know you're having one more, save everything that is still in good shape. My sister has 4 kids and when the last was a boy (first 3 were girls) she gave me tons of clothes for my daughter, some of which I recognized from my first niece 9 years earlier.
Good luck!

My oldest is 8 and I have kept quite a few of his things. A store near us always has a huge columbia jacket sale so he has always had good winter coats, snow pant, and boots they stay in good condition despite him always playing outside so those have been kept to hand down to our younger son. He also has some sweaters that have held up great so those get packed and stored and his shorts stay in pretty good condition. His t-shirts and pants are another story but I save some so our youngest will have plenty of play clothes. If they aren't faded, stained or torn it gets saved. Clothes are expensive the less we have to buy for our youngest the better. I have found that where they are purchased matters. Children's place seems to hold up good where old navy is wrecked after one or two wears.

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We have a running joke in our family. As soon as I got rid of all my maternity clothes from my 1st pregnancy I found out I was pregnant with baby # 2 a week later. Then, as soon as I got rid of all our baby gear and the small baby stuff I found out I was pregnant with Baby # 3. We half joke that we will never get rid of anything ever again, haha, but honestly, I think you have the right idea. Keep the 1st years clothes and sell the rest. Everything we sold of our kids we gave right back to them. Meaning whatever $ amount we got we put innto their piggy banks. I rather see them have a savings acct then to hold onto stuff too long and not be able to sell b/c of being outdated.

Good luck!

Ok, here is what I can tell you from my experience. I had 2 girls who are 2 years and 2 days apart. I saved my oldest daughters clothes and obviously still do. It worked out perfect for me because my daughters were born in the same season and even better in the same month. But, I'll also add that my youngest daughter got a ton of clothing, as a baby. Mostly because everyone knew we had all the toys that we needed at this point, so people bought her clothes. So my youngest daughter tends to have an over abundance of clothes. (She also gets clothes from an older cousin.)
However, as they get older, is probably when you'll want to save them as those clothes tend to get more expensive. Also people tend to not give gifts of clothing as they get older but toys for the child instead. And true they might get a little more wear and tear on them but if your daughter is anything like my oldest, she doesn't really wear them out so they are worth keeping.
All this being said, if you don't have them in the same season, saving all those clothes won't really matter. As even 4 months can make a difference as a baby.

I donated all of my daughters clothing as soon as she grew out of it... I figured if I had another child to cloth, I would want new stuff anyway...

keep a few things that are special in one box, and donate the rest to a womens shelter or foster parents...

My oldest son is 3 1/2 and my youngest is 2 weeks. I've kept everything that was in good shape or had sentimental value. However, it hasn't always been kept in my house. Are you good friends with anyone who has a daughter younger than yours? If so, you can do what I did. My best friend has a son younger than my oldest. I give her the clothes, her son wears them, and then once he's grown out of them she returns my clothes plus his clothes for my youngest son. It works out great because neither one of us has to store an abudance of clothes. I still buy my youngest a few new things, too, so that he's not just in hand-me-downs all the time. Good luck!

In my house, I have boys 9,7,4 - I still save clothes and things get passed down. Between my older two boys, the "saving" is more like getting moved from one drawer in one room to another drawer in another room as the 7 year old is getting really close to catching up with his brother. I do still save certain things from the 7 year old for the 4 year old, but certainly not everything. I save the same things you spoke about, the holiday specific items (even if it is a $5 T-shirt - I mean $5 is $5 after all -right?), nicer dress clothes that don't look as if they have even been worn, jeans that can be more expensive to buy, etc. I do save a few of the more worn out items as well - they become instant play clothes, and I save the "favorites".
I know that sounds like a lot of items, but that doesn't mean I save everything that falls into all of those categories. I am pretty selective. I have 2 big, plastic bins that I have "limited" my "saving" to - including shoes.

Having said all of that, I will say that we kept almost everything baby from our first child to our second child, but as they are only 2 years apart, by the time number 1 was 15 months, we knew number 2 was on the way. We moved 3 times between number 2 and 3 - and in that time gave away virtually all of the baby items - and so we had to start over with things for newborn to about size 3t. We had saved maybe 10-12 outfits across that size range of absolute favorite outfits - "just in case" there was a 3rd child later. So you may need to start saving only the favorites as you begin to run out of space. I suggest you decide HOW much space you want to dedicate to saving clothes and then make yourself stick to that amount of space - which means you may need to take some things out as you put other stuff in.

Good Luck,
T.

I never keep anything past 12 months, unless it's something really cute.
And even then i don't keep anything that's stained from that 0-12 months group.

I saved a lot but had all sons that were 4 and 3 years apart. For storage I was at Wal-mart and found some storage bags that you pack and get the air out, thus taking up less space. I have also seen them on TV. I actually got the ones for travel that you just flatten and roll them. I have a friend who swears by the type that you use the vacuum to extract the air. As far as how long and what to save, I only saved things that are in really good condition. I saved clothes up until they were all about the same size. We also made use of under the bed storage and if the floor space under the dresser. Ours had legs. Also I found that if I marked on the outside what the contents were it was easier to get the right package out, ex. winter clothes size 12 - 18 months. Dnate the clothing that has survived after the youngest child.