Fewer Clothes, Less Laundry!

Overflowing Drawers!

A few weeks ago I had the dreaded task of sorting through clothes, changing out seasonal things and pulling the outfits that were just too small! I really dislike this task: it makes a mess, it often drags over several days as I get distracted and the children tend to want to help which isn’t actually that much help.

This year though I had just read something on A Slob Comes Clean ( and for the record that is the first cleaning blog that has made any sense to me at all), about how she found that when the children had fewer clothes she did less laundry. Less laundry? Fewer clothes to keep track of? I wasn’t quite sure how that would work- surely that meant I would do more laundry to keep them from running out of clothes, but I figured it was worth a try.

I started sorting. The children brought down the contents of their drawers (they each have three) and I sent them back up with the things I wanted them to put back away. After a few hours the drawers looked like this:

Much better

and I had three boxes of outgrown/extra clothing, a box of winter stuff that will go to whoever it fits in the fall, and we had thrown away a trash bag full of things that were too worn or stained to wear anymore.

The other benefits include:

There actually is less laundry (and I’m thinking about doing this to my clothes and S’s)

  • The children’s drawers are empty enough that they can put their laundry away
  • Since each drawer has a designation (top= underwear and sleeping things, middle= warm weather clothing bottom= cold weather clothing) it much easier for them to keep their drawers neat
  • I no longer hear “I can’t find any ____” and go upstairs to find the item in question in their drawers, but hidden
  • And best of all? I’m not dreading doing this again in the fall!

    This entry was posted in Housekeeping, Life, Organization, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

    3 Responses to Fewer Clothes, Less Laundry!

    1. I run into issues with my Princess – she loves all of her pretty dresses – plus my mom makes dresses for her so I have to keep those too.
      But I like the idea of less clothes – I will have to look into this.
      Thanks for sharing the idea!

      • K_Steinmann says:

        I did weed Mouse’s dresses too, anything that was a winter weight and would be too short by fall went, she grows up but not out! Cut her back to two school dresses, three or four play dresses, and several church dresses. Those are much easier to keep neat though as they hang and the church and school dresses can usually be worn several times before they have to be washed…K

    2. Pingback: Mom Is Sick! Oh No! | Sticks, Stones & Chicken Bones

    Leave a Reply to Michelle Crooker Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *