Every year, the average family spends about 4% of their income on clothing. Of course, the costs can vary depending on the age of the child and how much they need, but the good news is that you can insure that you update your family wardrobe at least twice a year without having to break the bank.
You don’t always need to find a perfect blend between doing constant laundry and having a minimalist storage idea, but you do need to work out how you can audit your wardrobes and the wardrobes of your children, and the boy and girls clothes that you have in the home – and know what to do with them. Below, we have some top tips to help you with your family wardrobe audit this year.
- Start with simplifying things. When you are mindful of the clothing that you are buying for yourself, you are then mindful of the clothing that you are buying for your children. Knowing what you have before you go shopping is always going to help, as is decluttering the wardrobe and simplifying it completely. Create three different piles – one to save, one to sell, and want to recycle. Divide the remaining clothing into seasons for each wardrobe so that you can visualize how much you already have.
- Create a checklist. Once you have workable piles of clothing, you need to then make a list but you should follow for a capsule wardrobe for everybody. For each season you should have a range of different clothing, and while you may carry some items of clothing from season to seasons – such as underwear and socks – you still may need to purchase new clothing in spring and again in the fall. Your kids could probably wear the same Hoody or T-shirts through all the seasons, but they do grow quickly so you may need to replace them anyway.
- Break it down. If you break everything down into categories from shoes and boots to clothes and coats, you can ensure that everybody has an equal amount of things that they need to wear day to day.
- Consider colors. The chances are your children would love to wear similar clothing day in and day out because I love the color. For example, your daughter may have a lovely range of blue-colored leggings but would need other colors injected in there. Too many color pallets come to many laundry loads, having a colour palette for each wardrobe also makes it much easier to mix and match clothing. All you’ll need is a few neutral pieces to complete the entire wardrobe.
- Don’t forget storage. While you are editing your family’s wardrobes, don’t forget to include some storage in your auditing. You may need to buy new hangers and new baskets for socks and smaller items to keep everything organized. Family wardrobe audits can take some time, so make sure that you schedule this into your calendar so that you can get around the whole family in no time at all.
