The Grand Purge
My family came into town last night and today we spent the entire day going through baby paraphenalia. I’m not planning to have ANY MORE kids, so I’m getting rid of a ton of infant gear. It’s amazing how much stuff piles up from having a baby. You have clothing that’s 0-3 months, 3-6, 6-9, 12 months, 18 months, 2T–and every possible season. It’s truly frightening and overwhelming. And each time a child outgrows something, I have to do a wardrobe purge and either put the clothes in the attic for the next child or donate them to charity. The entire process of going through every single clothing item is so daunting that I avoid it for as long as humanly possible. 
But it’s getting there…slowly…
Still, there are some nostalgic moments, particularly with my daughter’s clothing. I look at her first Christmas dress, her first Easter dress, and I can hardly believe she was ever that small. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of those moments. Many outfits have a memory.
Do you ever feel that way? Or is it just me?
Michelle posted in Writing @ 7:37 pm | Viewed 1373 times
Mary Says:
My baby is 17 and I still have some of his baby clothes that I can’t part with.
Missie Says:
I have a small box where I keep the most special outfits from both my kids. I limit my choices to that one box so I don’t end up with ten rubbermaid containers full.
I want to cry when I look at their baby-baby clothes and see how small they once were.
beth Says:
I’m finding that I have an awful lot of clothes already that I’m trying to figure out where to store (since we really would like at least one more). I started with the under bed boxes…but I’m running out of under bed space.
I think I may succumb to the TV info-mercial and get some space bags. They look useful in this circumstance…especially given that he’s only 9 months.
Melissa Mc Says:
I’ve been slowly doing the same. What I did was get three rubbermaid boxes, one for each kid. Those special outfits or T-shirts go in there. They can decide what they want to do with them. The rest go away or in my oldest’s case passed down to her younger sister! I wish I could take a weekend and just get it done! One of these days.
Michelle Willingham Says:
Beth–our attic was FULL of baby clothes. Just so hard to believe there could be that many!
Missie–yes, I got sniffly at several outfits.
Mary–I kept one dress that I wore when I was a baby, and I passed it to my daughter. I don’t know if it’ll hold up for one of her daughters, but it would be neat if it could.
Melissa Mc.–there’s just not enough time in the day, is there?
Fedora Says:
You and me both, Michelle–our “guest room” is piled high with boxes of outgrown clothes that I haven’t had time to sort through. I can’t quite bear to purge the entire lot without looking through them one more time and saving a couple outfits… Aack. It does seem to take forever, and since I don’t enjoy this sort of thing, I keep putting it off… *sigh* It does help if I have someone or a good cause to give them to–if I know a charity is collecting or a friend needs them, that tends to inspire me. Guess I’d better find an expectant friend
Good luck to you!