Baby clothes = sentimental clothes
If you are a parent, I bet you remember the first time you bought an outfit for your first baby. I held off letting myself buy anything until we had our 20-week ultrasound, where we got the thumbs up that everything looked good, and also found out that we were having a baby girl. My husband and I left our appointment and headed straight to BuyBuyBaby to each pick something out and send a picture to our family to share the good news and big reveal.
The significance of Mount Onesie
Fast forward 4 years, I had a 3 year old, 1 year old twins, and a LOT of baby clothes. Piles of baby clothes. Boxes of baby clothes. Pant-loads of baby clothes. I could probably fill up a small boat with baby clothes. The 1st year with twins is insane to put it mildly, and I barely had time to keep them in (clean?) clothes let alone deal with the massive amount of clothes that they were growing out of in what felt like record speed. So they piled up in bags, boxes, laundry baskets, whatever I had on hand to contain the onesie-avalanche.
With my 1st, it was straightforward. I organized them by size, put them in vacuum sealed bags to save space, stored them in clear tubs. Just like Pinterest told me to do. Saved them for the day when we’d have another baby and we might need them again.
But let me be honest. Even if I had had unlimited free time, I did NOT want to deal with the clothes after the twins. I stuck them far back in the kids’ closets so I could try to forget they were there and not have to think about it. Because dealing with the kids clothes brought on a much larger, emotional conversation for me.
My husband and I had always talked about having 2-3 kids. When we got the surprise of our lives and heard that we were having twins, we jumped up to 3 kids rather quickly. And so according to our plan, we were now done. Right? Like, it would be crazy to have another one, right? My husband can very confidently say, ‘Yes. Done. Good. Move on.” But I’ve never been quite so quick to make decisions this big, to decide and close the door. And now it felt like one of the biggest decisions of our lives could be determined based on my decision to keep or let go of Mount Onesie.
It doesn’t have to be all or none
Sorting through my clothes was a challenge, but I made it through. It felt like a weight had been lifted (it had, 16 garbage bags full of clothes are heavy). But it was also an emotional weight of holding on to way too much, that I hadn’t even realized I was carrying. My closet and drawers could breathe easier, and so could I.
So when I got to the kids’ closets, I knew if I was serious about tidying up our lives, avoiding this big pile was not an option. This was a big weight on me. Something I knew I was avoiding, dreading. And treating every piece of kids clothes as sentimental and holding off to deal with it at the end was also not great. I looked online for answers or support in how to know if and when to get rid of the baby clothes, and honestly didn’t find much. So, I begrudgingly jumped in, and figured it out.
What I realized, and what helped me move forward, is that it didn’t have to be so black and white. All or none. I didn’t have to get rid of every item of baby clothes, or keep it all. Declare to the world that I would never, ever have a baby again, or store 15 boxes of baby clothes forever just in case it ever happened. Storing those boxes of baby clothes was not going to bring me or anyone else any joy. Plus, I’m pretty sure they will still be producing and selling clothing for small humans in the future. We could always buy more if we needed it. Holding on to or letting go of these clothes did not need to be so tied to this potential-future-big life decision. This was about a ton of clothes. That none of my kids fit in. That, yes, I am also sentimental about, and those emotions are real, and okay.
Take it one onesie at a time.
It was hard. I asked my husband to sit in the room with me while I sorted through it, because I needed the support. Not to help decide what to keep and discard (he was still on team ‘EVERYTHING MUST GO’), but because I didn’t want to be alone. And if I felt strong emotions about the item, I put it in the keep pile. Maybe it was joy, or maybe I just couldn’t part with it. Either way, it stayed. I didn’t have to have a reason to keep it beyond that. And all the many, many, many, many onesies that were just part of their wardrobe but didn’t have particular memories or significance could go into the discard/donate/sell.
I ended up with one large plastic tub of ‘keeps’. The baby girl dresses that were my favorites, the onesies we used for the monthly pictures, the tiny baby boy suspenders. The ones that brought back clear, happy memories. If I don’t have any more kids, maybe I’ll pass these ones on to my kids when they have kids. Or maybe I won’t feel the need to save these anymore after a couple more years. I’m not sure. But for me, for right now, one big box of favorite memories feels like the right emotional weight to keep, rather than all of it. And I’m relieved to have tackled it, rather than allow it to continue to take up space in the back of my mind and my kids’ closet.
Considering tackling your own Mount Onesie? Here are some steps and tips to help get you started.
Steps to cleaning out baby clothes, for those who do not want to clean out baby clothes:
- Just like adult clothes, build your big pile, pull out all the clothes, see what you’re dealing with.
- Hold each item of clothing, and decide if it’s staying or going. These should all be clothes they have grown out of, so the decision is whether to save and store or discard/donate/sell.
- If it’s staying, keep it with confidence! You don’t need more of a reason than ‘it brings me joy’ or ‘it reminds me of something that makes me feel happy’. Fold it and store it.
- If it’s going, thank it for your child. It did its job, and now it can be passed on to someone else who can fit in it, who might really need it.
- If you have the time and the boxes, fold it and organize it by size in prep for donating and/or selling.
Some Tidying with Toddlers Tips:
- Since these no longer fit your kids, this is a decision for you. Especially since this can be emotional, find time to sort through them when your kids aren’t around.
- If you do want to get the kids involved with this category, they can help you make the big pile of clothes (however mine still try to steal the clothes back and figure out ways to wear them, see above).
- If you’re donating your items, talk about it with your kids! It’s a good opportunity to talk about how we can help others, and how passing along the things we don’t use could really benefit someone else’s lives.
If you’re going through this, big hugs and you can do it. You’ll feel better once you do.
Happy tidying, friends!