Kid’s Capsule Wardrobes

With three littles, keeping everyone clothed is a full time job. Rather than playing catch up, I like to try to be proactive about the next season’s clothes.

**cue the drum roll** So, I use a–you guessed it–capsule wardrobe.

I have created a few different capsule blog posts over the years like how I created my own capsule wardrobe and even a maternity basics capsule wardrobe but I realized, I hadn’t shared an article about how I navigate our three kid’s wardrobes.

Here is what I do at the start of a new season (We do a two season capsule):

1. Put away all of the previous seasons clothes. Only their current season clothes that fit, don’t have stains and work with the weather are in their dresser.
2. Go through all of last years capsule and see what (if any) still fits.
3. Go through all of the hand me downs for that season and see what works.
4. Make a list of all the items we are going to aim to have for that season. Here is a loose outline of what we follow but it has evolved over the years depending on kids preferences and needs.
   • Fall/Winter
     • 7-10 Shirts
     • 7-10 Pants
     • 5-7 pajamas
     • 2-3 pairs of shoes
     • Coat
     • Jacket
     • 10-15 Socks/tights
     • 5 dresses or 1 pair of church dress pants and 2 dress shirts
     • 1-2 Sweaters/sweatshirts
   • Spring/Summer
     • 7-10 shorts
     • 7-10 shirts
     • 5-7 dresses or 1 pair of chino shorts and 2 short sleeve dress shirts
     • 1-2 pairs of sandals
     • Jacket
     • Sweater
     • Sometimes I leave 1-2 pairs of pants out from the previous season for colder days
     • Tennis shoes (if needed for Extra Curricular activities)
     • 1-2 swimsuits
     • 5-7 pajamas
5. Make a list of the “missing items” we need for each kid. (I make this on the notes app on my phone)
6. Create a budget (or look at your budget category if you already have one) for these items and a ballpark number for each item. For example, if I have $50 to spend and I know I need 3 dresses, I will aim to look at dresses in the $10-$15 range. If i find one that is $20 that I love, I know I need to compensate by buying one that is less to stay in my overall budget.
7. FINALLY, go shopping– usually online for us. My favorites are: Cotton On, Zara, H&M, Amazon, and GAP. This has made shopping so much more fun and every item we buy, actually gets worn!

Generally, I only focus on this current season’s clothes. Occasionally, I will buy something a few seasons ahead, but most of the time I end up forgetting that I bought it or they grow faster than I thought and it doesn’t end up fitting anymore etc.

I have found that buying only for the current season we are preparing for has helped me to know what we actually need and not overbuy.

I know sometimes this sounds like MORE work than just buying whatever when you see it but we have found it cuts down on the mental load of clothing in our house. For 6 months, I don’t have to think much about if they have enough clothes or if they pull something from two years out of their drawers. I don’t stress about if they find things that match and really, I only buy clothes twice a year. Again, it is not a perfect science and occasionally we have needs that come up in between our main purchase times, but it has definitely helped!

Happy capsuling!