The two things our house seems to be overrun with are paper and clothing. We have tons of clothing. Luke suggested once that we cut back clothing to 4-6 outfits per person. I never took him seriously because to cut back on laundry means that I will always be washing clothes. And who wants to wash clothes all day every day?

Months later I discovered that not only was my husband’s suggestion a good one, but he wasn’t kidding when he suggested it! First off, it is easier to do laundry daily. I tend to let it pile up until someone comes to me saying, “I have no clean pants in my drawer.” Then I have to put everything on hold and wash clothes.When I do it daily, there is no hurry, and I can schedule it into each day. No surprises.

Now you are wondering how so few outfits could possibly be enough. My main concern was for those who still have occasional accidents. They can sometimes go through 3 outfits in one day! That is half their outfits!!

Well, if you are doing laundry daily, there will be laundry in the drawer by the next day. Even if you don’t get to it that day, there will still  be 3 outfits left in their drawer for the next day!

Now you ask, won’t they wear the clothes out faster? Well, there is that, but what is the difference between having more clothes all at once and replacing a few outfits when they wear out? You may use as many clothes in the long run, but there is a chance that you won’t, and if you do, you still have less to deal with at one time.

If you normally pass your older child’s clothes down to your kids, having fewer will mean that you can actually let your 2nd child help pick out their clothes and not feel guilty about it because you really wouldn’t be spending any more money than you would have if you bought a lot for your older child.