Spring (Wardrobe) Cleaning {TIPsters}

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The typical spring cleaning of washing down the whole house doesn’t usually happen in our home. I much prefer to spread the washing of windows, baseboards, walls, and carpets throughout my normal house cleaning routine a little at a time.
 
I will be wiping down our windows a little more frequently to combat the thin layer of yellow pollen that wants to engulf everything, but besides that my cleaning schedule will take care of the rest of the “spring cleaning.”
 
One area of our home that does get a complete makeover in the spring is our wardrobes. For the past couple of weeks the warm weather has made the clothing switch a priority and while Tim and I are still picking our spring clothes out of boxes laying on our bedroom floor (sheesh), the kids’ clothing switch is completed.



Top Ten Tips for A Seasonal Clothing Switch-a-Roo

  • Start early in the morning when everyone is rested and well fed from breakfast - I even nursed the baby first. If you have babies, toddlers, or younger children, take time to change all diapers and take everyone potty, too.
  • Get help – ask someone to come help you or to entertain the kids while you do it (my mom did quite a bit of both).
  • Have empty boxes ready to put clothes into – I like to use boxes or bins that are all the same so the stack easier.
  • Empty all of the too small or last season’s clothes before taking out the new clothes – it’ll keep you from getting confused, having a huge mess, and getting stressed out – or is that just me?
  • Keep an outfit or two (that still fits) from the previous season available for transitional weather. I like to pick one that’s a tad too big so it’ll help out for the transition from summer to fall as well.
  • Take out the next season’s clothes for one child at a time this will help you not get confused and overwhelmed.
  • For the most part, assume that all clothes labeled the correct size fit –unless of course they don’t. Shirts tend to always fit well enough, but  our kids do have to try on quite of few bottoms since they tend to be in between sizes.
  • Make sure you stop for a morning snack – our kids even got a story break since my mom was helping.
  • Keep the boxes or bins of the previous season’s clothes accessible for a week or so, to make sure you’ve gotten all of the clothes that were in the dirty laundry.
  • If you have room, keep an empty box or bin on hand to place outgrown clothes throughout the coming season.
    storing-kids-clothes_thumb 
Today's Questions:
Do you do the semi-annual wardrobe switch-a-roo in your home? 
Do you tackle bigger cleaning projects in the spring?
What tips do you have for spring cleaning?

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Please visit my fellow TIPsters
for more spring cleaning tips:



Coming Soon:

May 1: Reflecting on the Past School Year
May 15: Summer Learning Plans
June 5: Feeding Picky Eaters
June 19: Television Viewing (What & How Often)
July 3: Quick and Easy Summer Meals
July 17: Taking Family Photos
August 7: Schooling Kids of Different Ages
August 21: Teaching Kids to Read
 
(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)


I'm sharing this post at Many Little Blessing's Top Ten Tuesday.


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7 comments:

  1. It's great to see I'm not the only one who views the clothing switch as a big ordeal! I never hear much about it from other moms, so I didn't know what it was like for other people. It sounds pretty much the same for me as it does for you. It takes forever to go through and decide what fits, what we need to get rid of, what we need to leave out for the next season, etc. Plus, there's always lots of "help" from the kids which makes it take even longer. :) And always, my personal clothing gets left sitting in the bins forever before I finally get it into the closet. Mine's actually sitting in my bedroom floor right now awaiting the day when I will magically have time to get it done. :)

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  2. MaryEllen,

    The clothing switch is definitely a big ordeal. And yes, my clothes always seem to get taken care of last.

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  3. Hi Allyson, just stopping by to say how delightful your blog is. Thanks so much for sharing. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
    http://chelencarter-retiredandlovingit.blogspot.ca/

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  4. The clothing ordeal is a big deal here, too! We do the girl clothes at my mom's house because she passes down stuff to us and we keep all the girls clothes (Bekah's, Maddie's, and Alaine's) in her attic. We also send things to Ryan's girls every season, too, so it makes sense to do the girl clothes there.

    The boy clothes we do here and it takes so long! Owen is the only boy who doesn't mind trying things on.

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  5. I have a too small box and two grow into boxes - one for new clothes and one for hand me downs. Thanks for sharing your tips :)

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  6. Good info! No, I can't say I do a semi-annual wardrobe switcheroo. This will probably become necessary as more babies come and as my daughter grows. And I'm with you- I'd much rather do "spring" cleaning type tasks spread out through my normal days then in one fell swoop (hooray for Fly Lady!) :).

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  7. I wish our weather would cooperate to get this done, but great stuff. I only have one sone, so I keep a box labeled for things that are too big so I know where to go first thing for the next season. It's generally a smaller box, but makes things so much easier. He's not quite big enough to help yet, but that day is coming. Maybe this fall he can get in on the "fun".

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Blessings,
Tim, Allyson and kids