*I went upstairs a few minutes ago to take a few pictures of the kids closets for this post, and as I was coming down the stairs I looked out the foyer window and this is what I saw….so I took a picture for you guys….just one more reason that I want to simplify my life….so I can sit on the porch and enjoy this view….if that isn’t A Place Called Simplicity??

Several of you have asked me to explain how I do kids clothes? Great question!
Actually I throw them all in a huge pile and let them dig through, sniff to see if clean and if not, throw it back in the pile. J/K. I am feeling rather silly today, so maybe I ought not to do any post. But then again, I skipped last week’s Simplicity post, so I better go ahead.

And speaking of Simplicity posts and how to do a large family simply, I am thinking that doing it every Saturday is just too much. Too much for you and too much for me. So maybe just one Saturday a month? Or two? You guys let me know what you think. If no one has an opinion, then maybe dropping it all together? ha! {I warned ya.}

Just remember I am definitely not an expert nor do I ‘have it all together’. I am merely a woman with a boatload of kids trying to simplify our lives. What that looks like to me and what that looks like to you – could be totally different. I am sharing what works for us and I am always looking for better ways to streamline my day to have more time for the most important things in life!! And speaking of having a large family, Autumn is moving home, actually starting today! The new meds {for the tumor} are making her really sick and so she’s coming home for a season, and I get to pamper her!! Maybe even a long season. We’ll see.
There is just one thing about kids moving out and being on their own. They accumulate. Not just “stuff” but pets. Autumn now has two dogs. **smile** So the Grandpets are coming home too – Polly and Gigi. If Autumn had a snake, it would have to go. The buck stops there. I don’t do snakes. Ever. No.Matter.What.

We are super excited to have Autumn coming home. She’s been on her own for just about 4 years. The little guys love her. Elijah adores her. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. Clothes.

First off, I do not keep most things to hand down. I’m not sure who, when, will be added to our family. I have found in the past, that clothes being handed down just hasn’t worked for us. All my kids have been built so differently and often, by the time they would fit someone, the waist elastic was grainy from being years old. Or the kids who were “slims” with the elastic pulled to the tightest button, didn’t fit the next one in line cause they were not slims, but average. Or one kid was tall and the next was on the shorter side. Dresses were the only exception – but only non-trendy ones! As I pack up clothes to get rid of, I will often ask the Lord to provide this again, should we need it again. So far there has not been one kid of ours that has had to go out in public naked. =) {Although we have had a few little exhibitionists who probably would have loved it if He had not provided clothes for them….what is it with some wanting to run naked most of the time? Then we have had others who from birth were modest beyond modest.} Oh yeah. Back to the clothes….

They say we have four seasons in Colorado. I would agree. There’s Cold, Colder still, Stinkin’ freezin’ and Warm. So we have to have seasonal clothes. Like yesterday, mind you, it was July 9! The day started with short sleeves…by late afternoon I had a sweater on too. I take sweatshirts almost anywhere we go for the little guys. It is cold often in the evenings during even July. Often. Really often. If it’s not cold it is like, “Really, it’s gonna be warm tonight? No way. For real?”

In the back hall we have hooks for sweatshirts. The little guys can reach theirs. They are responsible to put their sweatshirts on their hooks and put their shoes on the shelves. {This works well in theory of course!}

Eijah and Isaiah share room and a closet. We lost our dressers in the fire and have not replaced them. It seems to me that so much of the furniture for sale these days is pretty junkie. With all the people using the dressers it didn’t seem that they would hold up {the ones we had before the fire were antique ones that were made of real 100% wood – imagine that?!?!}

When we built the house we opted to have shelves installed in the closets and keep clothes on those. This is the little boys closet. Winter clothes on top rod and shelf. Plastic “dresser” has play shirts, play shorts & dress pants in those three drawers. Wicker baskets to the side of the little plastic dresser have Sp*derman undies. {Melody and Tiff that was for you!} And for you who missed my tweet the other day, I am still laughing at what these two sweet bloggy friends tweeted back with after reading my tweet. I had no idea how my tweet would be taken, but later, when I read it to my family they all started to laugh. Yes, I made it sound like it was me wearing those. Oh my, my.

Emma, Liberty, Jubilee and Elizabeth share the one closet in the room they share together. We had the closet made with each girl to have a set of shelves. Then they each have two rods, one high and one low. The shelves that each girl have hold several wicker baskets: for undies, socks, jammies, etc. The two rods give the girls the ability to have a rod for winter clothes and one for summer or whatever. Emma also has her missions trip clothes in there as well. She has African dresses that the people in the village have actually made just for her {gorgeous stuff!}.
Dress-up clothes hang on the little girls rods too. I also have a few extra sweatshirts that are non-gender which hang in the girls closet. That way I can grab some if we are running out the door, and everyone knows that they might be wearing what someone else wore yesterday. Doesn’t matter. We’re family and we share.

The kids wear their clothes more than one day, unless they have been playing outside in the dirt. I just can’t handle really, truly, dirty clothes hanging around.
The kids wear their jammies several nights. During the day they are stored under their pillow. The clothes they wore that day are at the end of the bed while they sleep. They change into their clothes and put their jammies under their pillow. Cuts down on laundry and I like that. More time on the porch, sipping coffee while praying for ideas on how to advocate for the orphan.

Would love for you to share your simplifying or living with a large family tips…..link below. If you do not link with a permalink, I will be forced to delete your link – and I would hate to do that, so please enter your permalink, not your blog home address! If you have no clue what I mean, click here for an explanation.

If you are interested in more Simplicity tips from previous posts, please click here.