Weekend clothes vs daycare and school clothes for my four kids – how I separate the two


This post was created in partnership with Kids & Company.

Dressing four kids can be a daunting task. Between the expense and how often my kids destroy, or grow out of their clothes, it can be a weekly job to keep up with. Fortunately I have found a rhythm that works for our family that not only saves us money, it squeezes every bit of life out of each piece of clothing.

Simply put, I have separate clothes for my kids on weekdays, (daycare and school days), than I do for the weekends. Because, let’s face it, our kids tend to get messy at school and daycare.

I’ve always said, “a dirty kid is a happy kid.”

Nothing makes me happier than at the end of a hot summer day, when my kids have played in our backyard the whole day and they walk up to me, filthy, covered in dirt, sweat, and sticky popsicle goo and the only option is they have to go right into the bath, before sitting down to dinner. In my opinion, that is a great childhood.

kids in the summer

kids playing in dirt

So when my three-year-old comes home from daycare, with food-stained sleeves, paint all down the front of their shirt, and a little hole in the knee of their pants, with a big smile on their face, I know they’ve had a great day.

toddler painting at daycare

So, how do I stay so relaxed about the inevitable clothing destruction? They wear old hand-me-downs and used clothing during the week.

toddler cleaning table

In our house, our son get his older cousin’s hand-me-downs, Beau gets her older cousins, and our twins get their older sisters. It’s the perfect solution. Occasionally I will head to Wal-Mart and stock up for the big kids, but I have more than enough clothes that trickles down to our twins.

Simple.

This way I am not spending a fortune on adorable outfits to last seven days each week on our four kids. I only splurge for weekend outfits, which shrinks my shopping list a lot.

So next time you don’t know what to do with that massive unexpected bag of hand-me-downs a family member left on your porch… save it for the weekdays.

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Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kids & Company. While compensation was provided, all opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily indicative of the opinions of Kids & Company.

My budget friendly approach for dressing four kids

Tips for kids clothing shopping

As a mom of four, I know going the extra mile staying organized, can go a long way when it comes to saving money. Kids grow up so fast and while I’d love to purchase adorable brand new clothing for all of my kids for every inch they’ve grown, my better judgment tells me it just isn’t practical.

I’m also well aware of how easy it is for kids to ruin their clothes and how difficult it is to scrub the spills out. Let’s face it, part of being a kid is getting messy. I don’t know about you but when our kids come home from daycare, I’m already anticipating the paint stains, sauce dribbles and torn material. It can’t be helped. Especially when it’s not under my own supervision.  

Every beginning of a new season, I sort through their clothing. It all trickles down.

Holden and Beau get hand-me-downs from their older cousins, Everly gets hand-me-downs from Beau, and Mia, gets hand-me-downs from Everly.

The kids clothes are sorted in two separate piles: unspoiled, polished weekend clothes and the more loved clothes for school weekdays. I’ve made sure to pull out any clothing that’s not season appropriate, ones that can be donated and some they’ve outgrown.

I have another pile that’s specifically for season appropriate kids outerwear. Raincoats, jackets and boots are grouped together and anything not appropriate for the current season goes back in our “outerwear bin”

Once everything is sorted and switched over into their drawers, I know exactly what is needed when I do go out shopping for new attire.

You might have to take some time out of your hectic schedule to make sure that you are squeezing every wearable drop out of your kids’ clothes, but I promise you, it is well worth it.

After having my kids I realized that I’ve adapted a more organized, and budget savvy way of thinking, and guess what? It works. 

Watch as I switched our kids’ clothes over from cool weather to warm, and how I tackled packing for a short trip…

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