Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill...

...To find somewhere to store all their baby clothes!

You have a baby. You receive tons of clothes from loved ones, often so many outfits that your child is barely able to wear them once before they outgrow them. You now have piles of perfectly good clothes that would be painful to get rid of in case you have another child.

But where are you going to store them all?

Try these tricks to limit your baby clothes storage without going broke if number two (or three or four or...) arrives:

• Purge the un-wearables. No sense wasting precious storage space on stained, torn or otherwise damaged clothing so, before boxing up all those tiny outfits, be sure to purge all the clothes that are no longer usable for future babies.
• Think birth weight. Obviously, every child is a different weight at birth, but the size of your first child will give you a fairly good clue about the birth weight of future children. If you had a larger newborn (as all three of mine were), consider donating or selling all the newborn or tiny-sized clothing your child never fit into since future children probably will not be able to fit into them either. If they are unworn with tags still on them, think about checking out return policies as well.
• Save the basics, sell the rest. We had a boy in the summer, then a girl a couple summers later. When are girl was born, the simple onesies and socks were usable, but I wanted to trade in those blue onesies and polos for some cute pink dresses. Then, our third was born in the winter, so while we used some of the basics, we needed to purchase an entire winter wardrobe for him. Had we kept all of the clothing, we would need another closet to fit all the boxes. Instead, we kept the simple and gender-neutral clothing and donated/sold the more season- and gender-specific items.
• Help out a friend. A great option that many are turning to is allowing a pregnant friend to borrow some baby clothes. Since babies hardly wear clothing before they outgrow them, sharing helps get a little extra use out of them while also freeing your closet for a few months to a year and still have them available for when you are expecting your next bundle. You can get a group of moms together to keep the clothes floating around. Make sure you mark who's clothes are whose and have an agreement about what to do when clothing gets stained or damaged.
• Sell it all and buy second-hand. When space is a major issue and you just do not have any other options, sell what you can. Many areas have consignment shops or used baby stores that will offer a fair price for clothing in good shape. Also consider selling clothing by the box through Craigslist or yard sales. In order to not lose much money, buy only second-hand when your next little one is due or ask friends and family to skip the cutesie gifts and only buy clothing.

When considering what to do with all those clothes, remember how short of a time your bambino will be sporting those threads and store and spend accordingly. Those first years are quick and space and money are limited so try not to go crazy when selecting outfits.

After all, you will need that money when they are asking for designer jeans and trendy sneakers in ten or fifteen years!

For more homemaking tips, check out: Growing Home and Time-Warp Wife