Notes from "a TAMM creation"

We have an older home with the small closets, so twice a year I have to do the clothing switch. Since I have been home recovering, I have been working on it, but just a little at a time.

I started in Tiernan's room, because well, being a boy he had the least to switch, in fact I found there was nothing to switch, but I did clean out the old clothes that no longer fit him and got things looking nice in his room.

I then moved to the girls room. This takes some time. I had to go through everything, getting rid of what no longer fit, passing things down from Maeve to Molly, pulling the summer stuff from last year out of storage and seeing what fit who this year, then putting the jeans, sweaters and other winter wear away, but only stuff that fit. It took me awhile, but I have that looking good. The girls have some pants put aways for the fall, and they have some summer clothes, although Molly has more because Maeve outgrew her stuff and passed it down to Molly, now I have to find new stuff for Maeve.

What is funny is that it feels weird to go to the store and only buy for one kid. I used to think that I needed to bring home equal amounts for each child, but I now realize that they grew at different rates, and this is a good thing. Right now I only have to get stuff for Maeve, and then if a few weeks or months I'll need to get for another. This breaks up the cost of clothing the kids nicely, and makes it easier on the budget.

Today I worked on my room. That is probably the biggest undertaking! I have work clothes, play clothes and church clothes, and so I had to go through the winter stuff, and anything that I did not wear this past year went into the Goodwill pile. I am not going to keep holding onto stuff, just because I think I might wear it, or something. I got all my winter stuff packed away and the summer stuff out, and that feels so good.

Over all, while I have been doing this bi-annual clothing switch, I have taken five garbage bags of stuff to Goodwill already and I have another two bags to go next trip. That is seven bags altogether. I know, I can hear you all yelling "yard sale" but you know what? I tried that last year, and I ended up with more stuff left over than I had to begin with! How is that you ask? Well, when my mother-in-law found out I was having the sale, she brought over a boat load of stuff, so when the sale was over, I had more stuff than I started with, and it all stayed at my house. Yep, everything my mother-in-law brought over that didn't sell, all got left in my basement! Not doing it again! It was way too much work for way too little reward, I'll just take it to Goodwill and write it off on taxes next year.