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Hi, i've been trying to work towards baby steps with getting rid of things and making various areas nice(r)...front porch is doing ok :-)
Today i had to buy hasp locks and keyed locks for cabinets and dressers as well as a bike lock to put on the fridge doors (two doors on top & a freezer on the bottom which i have to contact mfr for advice)...my oldest is 5!
Does anyone have some suggestions that go beyond basic child proofing (ie the devices that you can buy in baby section)? My oldest daughter is developmentally delayed & falls in the autism spectrum and i'm almost 100% positive that when she's old enough to be evaluated for ADD/ADHD that we will have an additional variable to deal with. She is very clever and is TALL for 5, my middle daughter is a 3 1/2 yr old pixie rock climber & my son who is just over a week away from his 2nd birthday is a moose with monkey like tendencies...i feel doomed!
Any and all suggestions that can protect our groceries (we are talking all sorts of food including icecream found everywhere...the fridge has the loopy locks as well as a couple of the cabinets), dangerous items (they can open the loopy locks & climb...upper cabinets are vulnerable) and even just keep things where they belong (clothes IN dressers) is appreciated.
Like i mentioned today i bought more regular locks and hasps to use on cabinets and drawers and bike lock for fridge...
Now that there is some ray of hope that we can keep clothes in place ( i do plan on having an open drawer for some dress up type stuff) i'm trying to figure out what are the basics necessary and a good amount...a week's worth...two weeks' worth, etc
I have had & continue to fight tendencies to shop in order to soothe myself when stressed, etc.
Again, i appreciate any and all insight...i don't want to go bare bones, but i don't want to have so many clothes that some aren't worn either
Wow, no one else has had to go to a ft knox level of security!?!?!?
We have the first set of new locks on...a few more to go.
Does any one have a rule of thumb they use in how many clothes they need for their child?
I don't want to do laundry every day, but i don't want a ton of extras that never get worn before out grown either. I'm just not sure what a good number of jeans, shirts, etc is.
You need suggestions from people in a similar situation. Here is one link that addresses both of your questions to some extent. It addresses types of clothing rather than amount, but it's a start:
I was also going to suggest that you get coordinated clothing lines so that everything goes with everything over time. Then you can switch out items without too much hassle. Choose a few colors and shop that way. Just like decorating a room. That lets you shop the sales at all prices and everything works together. I think it makes more sense to budget than to plan by number of items. Good luck.
Hi Lynda,
I have three children also (6, 4 & 2). I don't face the same challanges you do so I can't really speak to the food/kitchen issue but I can give you my opinions on clothing. And remember, these are just my opinions. I believe everyone needs to do what is going to work for them.
When we have had an overabundance of clothes, I get VERY overwhelmed with getting the laundry done and finding room in their drawers to put the clothes away. Laundry is one of my challanges and I don't enjoy it. I tend to think that less is more but you need to take into consideration each child. My son is very clean. We never need to change his shirt because he spilled on it. My daughter is the opposite and I've bought her a few more shirts.
One of my habits while buying my kids clothes is to buy things that are very simple and will go with anything. My daughter has t-shirts in every color of the rainbow, but none of them are prints so I don't have to try and matching anything. So here's an aproximation of what my kids have for clothes:
Short-sleeved shirts: 5 or 6
Long sleeved shirts: 5 or 6
Tank tops: 4
Shorts: 5 pair
Jeans/pants: 5 pair
Underwear/socks: as much as I can buy :) I hate hunting down clean underwear.
Sandals: 1pair
Tennis shoes: 1 pair
Sweatshirt/pullover: 1 or 2
Anyway, this is how I do it. You might need to do things different because your circumstances are different from mine. I hope this helps.
I also think you could get some really good suggestions by finding an autism or ADD/ADHD forum and talking with other who has circumstances like yours. Best wishes!
Jennifer
One of my little inventions that really saves time is I hung a sock bag in each kids closet. Its a Walmart zippered fine washables net bag. They don't get their socks back if they didn't come to me in the bag. I take out the dark socks and wash them separately but mostly my kids socks are white. I throw it in the white load, then in the dryer and hand it back to them to pair up and put back in the drawer. No more lost socks - its been a very successful idea.
I totally second the idea of plain colored t-shirts - its a real pain to try to find something to go with shirts that have a print or picture - especially girls since every color comes in so many shades that nothing matches. I buy 4 new colored T's in the spring, and 2 dressy polo type shirts. At least 2 of these are nice white T's that go with everything and can go under jumpers and then sweaters in the fall. I usually have about 5 pairs of shorts and 5 pairs of long pants per kid. Each kid has sporty or play jackets and a decent lightweight windbreaker or jacket, as well as the winter coat.
We have play clothes hooks in the garage and they are not supposed to bring the play clothes in - and they are supposed to wear them more than once. I hung a 24 pair metal shoe tree organizer in the garage and the shoes are supposed to be hung up on the wall before coming in. It works most of the time.
My kids used to have a lot more clothes but what I found is that it was just overwhelming for them to learn to take care of it and keep it hung up. I went thru the closets and got serious about how much they really needed and removed a ton - 5 garbage bags full to be exact. Took it down to the consignment shop. I also got colored hangers and each kid has their own hanger supply. We have family folding time and do 4-5 loads of folding at once. Everybody brings their hangers down and we put on music and get the laundry put away. Its taken a while but my kids know how to put laundry away - prob more than a lot of kids their age.
What got me started thinking about all this is I asked a friend of mine how much underwear and socks her daughter has and she looked at me like I was nuts and said "7 pairs, why would you need more?"
I've always been a more is better kinda gal so that was new to me. Then I realized that even if I did laundry every 2 weeks there should be no reason we need more than we could possibly wear in 2 weeks time - I'm talking about the rare time like vacations or something happens and you let the laundry go more than a week. Then most kids don't need more than a few nice outfits for church or going out.
So why was I stashing all that stuff that they couldn't weed through - no reason.
It was hard to get rid of things that I liked on my kids but now that its gone I have forgotten all about it.
HTH
a
i have had a hard time getting rid of some things & i'm trying to be tough on what clothes i keep for keepsakes
you are so right...the more you have the harder it is to take care of it & i think it also makes it harder for the kids to understand what is needed vs wanted or what is a special outfit for a special occasion if they have tons already
i like the colored hangers per person & will pick some up next time i have a chance
sock bag is a great idea too as i don't know what happens to all of the socks and underwear!
with my daughters i do have some dresses and i try to keep some denim skirts...both girls like girly clothes & rough and tumble clothes...i have to have the play clothes & play with animal clothes & shoes...it's starting to sink in that nice clothes don't go into the goat area or duck & goose area
i'm going to go through things again later today with extra motivation :-)
Bungie cords. When my son was small he had a tendancy to wander. Once when he was about four he got out the front door (I was feeding his brand new brother) and made it almost three miles away. I began using bungie cords everywhere and installed an alarm system that beeped everytime a door opened. My house was 5600 square feet and I was often far away from wherever he might have gotten into. (you dont have to go to this expense, there are alarms sold here:
[HYPERLINK@www.mypreciouskid.com]
These also work for refrigerators and any place, really, where you dont want the kids to get into, like storage containers and pantry doors. I basically made it very difficut to open a door without having to do some work, which gave me a chance to realise what was going on before it was too late. And if I didnt make it on time I had the warning beep to alert me that intervention was needed. ASAP!
As far as clothes go I dont know if you have the same problem but my son used to tell me that his tee-shirts were covered in "nails" on the inside. I stopped buying all the designer high end tees and jeans and put him in soft bright colored tees from target, (they' re the softest I found) . I also began buying the nylon shorts, like athletic shorts for summer. To this day I buy him pima cotton tees, and he loves them. I also bought lightweight cotton track suit pants with the cuffs at the ankles instead of elastic. He looked adorable, but was comfortable and not distracted by itchy clothes. Like Hanna Andersson for boys, but back then there just was not the selection there is today.
He's 20 now, and it hasnt been an easy road for him. But he looks georgeous in clothes, and wears just about anything. Wool still bugs him, even the very softest merino and cashmere is just too dang annoying. But silk sweaters seem okay as do the acrylic ones.
The positive side of this was that when he wasnt irritated by his clothes he seemed less hyperactive.
I stopped pairing socks a long time ago! I just bought a huge supply at the beginning of the season and got a big basket and when I washed them I just threw them into that basket. Whatever two socks were pulled out were a match. (for your daughter you probably like pretty hose once in awhile but it doesnt have to be every day.) Pretty novelty socks can be washed and put in the "special sock space".
It can get exhausting to try to keep up. I had four kids, 2 older girls who were tweens at the time, and a baby, so I understand. The "baby" is now 15, we're all still alive and safe, nobody has been in prison (yet! LOL!). I have one or two little sweaters that I saved from their youth, but now I have to deal with paintball parahenalia, art supplies that are everywhere, skateboards in my formal foyer, strange and unusual ingredients in my refrigerator (like indigo solutions for dyeing who knows what- I dont ask).
All of the suggestions here are nearly identical to the ones above, but I thought if you heard it from a veteran who has survived the "holy wars" of raising a developmentally delayed child it might help...
sending you wishes for peace, energy and STAMINA!
:)
Amy
Hi,
My kids are older now but I still have problems with keeping to many items. My twins are 15, Bethany is a clothes nut and loves shoes to match each outfit. Brett is happy with jeans and a t-shirt. We donate good used and outgrown items to our local mission. They feed about 60 kids each Tuesday night. It is easier to give if I think it is benefiting someone. They also give to burnout victims and needy families.
I read once when you are sorting to put it in a box, if it was something you were unsure about giving away. If you haven't missed it or taken it out in 6 months. Donate it,you already have it boxed up!
Also a true statement: Most people wear 20% of their clothes
80% of the time.
