What items of clothing do you over-buy?

[stella]

From looking at my children's closets, I have to say that I over-buy dressy clothes. We live in a non-dressy part of the country (West Texas) and all we really need dresses for is church. But I love smocking and pretty little bloomer sets and we just don't wear them very much.

I also am a sucker for casual dresses and those are hardly ever worn - like sunflower fields knit dress and the giraffe club pink/brown striped dress. I don't think they are quite dressy enough for church, but if we don't wear them to church, then when??

But I'm not ready to just throw in the towel and only buy play clothes. Although, if I were, I guess they would all be from gymboree and hanna. I guess that is their niche - super-cute play clothes with a few dressy items.

Anyway, that is where I over-buy. We could do it all with just shorts and pants and tees, but that is not any fun for me! So I continue to buy pretty little girl clothes that don't get nearly the wear they should!

Please make me feel better - what do you buy too much of?

claire

[Samraelanelevi]

Everything? LOL

I overbuy dressy clothes for Levi. He has lots of sweaters and khakis and not enough places to wear them all-or at least not often enough. I think next year I will still buy the sweaters but then pair them with jeans instead. Then maybe buy 2 pairs of khakis for church and other special occasions.

I also over bought pajamas for him. I buy pajamas in advance if I find clearance ones at Gymboree and Carters, but some how he has way too many pajamas in his current size! I need to get better at remembering which sizes I have alerdy purchased.

Now for my 4 year old I would say shoes. She has way too many-all styles and colors. She has some shoes that match only 1 or 2 outfits.
And I would also say that I over bought basic tops for her. She is a girly girl and rarely wears just jeans and a tee, but she has quite a few tops that were bought for everyday wear with jeans-many are still hanging in the closet with tags or only worn once :( Some of it has to do with her style. For instance I bought some leggings outfits on clearance last year and now she refuses to wer leggings so they sit-I might get her to wear them one time on a Sat for lounging around the house.

Fomr now on I tend to only purchase sets. And only the individual tops if they are dirt cheap.

Now for my 6 year old I never seem to over buy. She wears it all. I have a hard time finding cute things for her that make her look like a young girl and not a teenager. Plus she's a bit picky so many of the Gymboree stuff isn't her style any more. She prefers GAP stuff but it's so high priced and by the time it's on sale her sizes are gone :( I do have a few dresses that she only wore a couple times but it's b/c I won't let her wear them to school-they are too good for school, so they only get worn to church and as soon as we get home they are taken off-so maybe they get worn a total of 5 times for about 3 hours each time. I am never sure what to do about church clothes-seems a waste but we need them kwim?

[parkersmama]

Let's see...for Amy Grace I probably overbuy outfits. I don't buy many separates but we have lots of outfits and I tend to choose my favorites over and over and other things just sit there. I do pretty good on dressy things and shoes (not that she doesn't have plenty but they all match several outfits!).

For the boys it's easy: shirts! They each have one or two pairs of khakis or dress pants, a couple of sweatpants, and 4-5 pairs of jeans. But they each probably have 20 shirts!! Most of the shirts get worn but occasionally one gets buried and has to be rediscovered. :) One problem I had this winter is that for some reason the year Parker wore the size that Wesley is now wearing, I only bought stripes and plain shirts. Now Wesley wants shirts with screen prints (ala Gymbo) and didn't have any so I ended up buying more and now we have a lot of size 5 shirts.

[khakismom]

Sweaters, shoes, and hats.

The girls have at least 6 sweaters each and only maybe 3 have been worn. And this doesn't count the cardies! I LOVE sweaters, but it doesn't get cold enough here to wear them all that much. Plus, it's roasting hot at their school, so I would never dress them in sweaters. I am committed to next year buying 1 sweater for Kathleen and none for Ellen (since she already has Kathleen's HMDs).

Shoes--I love shoes. Winter isn't as bad as the summer, but they have way too many shoes. Tennies, play sandals, dress sandals, dressy white shoes, flip flops/beach shoes, cute pink t-straps from Target, and more. Some get hardly worn. I really need to curb this!

And hats, esp. summer hats. This is mainly when the girls were younger, but even at Ellen's age, I love the sun hats and would love to have the matching hat to every outfit. The problem is that I forget they are there and then they wear the outfit without the hat. Then at the end of the season, while packing the clothes away, I see there was a hat that matched that they never wore! x( UGH!

Sometimes I have a problem overbuying the dressy dresses too! Theya re just so cute and gorgeous, and then they either never get worn, or are worn once or twice, or just for pictures.

Good thread Claire! :)

[parkersmama]

Oh, Maureen...I was hoping it would be easier to avoid too many shoes in the summer! Drat! AG has six pairs for winter: bright pink, black patent, navy, brown, white leather Keds, and red. That has been exactly what we needed. There is a pair for every outfit and all of them go with more than one thing. I was thinking for summer we could hopefully go down to 3 or 4: white dress shoes, white sandals, tennies (either white or pink Keds?), and beach shoes. What else will we need?? :)

[lctippins]

Until recently I have overbought dressy dresses, which DD almost never wears. I've decided that from now on I will only buy dressy dresses for specific special occasions, and I'm going to try an wait until a couple of months before that occasion. I also overbought shoes for Fall/Winter. I bought DD 4 pairs of MJs, 2 of which she has worn once and 2 of which she hasn't worn at all! When we go out, I tend to put her in plain white Keds because they go with almost everything.

Lisa - Mom to Kendall 6/6/03

[lctippins]

I, too, was hoping to avoid the too-many-shoes problem this summer, but I keep thinking of more kinds that DD "needs!" I had originally planned to get her white sandals, Teva-type beach shoes, white or pink keds, and leather tennies. I'm already in trouble, though, as I bought the frog tennies from Gymbo's DW line. I also ordered these, in pink, from Garnet Hill:

http://www.garnethill.com/garnet_hill/images/product/324ks05i.jpg

I like that they're a little darker/brighter a pink than other shoes I've seen, as they'll go better with clothes I've already bought. I can't decide whether these could take the place of Keds. Once I've seen them IRL I'll have a better idea.

Lisa - Mom to Kendall 6/6/03

[khakismom]

Denise, you definitely can buy less shoes in the summer--it just that I usually don't! :D

The list you have of summer shoes sounds perfect to me. That really is all you need for the summer, and I am determined to only get these for the girls and not more. I've actually already bought their beach shoes at Target and have picked out the white sandals I want for Kathleen (GapKids). Kathleen may be able to fit in her white dressy shoes from last summer (the white Footmates I usually buy) and I will get a pair for Ellen. All that leaves is sandals for Ellen and tennies for both.

I actually think this summer I will be able to stick to my guns and buy less. I've become super picky for some reason over the past few months and clothing stores have to work harder to get my money! :)

[stella]

and have been eye-ing them in the catalog. Anna may have to have them!

[stella]

well, you will have to have the white thong sandal (with a back - not flip-flop) from Target with the big blue daisy. They are a must-have!! Especially for $10.99.

I must learn how to post pictures.

[parkersmama]

I have been eyeing those, too! I love them! Will you do them with socks or barefoot? Please post a review when they arrive!

[parkersmama]

Thanks for the reassurance, Maureen. The only problem is that my list doesn't give me any room for fun shoes! :) I don't want an all-white summer. LOL!

[Samraelanelevi]

Aren't shoes hard to resist? I bought both girls Gymbo sandals to matcht their swim suits-we need something to wear to the pool right? Then they each need white sandals and normally I get one more pair of sandals-tan or navy. Then you need tennis shoes and normally I end up with a bright colored pair of sandals or tennis (bear feet are great for getting fun colors). And the last thing I buy is water shoes b/c we go camping a lot, boating and swimming at the lake so we like those water tennis shoes that can be worn in and out of water.

For Levi I have 2 pairs of sandals and one pair of beach shoes already boughten. He needs tennis shoes and brown dress shoes. I might even buy him some little hikers b/c I love those for little boys.

But I agree you can do with less if you try hard. You could buy one pair of white sandlas, one pair tennis and one pair of beach shoes.

[tarahsolazy]

Anyone think I would be nuts putting the orange ones on a boy? I have some European boy t-straps (Bartak?) for him that are navy, so not ALL t-straps are girly, right...

[writeleigh]

Tarah, LOL! As soon as I saw the orange shoes I thought, "Oh, I bet Liam can wear those" and then I read your post :D Great minds!

We go out a lot, so Liam does wear his dressier outfits. I am mostly attracted to whole outfits. In the past I discovered this is bad because he does need separates too (like just jeans to go with different tops, etc.) For example, At one point I realized he had no jeans - tops, but no real pants to pair them with. But now I use a roster to make sure I am buying enough separates to fill in here and there.

[lctippins]

I plan to do them both with socks and barefoot, depending on the outfit. They shipped yesterday, so I should be able to post a review in the next few days.

Lisa - Mom to Kendall 6/6/03

[lctippins]

I agree that some t-straps work for boys, but IMO the styling of this pair looks pretty girlie. I don't have a boy, though, so maybe others will feel differently.

Lisa - Mom to Kendall 6/6/03

[lctippins]

Another poster shared this code in another thread. The code is 444 and it's good for 10% off.

Lisa - Mom to Kendall 6/6/03

[ett]

I tend to buy DS too many shirts - especially long sleeved ones. He wears them almost everyday so I always buy ahead if I see them on sale for a good price. (since we're in the northeast and wear long sleeves for like 9 months out of the year). As a result I tend to end up with too many since I lose track of how many I've bought and then I always pick up a couple more during the current season.

[khakismom]

Claire, I saw those! Adorable! Of course, I just realized that I've already broken my little vow. I bought each of the girls the cute pink t-straps (the ones that look like the SR Beatrix shoe) from Target a few days ago. Ah, it's already started...

And Denise, I say break down and get Miss AG a pair of fun colorful shoes so it won't be a white summer! :)

ETA: Here's a pic of the shoes--they are super cute (I borrowed this from the Naartjie loop).

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/20542.jpg

[Samraelanelevi]

We were at Target the other day and saw those white thong style. Delaney asked dh if she could get them. Dh said "no". Well next time I am at Target alone they will just happen to fall into my cart? LOL

[zuzu]

Looking forward to your review! :)
I am going to place an order with them in the next couple of weeks and these are on my list.

Melissa, mom to Sarah (5/03)

[AvasMama]

Everything, of course! According to the clothing roster, Ava has at least 35 outfits for summer *already*. Now, some of them were bought ahead and may not fit and I others I may decide I don't like that much after all, but still! It's not like I won't want to buy more when new lines come out!

I wouldn't say I overbuy dresses, but I used to be guilty of letting them hang in the closet thinking they were "too nice". We have nowhere dressy to go ever, so I decided that was just silly, and now I put her in dresses almost everyday even if we're not leaving the house. I am also trying to buy dresses that have a more casual feel, like the patchwork jumper from J&J's dragonfly line with a tee instead of a collared top or blouse; that sort of thing.

I think shoes are going to be a problem too because I want something to coordinate with every outfit. I don't like to put her in shoes that don't match (I don't mean a separate pair for each outfit, of course!). She already has half-a-dozen pair of Robeez and another 5 or 6 pair for spring. I figure she will wear them everyday to daycare, so she will need several. I also just ordered her a pair of Ecco First Walkers. At $48/pair, that may just curb any overbuying!

Robyn & Ava

[jubilee]

I overbuy basics. Then I want him to look cute and thus half his basics never get worn because... well... they are too basic! This year I'm trying to buy outfits for the most part- and I think even though he'll have less clothes, it will work out to be the same.

[C99]

T-shirts. I can always get good deals on short-sleeved t-shirts, so Nate has a ton of those and only a handful of pants or shorts that I actually like (come on, how many ways can you do navy blue?!?). I already have decided that I cannot buy any more tops for him for the summer, and it's looking like it will soon be that way for the fall/winter. Now if I could just wrap my mind around paying more than $10 for a pair of pants!