Moms who resell ... what to keep for sentimental reason?

[JMS]

Well, I've finally, after 2 1/2 years of accumulating kids' clothes, started the great ebay purge. Mostly I find myself overwhelmed; trying to sort and list in a coherent and money making manner, but tonight, as I tackled DD's earliest clothing, I got teary. Now, it really could just be PMS. But my question is if I should be keeping any of this stuff?? Nothing is very formal and I plan to keep my DC's home from the hospital oufits, but what about the adorable everday things that I loved the most??
Any thought?

[atlcombs]

When I was going through my DDs' clothes, I kept the things that my Mom saved for me and put on my girls. I also kept the outfits that I had their pictures taken in so they might have their childrens' pictures taken too in the very very far future. =) I am also going to save a few of my absolute favorite everyday stuff like a "Mommy's little firecracker" ON onesie because my DD#1 was born on July 4th. Things like that. I have promised myself though that I am not going to save like 6-8 dishpack boxes worth of stuff though. That was a little too crazy! HTH!

~gina

[lizajane]

i have a different situation because my sister is TTC #1. so i am saving everything cute for her. because we have too much stuff, i am consigning the things that aren't either a favorite of a must have staple.

try this- go through everything and make a big give away pile, a big sell pile and a big save pile. take care of the give away and sell stuff. then go back in a few months to the save pile and try again. you might find yourself wondering why you saved a few of the things in that pile, and then you can get rid of more. the stuff that you think "of COURSE i NEED to save this!" should be saved for grandchildren!!

[MayB]

Other than a Christening gown and a few hand knit items, I'm not saving anything with the idea that my granchildren may wear it some day. I had a few outfits like that from my MIL and mother and they were kind of awful after 20 odd years in storage. However, for both of my children, I saved a dozen or so of my favorite outfits from their first two years with the idea of having a memory quilt made someday for them. I read about it on the boards but don't remember the name of the person who does them. Another idea I liked was to take their home from the hospital outfits and put them in shadow boxes to display. Haven't tried that one yet, either. At the rate I'm going, my kids will be off to college before I have anything done.

[mspersnickity]

I think whittling down the "must save" pile in stages is a great strategy. My daughter is only 11 months, but I've started doing something similar. Our house is small and our basement is damp, so saving everything is simply not an option. I have a pile to sell (which needs to be further separated into garage sale and Ebay piles) and a pile I'd like to keep for her. I've also started a third pile with items to make a quilt.

I'm trying to limit what I keep for her to 1 or 2 outfits a year (I so wish my mom had kept some of my baby clothes, so I'm determined to do this for her, a cedar chest is ready and waiting). For the quilt I'm setting aside clothes with a memorable print or applique that are otherwise not in great condition or were really inexpensive to begin with. I couldn't bring myself to cut up my very favorite outfits, but I'm hopeful that over the next few years we'll accumulate enough patches for at least a lap quilt.

[hardysmom]

I have a big Rubbermaid box which is for stuff being saved for my 4 yr old DS and 2 yr old twns-- my rule is that everything has to fit so when I want to save something new, something has to go.

I found that a lot of stuff I HAD to keep at the time it was outgrown, doesn't seem so fabulous/nostalgic a couple of years later, kwim? So, every season, I go through the box and cull a few things to make room for this years special items.

Personally, besides obvious things like the coming home outfits, I have found the things I love the most aren't really the dressy picture-outfit type of things, but rather the pjs or overalls they wore all the time and remind me of that particular stage.

Stephanie

[megs4413]

i got myself a really good rubbermaid tub and have sworn that i will not keep anything more than what fits in that one box. you'll have to make some tough decisions, but i think it will be worthwhile...and remember you have to leave some room in the tub becuase you'll undoubtedly find more things you'll want to save as your DC get older...

[spanannie]

I'm keeping everything that either I would want a potential 3rd child to wear or things that are really special, couldn't be bought again, make me sentimental, etc. I have narrowed that down to two large boxes for my son's 4 years. DD is in one box, so far and she's two. As soon as I figure out whether or not to have DC #3, then I would sell what I wouldn't need to use for the opposite gender, and still keep the sentimental stuff. When all is said and done, I will take the sentimental stuff or favorite outfits and have quilts made for all of the children. I will, of course, keep the coming home outfits in one piece, or other really special things, and store them in a special box. I also keep everything that was handmade by my Grandmother.

[funda62]

This is what I have done for my older DD. Even things that I saved "in case of another girl" have often gone straight to the donate pile once I dig them out for DD2. They just don't seem as special anymore.

I kept things that I made for her or she had a special photograph made in. Its all in a rubbermaid box.

For DD2 I think I will hold onto a lot less as I have seen that it just isn't worth it. As much as I wish she was still a newborn in my arms, all the clothing in the world isn't going to make it happen.

I saw a home makeover show were they took one saved everyday outfit and framed it in a shadow box. It was sweet and pretty and mom got to remince over that.