T'Mahk Too - Comments on Nothing to say but that's okay

By Kerri

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 22:18:21 -0500

I still have a few weeks before I have to do the "switch", though some mornings kids are scrambling to find the sweatshirt we left out from the last switch.

And *I* ,for one, enjoy any pics you share--so why doncha post a few. :)

By Rosanne

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:38:34 -0500

Ah, yes...the Great Seasonal Clothing Switch...such joy.

I have only one tote of off-season clothes per boy...

but zillions of boxes of off-size clothes in the basement. :-/

By Erin

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:12:20 -0500

We did the Great Seasonal Clothing swap this weekend too. So overwhelming. Not only with all the old clothes everywhere, but overwhelmed with all the new clothes we are going to have to buy because things don't fit anymore!

By Erin

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:12:29 -0500

By Shari

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:15:43 -0500

I always want to live where there are seasons- until I read something like this. ;-) I hope you're having fun doing it. Sometimes I like tasks like this, kind of like forced organization and looking forward to something different.

By karen

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:07:05 -0500

Aaackk! I haven't even thought of the Great Seasonal Clothing swap yet! I'm already behind!!! Of course, my usual swap takes place when the children are begging for long sleeves.

By Barbie

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:38:32 -0500

I never do the seasonal swap. Of course, this results in children running around in shorts and tshirts, complaining that it is cold in the house in January. Hmmm...Perhaps I should rethink this?

By Theresa

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:33:30 -0500

My method is just to buy all-season clothes and LAYER, LAYER, LAYER!!! (My mother says I'm just lazy!)

My mother, however, (who has 3, yes 3, closets for her clothes) insists on doing the seasonal clothes packing and toting!! (Actually, the WonderHusband does the toting, up and down the basement stairs!)

By Peggy

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:43:02 -0500

Oh, how the kids LOVE the Great Swap. It's like Christmas! Of course, it's a full-day event, with the organization before and laundry after, and the fashion show all during. And ours isn't in the living room, it's the whole house! Each child has their own "dressing room" and sorts in there. Having four girls but only one boy, david is usually exempt from the Great Swap. He always wears the same thing - T shirts and jeans - no matter what the weather. He adds a hoodie in spring and fall and a jacket in the winter (although we haven't needed our jackets since moving to the south at ALL.) Each child here has two totes. One "NOW," one "SOON." "NOW" is full of clothes they can wear now (yes, a wordsmith I am with the labelmaker,) the right size regardless of season. Soon is full of clothes that will be the right size for them eventually. The only things they may keep in their totes are the clothes they truly love. If big sister passes down something little sister doesn't like, she passes it down and down and down until someone grabs it. If no one grabs it, it goes to Goodwill. The same one-in-one-out rule applies to our totes as does to our closets. If you grab something new, something old goes. They have room for five play outfits, one church outfit, one extra-grungy and two PJs. Everything else goes in the totes. The totes' lids have to snap shut. Everything else goes to Goodwill. We're particularly blessed that the garage where the totes live is one door from the girls' basement bedroom! They are NOT allowed to get into the totes unsupervised, but if something rips or becomes unwearable, getting out a new outfit doesn't require a trip to the attic. Although I would dearly love to live in a place where the Grand Seasonal Clothing Swap is done on Memorial and Labor Day weekends, it never quite turns out that way. Here it is, the end of September, and our weather is still in the 90's. As I pass the totes in the garage, I lovingly look at all the "SOON" labels staring at me and thinking, "Yes, please!"

By Julie

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:25:05 -0500

I hear ya!! I dread this time of year! We have a mountain of totes downstairs too. I don't keep them sorted per child either. I don't even sort them according to boy, girl, mom or dad. I just throw everyone's winter together in the tote and label it winter or summer.

I would love to see pictures of your liitle boys in floaties and cowboy boots!

By Polly

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:50:18 -0500

ugh. I so relate. We have the same insanity....in MISSISSIPPI of all places! Every spring and fall, I have guilt that I KNOW in my heart I should be grateful for this provision from the Lord in my attic. I AM grateful....but I DESPISE the GCS!!!

We should own stock in the *tote* companies!!

By Dawn Penguin

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:22:01 -0500

I never used to do a swap. Even when we lived in NY, I don't recall ever doing a swap (everything was available all the time)... but then, I have only one brother and no sisters, so the clothing quantity wasn't as great as it is with five children, either. Nevertheless. The only reason I do any sort of swap NOW is due to space issues. And even then, I don't really "swap" because we all like wearing short sleeves sometimes even in winter (after all, we live in the South)... so it's more just adding in than swapping...