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brightning
member
What items do you save for a future child?
brightning
member
I've saved pretty much all of DD's clothes and toys (nothing stained or too worn). As I was putting away the box of 2Ts today, I'm kind of wondering if it's worth it. If/when we have another baby, these things will be at least 4 yrs old. Assuming the child is the same sex/season/size as Dana - and there's a good chance none of those will happen - will I really want to dress my baby in 4 yr old clothes? Won't I want to shop for new things? Won't there be fun new toys to buy then?
Also, having baby fever and going through your child's old clothes and toys is not conducive to waiting!
What do you save, if you're not sure you're done yet?
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Re: What items do you save for a future child?
I saved everything and plan to keep saving everything until we're done having kids. I have bought a few new clothes for DD2, and we've received some new stuffed animals and blankets as gifts, but I wouldn't want to have to buy all new things. My girls were born in different seasons, but it's actually worked out well since DD1 was always so small for her age and was wearing 3-6 month clothes her entire first summer -- the same size DD2 is ready to wear now. Of course, if she had been a boy, it'd be a different story.
I saved a good amount of M's stuff, and they are only 1 year apart. BUT you are right, the seasons are completely off, and you DO want to buy new things! Hardly any of Syd's clothes are from Madi... mainly because of season.
I am PRETTY sure we are done having babies, but I still save my very favorite things just in case. Or for my sisters. If a couple years go buy I will just sell them.
I saved everything but my kids are only 22 months apart. I have 2 girls born around the same time of year but I still got the little one new stuff. She is a little bigger than DD#1 so I'll be buying her all new clothes for fall anyway. This sounds silly but I pick stuff to fit their personalities and they both have a different style.
I think in 4 years a lot of clothes will be outdated, I would just keep your absolute favorites. I was amazed at how much cool gear came out in the short time between my kids! I can't imagine what great stuff is out now!
I saved pretty much everything and am packing almost all of it away again in case we have a third. DD1 was born in January and DD2 was born in March, so there's a good bit of overlap in sizes/seasons. Plus, we have a lot of gender-neutral stuff if we ever have a boy.
However, I am a lot more ruthless about weeding stuff out this time if I don't really like it or it seems a bit too worn. I have so much stuff saved that I don't need to buy a thing for DD2, but it's nice to splurge a little on clothes or toys for her every once in awhile -- and it's also nice to know that I don't *have* to.
Our clothes and toys are only two years old, though, and we've got plenty of storage space. We also saved all the biggies like bouncer, jumperoo, swing, etc. I'll only sell that stuff when we know for sure that we're done.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
Initially, I saved pretty much everything, because we knew we would have another baby. My kids are almost exactly 4 years apart and different genders, but I did manage to reuse quite a bit. I also felt compelled to reuse as much as I could because I quit teaching the summer DS was born and DH took a different, lower-paying job.
I reused almost all the baby care supplies, even though they were 4 years old.
I reused many infant clothes such as onesies, sleepers, etc. But ... people gave me a TON of hand-me-downs for DS, far more than I'd gotten for DD.
I got new bedding for DS, even though DD's was pretty neutral. I wound up not liking the bedding I got for DD. I selected a few new items for DS's room like curtains, bumper (this was before bumpers were a no-no), changing table pad, etc.
Here's how I handle clothes -- over the years, I have set aside many of DD's pjs that aren't too girly, t-shirts, and socks. I actually encourage DD to pick boy pjs if she likes a pair we're looking at, because I know DS will be able to wear them later. DS is bigger than she was, by about a size, but I have been able to reuse lots of t-shirts. I happen to have a DD who is not particularly into "girly" clothes, so I have been able to reuse a lot of her neutral stuff. It's only within the past year that her clothing tastes have turned more "tween" and she's been less into funny t-shirts and more into cute tops.
I save all the toys, even though I have different gender kids. First of all, I try to avoid buying toys that are overly "pink" or overly "blue." When it's all said and done, both my kids play with everything. DS likes playing with the dollhouse family just as much as DD likes the matchbox cars. Honestly, when they play together (which is a lot at this age) they usually make a fort or play pretend, and toys are in the background as props, not the center of things.
I think about you and this decision often when I'm on this board, because I was in a similar place -- although we knew we were going to have a 2nd kid. Even knowing, it was daunting to go back to the baby thing once DD was an indepenent 3 year old! However, I will tell you that I've never regretted having my kids 4 years apart. In fact, as I've seen other friends struggle with kids 2 years apart, I've been increasingly glad about my family structure. It means you have all that glorious one-on-one time with the 2nd kid too!
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO