How I get more use out of my kid’s winter clothes

I realize this would have been more helpful earlier in the year, but it’s one of those things that keeps getting pushed to the back burner. Plus I wanted to make sure we actually used these so it could be an honest report. This is how I get more use out of my kid’s winter clothes. 

We like to donate our clothes and old belongings. I have sold things through Facebook yard sales and craig’s list from time to time but small items I won’t get much for, I’d rather donate and give to programs that help those in need. In Utah we went to the DI (or Deseret Industries) now that we are in Alabama, we use United Veterans. We are fortunate to have what we need for our kids and then some and I hope to pass on some of that blessing to others. I also have hoarder tendencies. I’ve been that way since I was little and so I try really hard to keep those in check and clear things out frequently so I don’t hold on to things for way too long.

That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to make sure we get our full use out of it first.

We are done having kids. We have a boy and a girl so there aren’t a ton of hand me down options. With that in mind and knowing how my son is growing like a weed, he will more than likely not fit in this size of shirts this fall/winter. A lot of his long sleeve shirts had false long sleeves.

I decided to just cut those off. I just folded over the sleeve and cut a slit to start in on the long sleeve.

Then I carefully cut close to the seam without cutting the seam and leaving a hole.

It was quick and left me with a short sleeve shirt.

Even without a fake long sleeve on the bottom, I could have easily cut short sleeves and hemmed the seam. This was the lazy and quick way to get it done without any extra work.

I also did this on a couple of his nicer button up shirts. He didn’t wear them a lot in the winter because they were dressier. Cut off the sleeves and it makes it a much more casual look.

He recently wore these when we took some pictures for his sister’s first birthday and got a few fun shots of him.

We were at Toy’s R Us one day and saw this couple with an adorable little boy who was about a year old. This family was super trendy and decked out! The dad stopped me and asked where Reece got his shirt because he loved it so much! I was flattered and he was shocked when I told him it was from Walmart and I just cut off the sleeves!

Reece gets a ton of use out of these things. They are perfect play shirts. It was nice to have a few items to start him off in the warm weather without having to get a new wardrobe since his clothes from the summer before were very small on him! Pants are a different story for him though. I would have made some shorts out of his pants but he has slimmed down a ton in his belly, he is not at all chunky like he used to be so the next size up will probably fall off of him so I wanted to keep the pants. I can tell I took these pictures a while ago because our table isn’t painted yet!

I’m a big fan of getting creative and reusing things to get your money worth before replacing. I also love shopping clearance and end of season sales. What are some of the things you do to extend the use of your stuff and save money as you outgrow and need to replace things?