For those, like me, who do well with steps written down: Step 1- wash all the kids' clothes so you have ~99% of their clothes on hand Step 2- Pick 5 tops and 5 bottoms to keep Step 3- Put the rest of the clothes away in a bin or similar so you can see how the kids do with the limited wardrobe Step 4- try it out for a week and adjust as needed. Step 5- Donate, gift, or let go of what they don't use/notice are gone. Allow for personal tastes and weather.

I could cry because this is so helpful! I can’t even begin to tell you how UP TO MY NOSE in clothes I am right now because of my kids! Thank you thank you!!

One thing I used the “extra” clothes for is to keep in the car or backpack for when we are out and have spills or accidents.

Thank you for this! i never realized how MANY clothes my kids have! Loving grandparents tend to overbuy and they’re always giving stuff.

Did a super quick clear out by picking 8 pairs of clothes for each kid and it’s unbelievable how many clothes they don’t wear. I have put them out of sight n hope to not buy more than 8 pairs henceforth! Just sorting them out made me feel so stress free!! Amazing idea!

I love this! But I do want to caution: We ALL had the stomach flu one year - used up lots of sheets, crib sheets, towels (catching vomit while holding a baby or small child), and clothes. We have 2 towels/wash cloths, fitted sheets/sheets, blankets, per person. I keep extra kitchen towels since those are smaller for an emergency. And we have the dog's towels in case we all get the flu again. I'm sharing this just to remind anyone who is gung-ho about minimizing, to remember that you might not be up to doing a load a day every once in awhile. I really love your idea, Dawn, of keeping the extras in a bin for awhile. I think I will do this with extra outfits, kitchen towels and crib sheets for an emergency instead of in closets. I also keep a change of clothes in the car for my kids. Sometimes they have become a bit small, but with kids who get car sick, I am so glad I have an extra outfit!

Having less clothing items also cuts down on decision fatigue which helps to de-stress the day. I have been taking this approach to the kids wardrobes for awhile now, and with 6 kids, let me tell ya, it helps big time. Thanks for putting this video out.

Thanks for these tips! Just decluttering our clothes... We have 3 kids and 2 adults..living in country that also has summer, fall, winter and spring.. The amount of clothes and shoes is unbelieveble!!!!! 😱😪🙈 All the laundry(and being aware of everyones clothes and shoes...) is my work, and most of the time i want to cry with this crazyness! 🙈I'm not able to do only 5 pieces-thing, but even little bit less things to handle all the time is great... 😂🙈 Thank you so mutch of these tips! ❤️

I just used this method on my own clothes drawers and WOW! I have never thinned out my wardrobe so quick before. Focusing on what you have not on what you are saying “no” to was key. At the end of about 10 minutes I feel thankful for what I have not guilty for how much stuff I no longer want.

Love this method! My gosh, we could do 30 tops and bottoms and it would pare things down lol. I barely buy the kids clothes but with grandparents on both sides, great grandma and a friend who passes clothes on to me plus 3 girls so clothes are constantly being passed down...the clothes are out of control!

I’ve been feeling up to my ears in clutter since our 4th child was born 6 months ago. I just found you and I’m currently binge watching your channel! Thanks so much. I’m ready to start paring down. :)

Hi, Dawn! You have become my new coping mechanism. Shopping was (and I slip up here and there). I've been watching you for a while now, and I decided to scroll all the way back and start at your oldest video! I look forward to starting from the "beginning" 🙂

My kid wants to wear the same thing everyday anyway lol. Thanks for the video!

Love the idea of creating a minimalist wardrobe! And 100% agree that less clothes = less laundry!!

❤️it!! So simple, done! I do something similar with packing. I tell my 4 kids to pack 5 shirts, 3 pants, 5 socks & underwear and 1 church outfit when we go from Houston to visit my brother's family each winter. I just check their backpacks and if there is something that won't work, I'll switch it out. Easy, done. They sleep in their clothes so no PJs.

I am officially on laundry-strike. I can't take it anymore. The laundry is overwhelming and NEVER done. This weekend I'm purging everything and following your advice. Put some things I'm on the fence about in a separate bin...and if we don't need it, off to donation. If I hear one more time the laundry isn't done (because it all falls on me...) I'm gonna quit! LOL

Dawn, thank you! I just stopped the video at 5:39 and cried!!! We have five children and people have been so generous to us and our children that we could clothe a small country. I have been overwhelmed with children's clothes since 2011, I and my kids don't know what to do. I will start to find their five favorites and box up EVERYTHING else. Thanks so very much!

YESSSS! When we moved, a few months ago, after having moved 9 months before that - I had a HUGE paradigm shift!! And it was exactly what you said: focus on what you want to KEEP rather than going through everything!

This was soooo helpful!! We have a hurricane passing right now (literally) so my wife and I decided to tackle all of our family’s clothes. We’re a family of 6 and while we do still have some clothes to be washed and sorted we managed to gather everything available and fill 3 bags for giveaway, throw out one bag full, and “hold” one basket for all of us. Most likely they’ll be given away in a month or so. The craziest thing is the time it took. We’ve been dreading going through the clothes for years! Once we got everyone’s clothes into a pile for each person, it only took 90 minutes to go through them all. 20 minutes to get everything put away afterwards. Under 2 hours for something we have put off for so long! Thank you for this video!

So so helpful! How come I haven't come across your channel before?! Binge watching your videos now. ☺

You're from Minnesota! I am too! That just made me love you even more! I just found your channel an hour ago and knew from your first video I watched that I was gonna love your channel and videos! Now that I know you're also from MN, I just feel like it was ment to be for me to start my minimalist mom journey! Thank you so much❤️

Loved your method! I've been struggling with paring down my toddler's wardrobe, and now I feel like I can definitely do it! Thanks for sharing!

I keep coming back every season to this video ❤

Can I just say that I LOVED you just throwing clothes into the other bin instead of folding it all. You are my hero.

I always love seeing that pallet coffee table. We made some pallet furniture as well, just love it.

LOVE this tip! Thank you so much for sharing! We have 4 children and this is our biggest struggle with attempting to minimize stuff.

I have found that having a small wardrobe is possible now that I have a tiny washer/ spinner. It’s just 2 feet tall and fits all three outfits that I and my husband and daughter wear each day. We used to have to go to the laundry mat every 1-2 weeks, and this little machine saves us so much time! It helped me not have a load of laundry to put away at the end of the day running errands, which usually sat there for the week because I was then tired. I now have just a few items to put away quickly!! It also gave me the freedom to buy more pink and brights for my young daughter and know they wouldn’t loose their brightness by being washed with my clothes. Now that she is older, she wears more neutral colors and dark shades like my husband and I do, which makes laundry even easier because I don’t have to sort through it, except to separate the stinky stuff for hot water. I have found I like her matching us, because I’m a photographer and it is just more pleasing to the eye to have that monochrome look in photos I take of us regularly. She still wears some bright accents and accessories, but overall the neutral look is quite classy as she gets older.

Thank you for breaking this down into just one step of a huge process! That is half the reason I don't go through the kids' clothes often enough. Once I get going, I end up spending 90 minutes completely redoing ALLL the clothes, including the stuff in storage! What else has helped me is to have bins in their closets labeled "too large" "off season" "too small" and "donate" and put items in there constantly. Like, I notice a set of pjs is too small, so once it's clean again I (try to) remember to put it in the appropriate bin. I also need to make a bin for stained clothes in the rare case they need scrubby clothes (we had friends once who had a mud pit for the kids in the backyard!)

I absolutely love this idea!! I thought I’d try it for myself and bump it up to 7. I totally failed. It was so hard to only choose 7... partially because I just got all these hand-me down maternity clothes and I don’t know what I’ll actually wear most yet and partially because we have all these drawers so instead of putting the rest in a bin I just used a drawer... which I can access too easily. I also have work clothes and nicer tops which I’ll wear out so it was too hard to narrow those down. Maybe I need to pretend I’m packing for a trip.

YOU ARE AMAZING! I just tried your kids minimal clothing method - starting with 5 pieces of each type. We had so much more and I'm so happy you shared this tip!

I have always felt like more is better but I am always overwhelmed. Watching channels like yours and clutterbug have showed me less is better. Less to think about. Less to keep track of. Less laundry. I love it. When I buy my kids their summer wardrobe I will be keeping this in mind. Thank you.

Thank you for being so open and honest and relatable. I don't think you're a bad person, in fact I actually highly respect you. In turn- I don't need to feel so bad about myself for needing to make these changes.

Love this! I'm like you in terms of "kids fashion" and with 3 young kids. The rule of 5 is a great one, thank you! X x x

Such a great way to sort out clothes! I'll definitley try it out today. Thanks so much for sharing. I've discovered your channel recently and really enjoying it.

I used to get lot of "like new" clothing at thrift shops and yard sales for .50 cents. Between stuff that fit from the previous year, hand me downs and yard sales we had 45 summer shirts for my 5 year old one summer😳 although that is not the case now, still way too many clothes at our house. I love your method of picking out your favs instead of going through each piece deciding how much it is liked. LOVE YOU and your tips. It is doable for someone who hates all aspects of housework.😊

I just did this about a week ago, and so far it's been AWESOME! It also helps young kids to pick their own clothes, especially if you make sure everything "goes" together. Game changer. Thank you so much!

Just found your channel today and I'm loving it. I recently started to go through my kids clothes. What I ended up doing is going to their closet on laundry day since I know that all their favorites are currently in the laundry basket. Then I take several items that I haven't seen them wear. This will be something that I will continue to do at least every month going forward.

I LOVE this. I am going to give it a try! Limiting, not necessarily getting rid of. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing. You’re so relatable and honest.

Great tips! I feel this completely applies to our lives, that feeling that we might need the clothes and have to repurchase them. This is super inspiring!

I finally found the answer to my problem!!! This makes total sense. Thank you so much for sharing!!! This is awesome!!!

it helps so much to downsize/ minimalize on clothes- it helps so so so much! Big thank you 💜

I've been watching tons of you the last couple of days. My six year old daughter and I tackled her dresser. Still need to do her dresses but she was so excited. We filled up a hole hamper full to get rid of and another hamper to hand down. Mom of 6 going on 7 so I still have a ways to go. I've been working on this "onion" for awhile. you are supper motivating me. thanks.

I saw this over a year ago and have tried it here in Oklahoma-- the land with four seasons in one week-- and the only hiccough I run into is planning appropriately for the wild swings. But other than that, I am so happy for the suggestion I can just keep a minimal wardrobe and manage through washing regularly. 👍🏻👍🏻 Two thumbs way up and thank you for making this video 😁

This is why I love that my children have a school uniform. Minimal clothes as they only have two outfits Monday to Friday (uniform and clothes to change into when they come home from school). With a couple of outfits at the weekend. I also don’t get this American system of laundry. We have laundry baskets on the landing, my children have been raised to put dirty clothes into the baskets. They are washed once a week, I hang the laundry (inside during winter in a clothes airer, outside on a washing line in the summer - minimal appliances, I don’t own a tumble dryer), once the clothes are dry, I fold them one item at a time as I take them off the washing line, put them into put them into my clean washing basket to transport them upstairs when they are put straight away. Having clothes scattered all over the house is such a bizzare thing, teach your children to put their dirty clothes into the washing basket - it isn’t difficult. Fold your clothes as you take them out of the dryer, it takes 5 minutes max.

Just did this!!!!!! So liberating. I can't wait to see if it works for us! Thank you! I would never have thought of decluttering this way.

Literally the most helpful video for a mom of (also) four kids that is drowning in all her family’s clothes!! You are a Godsend!! ❤🙌🏻♥️

Thank you! I receive so many bags of clothes from relatives it is overwhelming.

I almost never comment on youtube, but I have to say I love the realistic, simple, and - can I say NORMAL? - approach you have to simplifying your life. I am also somebody who is not naturally neat and organized, and I can relate to the idea of simplifying in order to have less to tidy and clean! I have read a bit of other minimalist lifestyle gurus, but have always felt intimidated, or just out of their league somehow. We also have 4 kids, aged 8-16, but we live in a small house in an urban center, so it feels crazy and stressful, and I nearly cried when you pointed out that we find ourselves snapping at everybody because of all of the stuff everywhere: that is where I have been, and regretted it, so many times. Thanks, your videos have helped me feel like I can do this, and that I am doing it for peace and love.

Pulled up this video once again to help motivate me to get my kids clothes thinned out. Thanks for helping me to simplify my home!!!

This is the first video of yours I stumbled upon and something just clicked! Please, please, please post more about during the journey. I feel like I’ve been purging for years 🤣 need motivation to make it to the end 🙈

Great tip! My 6 year old daughter & twin 2 1/2 year old loves many dresses lol. So I’ll definitely be trying something like this! Adorable kids! 💜 thx for sharing.

This is perfect just what I was looking for I’ll be doing this ASAP for all my kids thanks so much I’ve watched so many videos but honestly this was the MOST helpful

Love this! Thanks for sharing! Def going to implement this!

I am pregnant and have been avoiding dealing with my wardrobe this has definitely given me direction on how to do it, in the least stressful way possible. Thank you.

Oh my gosh-----I may have to do this to MY clothes!!! Great idea.

This video changed my life (and my family's)!!! And now I am making my own KZfaq channel thanks to you and Mrs. Midwest!!

Love the idea about storing items instead of tossing immediately!

Dawn, I really like your videos and the strategies you share are so helpful!! Thank you so much!!

Love the "requirements" system. So calming. Just subscribed. You won me over.

Just set up a Simplified bin system for my son. After picking the favorites, it was so easy and stress free to throw the rest in a bin. Taking away the mental hassle of if I should keep this or not was life changing! Thank you for sharing!!

Such great advice! I am now so excited to try it, thank you!

Ahhh, this popped up as a suggestion and Oh! Look at you Dawn 😍 So sweet to see the children all looking little 🤗 I only wish I’d found you and ITWCBF back then x I love Better Together and am so looking forward to the Take Your House Back course in the New Year 🥂🍾🥳

Thank you so much for talking at a reasonable pace and with clarity and confidence. Normally I'm very annoyed by the poor communication in KZfaq videos and can't finish them but yours was excellent, both the content and the delivery. 👍

Yes, this is great! My kids benefit so much from less clothing. They have fewer choices so it makes it easier to get dressed in the morning for school and putting away laundry is much quicker.

I’ll have to incorporate that system! 5 tops 5 bottoms! 😍

Love this idea! Want to do this for my own closet!

New to your channel, but loving all of your videos! Mom of 4 here too, so I am all ears to your suggestions and tips. Planning on streaming your videos while I declutter to help keep me motivated, as it does seem overwhelming. Many thanks for the great content and suggestions!! :)

I just found you a few weeks ago--this video is saving my life! Thank you!!

Literally spent two days doing this with my children trying to make tails ends to the madness I have three girls 6/7/7 years old and I just finished today and thought wow maybe I should tackle my wardrobe.... found your video and literally was EVERYTHING I did! 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m sooooooooooo upset i didn’t find your video before the madness began two awful days ago! It would have saved me a piercing headache, overdosing on caffeine and a very bad back 😫😭😭😭😭 !! At least your video has felt me feel validated i did it right thank you 🙏🏽 🙏🏽🥰

Love this! I have followed your past system on storing clothes for future sizes..clothes have started piling up! Cleaning out today! It's always nice getting helpful hints and a boost to get it down!! My hope is to get back to our minimal-ish house before baby number 4!

I agree with you, a good strategy for baby clothes, especially who has more children and a small house. Smaller things = easier life. I love your videos, big regards from Daniela 💞

Ohmygosh... literally life-changing! This makes so much more sense than anything I've ever heard about kids clothes! (Also, no one says anything about kids wearing the same thing because even if they have a ton, they'll wear the same things anyway. We all do but few of us realize that.) I have loved discovering this channel the last couple days! Thank you!💛

Thanks for informing us of your state. I'm in MN also and most minimal videos are for warm weather places...this is helpful

Thank u so much for taking your time to help ppl like me I’ve been binge watching your videos it has helped me so much just thank u

Ha!! I felt relief just watching this video. Been putting off going through my kids clothes... I'm going to try this stat!

Thank you for this! I'm always glad I watched your content.

Thank you so much great tips. I have a nice capsule warderobe for myself take me years to achieve! Lol. But for my kids i am struggling espacially for my girl i receive sooo much (mostly seconde hand) i already give back half of it but she has soooo much stuff

We live in Queensland, Australia and I have found the style of shirt for my young ones that is the best are those shirts that look like a t-shirt but have different coloured long sleeves attached. In winter it provides enough warmth for the arms if needed without being too hot but you can also throw a jumper ( jacket) over the top if it gets cold. The BEST thing about these shirts is, come summer you simply cut the extra sleeve section off from just below the seam and you have all your summer t-shirts. No sewing required!

Hi! Minnesota mama here too! The ideas in this video are fantastic! With 6 kids, the amount of clothes and laundry is so overwhelming. I'd never thought to minimize their clothing this way, and there's something comforting about knowing there's a bin in the closet with extras just in case. Your videos are the most practical and helpful of any I've watched regarding minimalism for families. Thanks so much for sharing your great ideas! I'd love to see how you handle household paperwork.

I have 4 boys - 8 - 17 and I am sooo doing this!!! Thank you!!!

This was a great help. I try to make sure all the tops and bottoms match. If they don’t have a match then they won’t ever get worn. That goes for my clothes too.

So smart! I was just trying to cut back on clothes, but worry about the "what ifs". I have an entire trash bag of 9-12mth clothes. It's overwhelming, but couldn't decide how to simplify. Thank you 😊

This is such a great idea. I don’t have kids and I have a limited wardrobe but I fricken love how simple this is. I’m gonna do this for the fall / winter season.

👋Hello, I'm also from MN. Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks!

What about seasonal gear? Rain coats etc. I just got our daughter a capsule wardrobe where almost everything is interchangeable. And it's so fun picking out her clothes! And now I don't need to worry about my husband choosing her outfits ;)

Hello! This is BRILLIANT. Just did the laundry, and I’m totally implementing this tomorrow. Thanks!! I just cut my own wardrobe down to

I love this idea. One thing I was thinking is that it likely makes the most sense that I would keep what comes out of the clean laundry, rather than the stuff still in the drawers, at the end of a wash cycle. Because I most likely am pulling from the same favorites from week to week.

I love this video. I found it so helpful. Thank you for explaining that so nicely. Your kids are so cute.

The idea of having a box for the discarded stuff is great. It happens a lot that I throw something away that the kids love. This sorts it out. Thanks!

Thank you!! Brilliant and useful information that makes it not overwhelming. 💕

I'm just seeing this after finding your laundry video. No kids, but this is genius to use for myself. I'm one who has far too many "everyday" clothes for around the house - especially tees.

Wow. Easy breezy. Love it!

Thsnks so much for this. Will be doing this with mine and my kids clothes from now on. Way simpler.

Great ideas as always. I. Love. You. You save me SO MUCH sanity. Things I never would have thought of myself in ALL categories. THANK YOU!

I updated my wardrobe with some new clothes not long ago and I've barely worn any of my other clothes since, I think I know what I'll be doing sometime this weekend :)

I did this exact method when my kids were younger. They grew up with an independent spirit and great fashion sense. My youngest had a maximalist friend who rarely wore an item twice that commented on her repeats, but otherwise it was fine. The kids are now 27, 25 and 21 and are terrific adults. I’m so glad I raised them this way. No one heard of minimalism back then. I was just being frugal 😂

Another fellow KZfaq mama in Minnesota!! So fun. I have been doing similar things of simplifying and decluttering in our life too. It makes things so much easier.

I was thinking the similar way so thanks for letting me know im not alone I thought of only Summer shirts but good idea for the sweaters and long sleeves. My plan was to have two pairs of pants and five shirts for one week and repeat for a second week and those would be the school clothes takes the guesswork out of what they're going to wear for Monday through Friday. Then when they get home have one pair of everyday pants maybe two in case they get dirty and a couple of shirts that they can change into after school for outdoor play or messy art. At least two outfits for church. I like your idea because it incorporates layering as the weather gets colder so they could repeat one week instead of two. The plan was also if the school shirts were getting to small or worn out like to put it in the everyday after school clothes and weekend clothing and replace the old with the new and then of course toss one of the play shirts I babysat for a child whose wardrobe was rampacked in a small closet and she was always wearing the same kind of pants because they were comfortable and the same kind of shirts but her mom kept buying she outgrew many of them which still had price tags on them and I thought wow what a waste of money and time to wash as well as time to argue with the child of what they're going to wear

The kids clothing trick has literally saved my life. For the first time my daughter was able to pick her clothes out herself!