Taking inventory of the kids' clothing

Now that fall is just around the corner (hooray!) it's time to take inventory of the kids' clothing.  I now have a system for this.  This morning I made a chart- with their names on the left-hand side and the following categories along the top:

dresses (girls)
skirts (girls) church pants (boys)
pants
tights/leggings (girls)
long-sleeved shirts
dress shirts for church (boys)
short-sleeved shirts
socks
underwear
shoes/boots
PJs

Then, one child at a time (that is important), we emptied drawers and tried on a bunch of stuff and made decisions.  If it was too small we decided whether or not it could be handed down.  Otherwise, it went into the consignment bin or the Goodwill bin.  Some of Ella's dresses that she's outgrown are now sitting on my sewing table where I'll cut off the top, sew up a casing for elastic and ta-da!- she'll have a skirt!

While they were trying everything on I also made notes of their sizes and- for the things that fit especially well- brand names.  (For instance, Ella is super slim and jeans are hard to find for her.  She has a pair that she loves so we'll just hunt for those again.)

Now I can take my list with me when we're at the consignment store, thrift store, or the mall (Target, Old Navy) and I know what we need!