As soon as you welcome your newborn, clothes and toys start raining from everywhere. Over the months, as your little munchkin finds it difficult to fit in your arms, so does the huge pile of his old clothes. The myriads of outgrown clothes flowing down your cupboard need thoughtful management.
Many of these clothes are barely used and are completely fit for reuse. Here are a few ways which will help you in making the best use of such clothes.
1. Donate
The best place for these clothes should be in the hands of those in need. This little step from your side will positively affect the lives of many other children. You could personally go and hand them over to the underprivileged kids and their families. Alternatively, you could also donate to organizations that take care of such children. You could even hand it over to some new little member in your own family as well.
2. Reuse as rags
For clothes that are stained, worn out and have no hopes for a good reuse, one could use them as rags. Dusting, cleaning, wiping off spilled liquids, soaking excess paint from brushes while painting. There are many such activities that need rags, especially in the homes that have a growing child. You could save up on many bucks spent in buying new mop cloths, sponges and tissues.
3. Patched Quilts
Keeping kids on beds and floors needs special arrangements. They wet the bed, spill food and liquids on it. Homemade quilts, made by patching together many pieces of old clothes serve this purpose the best. Attaching a plastic film to one side of it could also make it waterproof. They are easily washable. They provide a perfect soft surface for your kid to lie down when placed on the bed or the floor. In addition to this, you could even make doormats, carpets, curtains by patching together the small pieces.
4. Make cloth bags
It’s best for the planet if we minimize the use of plastic wherever and whenever possible. Let your kiddo contribute a bit to this. A few cuts and stitches could turn old clothes into wonderful cloth bags. Cloth bags provide better strength and support than plastic ones. You could carry them to the market, use them for shopping, etc.
5. Cloth alphabet
Draw palm-sized, thick letters of the alphabet on a cardboard and cut them out. Now, cut pieces from the old clothes. Wrap these pieces around along the shape of the cardboard letters. The letters will appear to be made from cloth. Now, whenever it’s time for your child to learn the letters of the alphabet, this can come handy. Making the letters tangible is an excellent way of teaching your child by involving an extra sense of touch.
6. Patches
Baby clothes come in a range of adorable colors and prints. You might want to cut out patches from them and sew on your new jeans, tops, handkerchiefs, jackets etc to give it a fresh and trendy look.
7. Stuffed soft toys
Babies play with almost any object you give them. So, it does not make much sense in investing too much in fancy toys. Soft toys attract kids a lot and a soft toy made at home would be a wonderful playmate. Use the rags and bits from old clothes as stuffing. Cover stitch the soft toy with larger, better pieces of the same. Attach eyes, nose, hair as per your liking and imagination.
Our sentiments are attached to our children’s stuff. Hence, along with clearing out the mess of all the clothes, it is also our secret desire to preserve them in some form. This offers a wonderful opportunity to bring out your creative side and manage our little one’s mess!