Raising Kings: Why My Kids Now Do Their Own Fall/Winter Inventory

Ahh, knowing that your family is covered for the upcoming season is:

Rewarding & Comforting

I personally like to deep dive on a zone to …

be fully prepared and done! I like to close tabs out fully and then not reopen them until a designated time. My mind moves fast, so it helps me to get laser focused on one task and then drive it to completion. In the case of kid clothes, I like to inventory and shop twice a year. At the beginning of fall and at the start of spring. This minimizes panic purchasing.

I am not a let’s pick this up and this up and this up kind of person – at least when it comes to kid clothes. I don’t want them having too many or too little of any item. My boys do their own laundry and I want them to have a “sweet spot” number of clothes. I don’t want them overburdened by laundry. Laundry is 1x a week, generally 1 load per son. I run it so they have just a few days extra clothes beyond the week, in case they are late on laundry. I’ve noticed that people, sometimes complain about laundry not because the task is hard, but because they have too many clothes to manage. If you fall in that bucket, consider taking some clothes out of your weekly rotation and putting them in backup or donating.

To help me with the clothing inventory task this fall 2025, I used a double sided vertical whiteboard to chart out a quick inventory table.

I like this better than using paper or a computer. I can wheel this whiteboard around and mark it up as needed. Plus, everyone can easily see it and contribute to the data collection process!

I had my older boys pull out all of their clothes and sort – so they could provide accurate counts. The counts were to exclude clothes with excessive stains/holes, too small, or out of season. This approach gives us an accurate picture. From there we identify a target number to have per item type and then:

Close Gaps

This year, I had the boys do their own inventory checks, counts, and shopping online. I provided the table on the whiteboard. This has lessened my load and has empowered them. I’m a mama who does not do all the things. I’m raising Kings and require they step up. By bringing them into this process now – they will be able to do the same when they are living in their own space.

The nice thing about taking a weekend to do this inventory analysis – is that clothing is done for two seasons! Fall and winter. We will not be caught off guard in a snow storm.

When this task is closed; you know your crew will be in warm clothes -> set, ready to adventure!

This is your reminder to make sure you and your fam bam are set for fall/winter.

Note: Even if you have hand me downs for your kiddos, still take time to inventory them into the active use clothing. You may still find gaps.

Girly Bonus Tip: Those cute spring/summer dresses can be worn in fall/winter – just wear with long sleeve shirts and pants underneath. If they don’t “match” call it high fashion! You know they just be doing whatever they want, bahahahaha!

Share this with your crew & the muted group chats.