Clothes and same sizes

[Lilacs4Me]

I mentioned before that we are taking guardianship of DH's great nephew, who is DS11's age. We are in process of getting everything in order so he will begin living with us August 1st.

I was doing laundry tonight aND started thinking of how I should handle his and DS's clothes....they are the same age and roughly the same size.

For those of you who have kids close in age or twins, how do you manage their clothing? Do you buy two sets of everything when you shop? Do they share anything like basic tshirts, shorts, and socks? If not, how do you tell whose is what?! I barely can tell DS17 and DH's socks and underwear apart....mostly I throw them all I the same pile and tell them to sort it themselves!

Obviously nephew will bring his own clothes with him to start, but he will be hitting the 12-13 year growth spurt soon along with DS and I'm sure I will be buying my fair share of clothes for the two of them over the next few years!! I'm curious as to how families with similar sized kids handle all of this?

Thanks!

 

[DLgal]

I mentioned before that we are taking guardianship of DH's great nephew, who is DS11's age. We are in process of getting everything in order so he will begin living with us August 1st.

I was doing laundry tonight aND started thinking of how I should handle his and DS's clothes....they are the same age and roughly the same size.

For those of you who have kids close in age or twins, how do you manage their clothing? Do you buy two sets of everything when you shop? Do they share anything like basic tshirts, shorts, and socks? If not, how do you tell whose is what?! I barely can tell DS17 and DH's socks and underwear apart....mostly I throw them all I the same pile and tell them to sort it themselves!

Obviously nephew will bring his own clothes with him to start, but he will be hitting the 12-13 year growth spurt soon along with DS and I'm sure I will be buying my fair share of clothes for the two of them over the next few years!! I'm curious as to how families with similar sized kids handle all of this?

Thanks!

My boys are 20 months apart but the same size. They share pants , shorts, socks, and underwear. They each have their own tops. They have different preferences and likes, so they choose shirts they like. I buy several "like" pairs of pants/shorts and they share. I will literally buy one in every color of a style they like. They do not share pj's, shoes, or jackets either.

We hang the shirts in the closet. Divided in half. All the pants get folded and put on the closet shelf or in their large dresser drawer. All underwear/socks just get thrown into a drawer. It's really not hard to manage.

 

[Southernmiss]

Have 3 sons. Only thing they share is socks. All socks sit in the bottom of the laundry basket until needed. When they were younger, I put a different color fabric. paint dot on the toes of their socks. They also had different color drinking cups so we weren't washing cups all day.

When folding laundry, I often have an 'unknown' pile that they pick through and find their clothes/underware.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

My boys don't share anything! DS1 gets fruit of the loom boxers & Adidas socks. DS2 gets Hanes boxers and Nike socks. Their style of shirts are completely different. I do label DS1's jeans,sweatpants,shorts with a black sharpie line on the inside. Not initials or anything, just a line to distinguish.

 

[powellrj]

Dh had 2 brothers that were close in age. He has talked before that his mom gave each of them a color growing up and put a dot on the labels so they each knew whose was whose. They didn't share. I can't imagine sharing underwear with anyone, even a family member.

 

[Kellykins1218]

My youngest two are about the same size & share everything but shoes.

 

[wenrob]

Your DN may have a different style than DS so that should take care of the regular clothes part. As far as socks/underwear goes just buy them each their own color or brand. Hanes for one, Fruit of the Loom for the other type of thing. I have boy/girl twins and I've always felt it was important they have their own things if at all possible. When it comes to things that are the same for them they each have their own colors. Pink, aqua and green for her, blue, orange and red for him. If their style in clothes is the same you can do something similar. If both favor blue, give one royal blue, the other light blue and so on.

 

[mom2rtk]

Our boys are 23 months apart but very similar in size most of their lives. They shared socks but not much else. Every now and then they borrow the other's dress pants or dress shoes in a pinch, but that's about it. I think they each deserve to have things they can call their own. I like the idea of buying different brands of underwear.

 

[Gracie09]

My girls are 29 days apart and the same size. I do their laundry separately. They each have a hamper and on laundry day it gets emptied in to a basket and I wash the basket together and they put it away in their room. They have a few matching things, but have very different tastes so they don't share much. If one does run out of a t-shirt or needs a specific color the other has, I will ask the other if she can borrow it.

You can also make them responsible for their own laundry at that age. With some supervision they should be able to handle it. That way there is no mixing of things.

 

[SharonZ]

I would definitely keep their clothes separate, it will make him feel like he has things of his own.

 

[BLAZEY]

I started doing my own laundry at that age to keep my younger sister, who was almost as big as me from claiming my stuff out of the joint laundry.

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd14 and dd16 have been the same size forever, they share everything. However, they are best friends, and sometimes have issues when the other stains or rips a favorite, or wears something the other wanted to wear. They also share shoes.

For my sons and DH, I try to buy different brands of socks and underwear. Ds19 is over 6', DH is 5'9", and ds14 is only 5'5", with waist sizes of 34, 36, and 28, so that helps. I would not make them share clothes.

 

[PollyannaMom]

They may end up borrowing each others things eventually, but I wouldn't force it. Let it happen naturally. - You don't want your son to feel jealous of your new family member because he has to share everything right away.

I like the suggestions above for different brands of underwear (or you may even luck out if one likes boxers and one likes briefs). The colored dots on the tags of shirts and pants is a good idea, too (if they don't cut tags out like my DS does!)

I'm starting to run into the sock problem with DS and DH. Like someone else said, I just tend to do their laundry on separate days so I don't mix them up.

By the time you get to school shopping for next year, I think I would take each of them separately.

 

[mom2rtk]

They may end up borrowing each others things eventually, but I wouldn't force it. Let it happen naturally. - You don't want your son to feel jealous of your new family member because he has to share everything right away.

I like the suggestions above for different brands of underwear (or you may even luck out if one likes boxers and one likes briefs). The colored dots on the tags of shirts and pants is a good idea, too (if they don't cut tags out like my DS does!)

I'm starting to run into the sock problem with DS and DH. Like someone else said, I just tend to do their laundry on separate days so I don't mix them up.

By the time you get to school shopping for next year, I think I would take each of them separately.

I agree it's even more important in this case with one child joining the family at an older age.

 

[BLAZEY]

I would also suggest if the nephew comes with few clothes compared to your son, I would take just him shopping to buy a few more items to "beef up" his wardrobe. He will notice if you son seems to have an unlimited supply of clothes to change into and his closet is sparse in comparison. I had a cousin that ended up caring for a niece from the other side of the family who was older than his girl and had on small suitcase and backpack of clothes. Some of the clothes were too small and my cousins wife took the niece shopping and bought all new socks, undies, a couple of outfits and shoes. I mentioned that my daughter had just grown out the nieces size and I had a bag to pass on if they wished. They gladly accepted a bag to fill out her summer wardrobe.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

My sister and I were 13 months apart.

We always had our own clothes. Now, I might have worn hand me downs when I was a baby.

But once we were old enough for school, we had our own belongings.

Different manufacturers sound like a good idea.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Make them do their own laundry.

 

[scrhsa]

Have 3 sons. Only thing they share is socks. All socks sit in the bottom of the laundry basket until needed. When they were younger, I put a different color fabric. paint dot on the toes of their socks. They also had different color drinking cups so we weren't washing cups all day.

When folding laundry, I often have an 'unknown' pile that they pick through and find their clothes/underware.

This but I have 3 girls. Sometimes I would but their initial on the tag of their shirt if I things were the same or close enough to where I couldn't remember whose was whose. All socks went in a drawer and they would match as they needed them( for awhile there socks didn't match on purpose and it was FABULOUS!). They now, pretty much, do their own laundry and fold out their own piles. My poor husband just piled all the "girl" folded things in one giant pile. He had no clue what belonged to who.

Op: just use a sharpie to put a dot, either on just one or different colors of both, boys( on the tags) and maybe let(ha ha make?)them fold their own or at least come in and find theirs and have them put them away. Or keep them separate and do each kid in a different load with their own colored laundry basket?
Or if they are ok with sharing just throw everything in and go with that

 

[Poohforyou]

I have 3 brothers who never shared underwear or socks. I can't imagine sharing underwear .

My mom would throw it in a basket and they'd sort it out. Seems like the perfect chore for them.

The other option is to get a laundry marker and put an X on all your son's stuff before your nephew moves in.

Good luck. Whatever the situation I'm sure he'll love having a family to lean on.

 

[mom2rtk]

I can't imagine sharing underwear .

I can't either. Just no.