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So,  over the years you have heard me talk about the genius balance of shopping for and selling your children’s Premium brand clothing. The gist is:

“Resale is great.  You buy it.  Wear it.  Then sell it for close to the same and it’s like dressing your child for free.”

This is true.  This is one major factor that makes the premium brands for attractive for me!  It’s almost like a game.   But there is one major factor that is left out of the equation and may be the major crutch of this lifestyle.  TIME.  This buying and selling takes time.   So, maintaining balance and moderation is the key otherwise it becomes an all consuming beast.

Seriously, this whole shopping as a hobby thing works best when you have just enough (okay or a little more) than your child can actually wear.  I am NOT saying this from experience.  Abby’s closet is jam packed.  Some stuff has been in there for years and never worn.  Much of it goes forgotten.  It’s so crammed in there that I can’t even enjoy it.  I am working on getting stuff sold as she outgrows it and not buying too much stuff in advance anymore.  Seriously, I could NOT buy a single thing for the next 4 years and I get she would have enough clothes and shoes to make it to age 9. {hanging my head in shame}  Hence this post and my new perspective on this.

I must achieve BALANCE.  Both in quantities of stuff and time that it takes to manage this because they go hand in hand.

I have seen many people like me who are always stressed about having to sell or running out of hangers.  These big binges and purges.   I can’t manage it so it ‘all must go’ type sell-offs.  People buying and selling online all day long.  I have been there.  So, I really want to talk about how this extreme over-indulgence costs way more than meets the eye.  It is costing us our precious time.

Let’s talk in the currency of minutes.  And in all seriousness these are more precious than dollars anyway.  Let’s say that from start to finish each article of clothing costs 15 minutes. This reflects the time to buy it.  And time to sell it.  Taking pictures.  Measuring stuff.  Tracking down people for payment.  Packing up.  Printing labels.  Trips to the post office.

1 piece of clothing = 15 minutes

Regardless of how much and what they own your kid can only wear X amount of clothes.  Simply because there are only 365 days in a year.   The rest goes unworn. Or maybe worn once and eventually sold.

Exhibit A.  The middle group of hangers represents what your child can actually wear based on the sheer number of days in a year.  The group of top hangers never gets worn.  The bottom group maybe once.  But the amount of time that it takes to get all of that excess into the closet and sell it is astronomical.  Lets say you have 100 excess items (not unreasonable for a lot of hardcore shoppers).  That equals 1500 minutes.  25 hours.  That’s almost a full hour a day for an entire month.  So, while yes, you sold it for what you bought it for that dress was not free.  Those unworn clothes cost you over an entire day of your precious life.

Exhibit B. Cut the clutter.  Keep shopping.  Buy what you love.  But keep it in the right balance.  You will still have stuff to buy and stuff to sell.  Sell when you tire of it or it’s outgrown.  Enjoy the hobby but don’t make it your life.  Make it manageable.  Trust me.  Now that I am seeing these piles of stuff to sell and the time it takes to do it I wish I hadn’t overbought in the first place.  And guess what.  You STILL get close to your goal of breaking even and have time to actually have fun in the clothes you keep.

As much as we like to think it is.

“Managing your child’s closet is NOT your job.  Being their mom is.”

Disclaimer:  I have not mastered this.  But I am trying.  And after coming full circle on all of this I just want to share my new perspective.  And seriously, we are blessed even to have this first world problem and have to start putting mind over matter.  Gluttony never looked good on anyone.  And I can promise you that when you look back on your life you will NEVER think to yourself ‘man, if I would have only had spent more time buying and selling kids clothes’.  Not going to happen.  And don’t be too hard on yourself.  We are all sweetly broken.  Part of life is always trying to improve.

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