Planning A Week’s Worth of School Clothes

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Let’s take a moment to be brutally honest. How easy is it for your child to pick out an outfit for school each morning and stick with that decision? If that answer floods your mind with cringe worthy memories and makes you want to stop reading right now, then fear no more. I used to experience the same issues-yes, boys can be just as bad as girls-and I have the solution.

It all begins on Sunday afternoon.

If you’ve read any of my other posts, you’re probably thinking, “Of course it begins before the school week even starts. Jessica says she likes to plan! So of course this isn’t a surprise.” And you’d be absolutely correct. Every Sunday afternoon we do two things. First, we sort and put away any clean clothes that are in our clothes baskets in the laundry room. Second, we pick out ALL of our outfits for the entire school week. Here is how I make that go as smoothly as possible.

1. I check any notes that have come home from school to make sure there aren’t any dreaded special dress up days to consider for the week. (Yes, I know, I know…the kids LOVE them though.)
2. I check my weather app to see what the forecast will be for the week. Then I can decide if shorts or pants are appropriate (or if I’m deciding for me, I can figure out if I need capris, pants, or a dress with or without leggings under it. Yes, I do this for me too. Don’t knock it until you try it. Haha!)
3. I call each kid individually to pick out their outfits for the week. (Although I give the 11 year old more freedom. He’s done this with me for years, so he knows the process. All I do now is check to make sure his clothes match for the week.)
4. I start by letting them pick out their pants or shorts. Then I can help guide them to pick out shirts that match if need be.
5. Once pants or shorts are picked out, then they pick out shirts to match. If you have a younger child, this is why it’s important for you to be there during this step. You can start teaching your child about how to match clothes and what does and doesn’t go together. No one taught me this as a kid, and I cringe thinking about some of the outfits I probably went to school wearing because I always picked out my own clothes all by myself. Ugh!
6. Pick out socks and underwear for the entire week.
7. Sort the outfits into days of the week that your child would like to wear them-don’t forget to put socks and underwear with each outfit. For example, my kids don’t like wearing jeans on gym days. They say they’re uncomfortable. So we take that into consideration each week.
8. Put each outfit in the designated place in your house or child’s room so that it’s ready to go each morning. Our designated place is in the laundry room on clothes hangers. See the picture below.
9. Grab and iron throw in the dryer to get the wrinkles out each morning before school or the night before.
10. Kids can either get their own clothes out of the dryer and get dressed, or you can lay them out for them the night before.

*It is important to note that once my kids have made up their minds about their outfits for the week, I don’t let them get up that morning and change their mind. The only way they get to wear something different is if the forecast drastically changed, or if the article of clothing is too small or had something wrong with it that we didn’t realize (also known as the clothing has a big hole in it or a stain that the small child forgot to tell you about). And most importantly, because I make them stick to their pre-planned decisions, there are NO fits in the morning over what to wear. It’s already been decided on, and if you don’t like it, next time you’ll make a better choice. Sorry, not sorry kid.

Days of the Week Tags

Since we hang each day’s outfit on clothes hangers in our laundry room, I created days of the week tags using my computer. I print them on card stock so they don’t tear easily (I’ve even cut tags out of cardboard and handwritten the days of the weeks out on them before too! Use what you have available). The kids enjoy coloring them. Then I just hole punch the tops of them, and put them over the top of a clothes hanger. Monday’s clothes go on that clothes hanger. Clothes for the rest of the family go on hangers behind Monday. Then Tuesday’s clothes go on the next hanger, with the rest of the family’s clothes on hangers right behind. I know that when I reach the clothes hanger for the next day to stop, and that I have everyone’s clothes for the week. Easy peasy!

Free Days of the Week Tags

Grab your copy of my days of the week tags for free using the link below. Just click on each picture to download your free copy. Then give it a try. Let me know how it went for your family. Here’s to less cringe worthy outfit picking out memories. Cheers!

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