Outdoor Clothes (Lazy, Cheap and Green)


Here's another Lazy and Cheap Way to Be Green:

Keep a set of "outdoor clothes" for each child.  Put these clothes on your child before they play in the mud outside, remove them when they come inside, and keep them by the door for the next outdoor adventure.  My kids have outdoor pants and outdoor jackets (when it's cold).  Wash the clothes when absolutely necessary. 

So I don't do this every time my kids go outside.  (Sometimes, I just usher them out the door as quickly as humanly possible.)  But often I have to change my toddler's diaper before we go to the park.  And my 3-year-old removes his pants all the way while using the potty.  So it's often very easy to put a different set of pants on my kids before they go outside.  If there are no dirty clothes parked near the door, sometimes I pull something out of the hamper.  I often relegate clothes I don't like as much to the "outdoor clothes only" category, because outdoor clothes get filthy and stained (I do not bother to get out the stains).  They wear out faster too (especially in the knees for crawling babies). 

I came up with this idea one day when I was getting my kids ready to go outside.  As I was about to put on their shoes, I saw the dirty clothes from their previous outdoor adventure discarded by the door.  The clothes had not yet made it to the hamper.  And so I just put those dirty pants and jackets back on them, put on their shoes, and sent them outside.  And thus the "outdoor clothes" routine was born.  Now instead of going through several outfits in a day, my kids go through a few outfits each week.  We wash the outdoor clothes about once a week or two.  My kids wear the same "indoor" outfit until they stink or are visibly dirty.

Having special "outdoor clothes" has saved me from loads of laundry, countless stain removal attempts, and pulling my hair out over yet another pair of ruined pants.

Here are 5 more ideas for reducing your loads of laundry.

For more lazy and cheap ideas, click HERE

Do you have a lazy, cheap and green tip?  Share it below!

4 comments:

  1. Great idea! Having outdoor clothes is a wonderful way to reduce the laundry pile and not worry about those stains. :0)

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  2. I love this idea! Although I don't think my 10 year old would be up for it. The 7 and maybe the 9 year old might go for it. I will try anything that will reduce the amount of laundry.

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  3. I love it! I'd have to figure out a place for the dirty clothes to hang out, maybe down in the laundry area. I do keep a bin in the boys' bedroom where they put clothes that haven't gotten dirty and can be worn again. Since I take care of the four year old and the two year old, I check their clothes myself for dirt and food.

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