Winter in our household can be a challenge. With so many people comes SO MUCH winter gear. Hats, mittens, coats, snowpants, boots…multiply all those things by 8 people (plus an extra back up set for the inevitable lost items) and we have a LOT of stuff.

Fortunately, we are really good about using hand-me-downs. As soon as the big kids outgrow something it goes to the next kid in line. This saves money, but Mother Nature and I especially love how reusing reduces on the amount of “stuff” our family consumes.

A couple weeks ago I tasked Mack with helping me take a winter wear inventory. We pulled everything out, and he kept track of exactly what we had as I called it out to him.

Evie hat!

Ben boots!

Two small purple mittens!

When we had everything tallied, I knew what we needed to buy and what we had more than enough of. Thankfully, Chris’s mom sent plenty of new stuff to get us through the season, so I really just need to buy snowpants Evie and a few pairs of boots.

Oh, and thanks to the inventory process we were able to isolate which mittens were missing their pairs and get rid of them.

Now, everything rests in the most inelegant of places: plastic Rubbermaid drawers. But, each kid has his or her own drawer, and each kid is responsible for putting stuff away properly when returning to the house.

Mack is now desperate for a white Christmas, but thanks to the mild temps resting upon our fair city he might just have to settle for a wet Christmas!