One of the worst things about having twin boys after a girl is the clothes. We’ve all thought it, but I’m here to say it – boy clothes are so boring. Solids, a few stripes, and t-shirts with themes like trucks, monkeys, and balls. It is as if designers exhausted themselves on producing cute clothes for girls and then suddenly remembered they needed to pump out some stuff for the boys. Pathetic. But I digress.
Although boy clothes are dull, they do tend to be more sturdy than girl wear. Take the humble leggings. From a utility point of view, leggings are great. They can be worn with a shirt, go under a skirt or dress (even pants in the winter), and they come in countless patterns and colors. The only problem, a six-year-old can wear out the knees in a matter of days. Sometimes we have gone through a dozen pairs in just a few months.
In the past, I didn’t give this too much thought and just tossed worn-at-the-knees leggings in the trash. Recently, when sorting out one of my girl child’s drawers I pulled out five pairs and it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t need to go shopping for shorts, I needed to get the leggings altered. We took them to our local drycleaner in the morning, and in the afternoon, she returned to us 5 form-fitting pairs of shorts.
Suddenly we are getting a lot more use out of our daughter’s humble leggings and I feel like we saved some money. Now if I can just figure out how to turn old socks into fashionable scarves, I think I’ll really be on to something.
Photo by Christopher Lay
