Warm work clothes for kids/modest mom

Yvvone's hubby, I LOVE it! My boys do sew, and teaching personal responsibility is one of our primary goals, so I will add this to the "curriculum"!

Tractor Supply has what you need. They also have less expensive options than Carhart. You want one piece boots, the kind farmers wear. I have them and love them for muddy weather. They are also easy to get on and off. If you learn to knit you can teach the children, once you start they'll want to know what you are doing. If they can learn to knit, their children will never be without hats or mittens due to poverty. We have a knitting forum.

Moving to the country won't make your kids responsible. My ten siblings and I grew up in the city and we are all responsible. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Listen quietly and be fair. Everyday chores are important, but they can be simple, like setting the table, folding laundry, sweeping the porch. We have a goat forum, so check that out.

Please go to your profile and put in your location.

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Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength - St. Francis de Sales

Hi and welcome from a fellow Missourian!

I'm going to hit the other end of the scale and do 'cheap' here. DH and I wear Army surplus pants that we pick up at surplus outlets. they are cheap, cargo pockets galore and durable. They wash up easily and wear for years. In winter we wear thermal pants and shirts under them for extra warmth. Boots, I like muck boots, can't beat a good pair of muck boots for sloppy weather and trust me, Missouri has sloppy weather with thick gumbo mud to go along with it.

For winter boots I like anything with liners.

The first thing that I learned as a homesteader is that it's a dirty business. Sometimes I change two or three times during the day so yes, a good pair of coveralls is a lifesaver. I keep a pair hanging in the basement stairway to keep them handy.

Start out basic and grow from what you discover works best for you. You will do find.

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I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here!

When I was a kid in MO, we used last year's school coat for our barn chores. It was too short in the sleeves and missing a few buttons but it's what we had. We had canvas tennis shoes with holes in the toes covered with rain boots that we put holes in immediately upon wearing and used socks for gloves and played out in the snow for long periods of time. I am not sure that kids feel cold like adults do - or they are better at ignoring it. We all survived. However, if you want willing, happy workers......

I'd forget buying expensive clothing for boys. Buy jeans at the thrift store and you'll end up saving money over time. I do recommend insulated coveralls. And best of all- you'll be able to hand them down from one son to the next! If they have coveralls, it doesn't matter what they wear under it. I go out in my "uniroyal" suit ( it makes me look like a truck tire) over my short jammie pants all the time. My mom and dad broke down when we were in High school and bought 2 set of insulated coveralls for us 5 girls to share.....along with insulated boots. They were the best! Chores were a different experience. Buy very thick rubber boots that are insulated and they will last for along time. If you an afford $120 each, then get Muck brand boots. They are my boot of choice for winter chores. With that many feet to cover, you might have to buy boots in stages- a couple sets of expensive ones each year until you have enough for all of them. Good luck!

I would emphasize light layers rather than thick insulated stuff. Problem is when you are wearing heavy stuff, and you start working, hard to shed layers if you only have one heavy layer.

The best way to keep warm is to keep moving. If one is sitting outside, not much will keep you warm.

Need to be able to make adjustments to fit your activity levels.

The only real issue is to prevent frostbite. The old idea that kids will get sick from being cold is wrong. Kids get sick when it is cold only because they spend more time indoors and swap viruses.

So better to kick kids outside in the cold, just make sure their fingers and toes and ears are covered and dry.

When we had little kids up in Fairbanks, Alaska, we would kick them outside when it warmed up to 20 below.

I wouldn't buy anything special for the kids: Jeans, t-shirts and sweatshirts from Goodwill will do just fine for them. As for the working adults, a pair of Muckboots and a Carhartt jacket are the most two essential items.

I am the Glove Queen. I have rubberized insulated gloves for the wet and cold, ragg wool gloves with leather palms for clearing dry snow, anti-vibration gloves for using machinery (yes--string trimmers can destroy tendons), leather gloves for putting up firewood, etc. Atlas gloves are great for most things, so I'd start with those.

Agree with the advice about not buying anything to start. You'll discover what you need--project by project.

Arctic muck boots became pretty mandatory for the four of us this winter. They were our chore slippers.

We bought the teens carharts when they were young teens, but regretted it. Got 1 season out of them because of growth. Buy gender neutral when you do, that way when an older girl out grows one, a young man can inherit it. They last many years. Mine will probably see the burn pile before it sees the inside of a washer.

Get lots of cheap leather gloves and a few pair of good insulated gloves.

There are lots of places that stock a variety of this stuff here in Mo. Once you adopt the lifestyle, the stores will find you.

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Honesty and integrity are homesteading virtues.

I'd start scouring Goodwill and Army surplus now, and other outlet stores now, especially for the kids. Better than paying full price when you realize you really need something. And if you move to the boonies, it suddenly gets hard to get to those stores! You can never have too many rugged coats, polar fleece, flannel shirts and long johns.

I just went out to the garden in the pouring rain with my husband's Carhartt jacket on. It's close to 20 years old, bought it at a 2nd's store, still going very strong. I like my outdoor clothes to be big, bigger pants and jackets and shirts so I can move easily. DH has a large insulated Carhartt coveralls he throws on all the time. He has insulated bibs as well.

For you, jean skirts sound good, but for winter a heavy wool skirt or two over long johns and knee high wool socks with good boots should work. Maybe a big wool skirt you just pull on over your indoors one for winter chores? Or sew some coveralls into a skirt suit??

Welcome to Missouri and to HT. You got good advice.

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Dorothy Kaye Collins

Does anyone else feel that Carhartt zippers have gone downhill? Seems like we've had broken zippers on a lot of stuff.

If you repair holes t home make sure to get super heavy duty sewing machine needles and thread for any repairs to duck material or heavy jeans!

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They shall all sit under their own vines and their own fig trees, and they shall live in peace and unafraid. Mica 4:4

update! I was at my favorite thrift store this morning looking for a pair of shoes for one of the boys when.....I found two men's Wall bib coveralls, insulated, NEW - never worn, for $6 each! I grabbed them both, for my husband, and I figured we will always need a second pair for a friend who comes out to the farm to help out. And for $6, of course I couldn't leave the second pair there! What a blessing!

And absolutely shop the thrift stores and flea markets for the kids. You don't need anything good for working on the homestead. Good boots and a wind/water proof jacket will probably have to be bought new (hopefully they can be passed down to the younger ones) but everything else can be second hand as it will be outgrown and mucked up anyways.

There is a whole thread on skirtwearing
I will try to find it-

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"If you can find a nice pretty country girl that can cook and carries her bible, now there's a woman." - Phil Robertson

CEO and President of SWS (Skirt Wearing Society)

Another Skirt Thread

Here is the skirt thread- lots of good ideas

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"If you can find a nice pretty country girl that can cook and carries her bible, now there's a woman." - Phil Robertson

CEO and President of SWS (Skirt Wearing Society)

Until your kids get to where they can wear the smallest adult sizes, it's hard finding good farm clothes. Ridiculously hard. Nothing is made to last and the modern world sure doesn't expect kids to get out and work in their clothes.

I guess I could always sew coveralls for the kids...

I just had to log in when I saw you're the Mama of five boys. Oh, how wonderful! I had three and loved being the mother of boys. You are blessed.
And as someone else said, Carhartt clothes are rugged and constructed to take a beating. Hope you find what you need. (:

OP, I'll second (or third or fourth, wherever I'm coming in) the surplus idea. DH and I get our surplus from Sportsman's Guide because they sell bulk loads of military surplus (including European surplus) so you can get, for instance, 4 shirts for $18 and that kind of thing. We tend to split the loads, keeping 2 for ourselves and donating 2 to one of our local shelters/needy families organizations. I don't know if they'll have the skirts you need, but they've had pants that worked for me as well as DH, and everything is cheap enough that you won't feel like you're wasting clothing if you cut some down for your boys.

Berne and Walls make outerwear that is less expensive than Carhart and doesn't shrink as bad. I like to opt for the insulated bibs instead of the coveralls. Insulated bibs with a hooded sweatshirt, and a carhart style outer jacket will keep you warm when it's real cold. Add some activity and lose the outer jacket, if it warms up you can go with just the hooded sweatshirt, all kinds of combos. You don't want to sweat, that's when you get cold. Need to be able to remove layers in tiny increments. Muck boots or lace up boots with Gore-Tex. For most of the year, the military surplus pants made with the cotton rip-stop fabric are great. Yes, cotton doesn't insulate when wet, but these things dry out really quick. You get wet a lot watering animals and things like that. Get yourself some slip on ice cleats for that rare time that you need to go out to the barn and everything is coated in a solid sheet of ice. They will save you from a milk bath and a broken tail-bone.

I would also get those cheap cotton gloves where I am from we call them farmers gloves for a reason. They are not the best but it's no big deal when you lose them or they get worn out. Just so long as you are working and you don't get them wet they are ok. While I didn't grow up on a farm I did spend a lot of time at my cousins farm and also my grandpa's. My cousin and I never had good outdoor clothes it was usually the stuff that was 2 small from last year in other words barn clothes, no fun when you are busting ice in stock tanks when its -20 and in the middle of thirsty heifer's.