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If you are truly planning on fostering, they require you to spend $45/ month on clothes. I wouldn't buy anything now.

I just think that it's really easy to get ahead of yourself. There is plenty of time to buy clothes when you are either pregnant, matched with a birth family or when the foster placement is about to arrive. I think you already have more stuff than I did when we brought our first baby home.

I can tell you are super excited and eager to shop. I thought I read on one of your other posts that you had a range from 0-5 years. I do tend to agree with @Mrs. Jacks: that you would have plenty of time to shop once you know a little more about the child that will come to your home. If you need to feel more prepared or just need to shop (I understand that too) then I would get just a few things in each size up to 5. I wouldn't worry about fully stocking your closest for each size. I would recommend 1-3 pajamas and 1-3 neutral outfits. This would give you plenty of time to be able to go out and get clothes specific to your child. The reason that I say only 1-3 for each is because there are a lot of sizes in between 0 and 5 years which could be very pricey. Because our range was up to six months we had a few things in newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months and 6-9 months. I think I had the most in the 0-3 range and I think I had about 6 pajamas and 6-10 outfits all in neutral colors. Then when my baby boy came home I went bananas buying him all kinds of clothes.

I don't know if that helps at all. When my kids were really young I generally had 12 pajamas and 12 outfits. That was what i considered at least a weeks worth since those newborn days often they went through more than one outfit a day. These were made up of the basics then people often got me the super cute extras like fancy church outfits.

@anonysquire: I think you have enough NB. My LO was less than 7 lbs when she was born, but only wore NB for 3 weeks.. that last week I was squeezing her in.. I wouldn't buy any NB outfits because they rarely go out at that age.. if they do, most LOs are big enough to wear 0-3 and look perfectly fine.

If you're going to buy outfits, I would buy primarily in the 6-12, 12-18 mo, etc range. Before 6 months they grow so fast!

Also, depending where you live, you probably don't need too many jackets for when they're less than 6 months.. Jackets aren't very comfy in car seats and my LO is always wrapped in a blanket. When she gets bigger and we take her outside more then I'll invest in more than one jacket.

My last tidbit of advise for shopping is to buy things that can be worn throughout the year. I bought several dresses that I can put long sleeves/leggings under during the winter/spring (making them fit tighter), but she can wear without the undershirt/leggings during the summer.. I did the same with some of her short sleeve tshirts.. So, if I was you I would buy the dresses now, then buy the long sleeves later if needed. Does that make sense?? Hope this helped!

I'm not exactly sure what your situation is but my LO is four months old and I do her laundry every 2-3 days and here's roughly what I have:

6 Onesies
2 sleep gowns
2 kimono onesies for night
4 pants
6 pairs of socks
2 woollen singlets
1 cotton cardigan
2 knitted woollen cardigans
2 dresses
2 short sleeved / legged rompers
I also have an assortment of hats, booties etc

It is Summer in NZ but I imagine in winter I'll probably by long sleeved onesies and thicker pants. For us this is a nice balance between having enough stuff to cope with blow-outs, dribbles etc without having too much stuff that just won't get worn before LO grows out of it

@anonysquire: My Aunt knitted the singlets for me so they're kinda like little woollen t-shirts / vests? Really good on days where it's not warm enough for a single layer but too warm for a cardigan!

I think, realistically, you dont need as much as you think you do. C is 11 months old and in 9-12 month clothes, so we've been around the block with the baby clothes and for us the tiny sizes werent worth it.

She outgrew:
NB- 2 weeks old
0-3- 6 weeks old
3-6- 4 months old
6-9- 9 months old
9-12- 11 months old and getting too tall for the pants

She currently wears a mix of 9-12 and 12-18. My point is, be done with NB. lol. She never even wore any of the pants/onesies because she was in sleepers constantly.

C is, I like to think, a pretty well-dressed kid. She's been in cute outfits since she outgrew NB sizes. We do a lot of layering. Here is what I think you could get by with as a minimum in each size:

5-10 onesies
3-5 pairs of neutral pants
5-10 sleepers
2-3 cardigans/jackets/hoodies for layering
1-2 hats
5-7 pairs of socks
1-2 pairs of tights for a girl (like, one white, one pink/black)

Dont bother with a winter coat in tiny sizes because they can't wear it in the carseat anyway. A jacket and a blanket are fine. C wears light jackets with winter hats and a blanket on her when it's cold. Dresses are just for fun, only buy one if ou have a specific occasion in mind or you just cant pass it up. lol. She wore more onesies as a tiny baby and wears more shirts now. Having a couple white, long-sleeved onesies is handy too, for layering under a shirt when it's too cold out. Jeggings are my absolute favorite! Comfortable and extremely versatile. She's had at least 1 pair in every size.

C's ACTUAL wardrobe is a little insane. We do a lot of Gymboree sets, which dont mix and match, and a lot of matching Carter's sets. so she has a lot of clothes. I will try and estimate what she actually wears:

5-10 mix-and-match onesies
10-15 tops
3-4 pairs of plain jeans/jeggings
5-7 pairs of mix and match pants (basic colors, no prints, you cant buy them in packs with packs of onesies to mix and match)
15-20 matching outfits (this is probably a low estimate)
5-7 cardigans/hoodies/jackets

Beyond that, she has a pair of tights in each gray, black, red, white, light pink and hot pink. She has a lot of socks... probably 20 pairs. She has had a pair of black mary jane shoes and a pair of pink Converse in every size. She has 3-4 jacket/coats and like 5 winter hats she wears, depending on what is clean.

I am overboard about it, I know I am... but it sounds like you're going to be like me. She actually gets gradually less clothing as she gets bigger because I have learned to only buy things I LOVE rather than things that are cute and cheap. I had so much "filler" stuff to give away after she outgrew her littler stuff. I'm building her summer wardrobe right now and buying most of it new and she is going to have much less clothing.

@anonysquire: does this mean your home study went well?!!!