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Both of my LOs fit pretty true to size until 6 months. At 6 months my son's growth started to pick up speed and he was in 12-18 month clothes by 9 months and 18-24 month clothes at 1 year (he was at the top of height/weight charts at 1 year). DD's growth stagnated around 6 months and by 1 year, she was in 9-12 month sizes (and she was under 10% for height and weight at 1 year). DS averaged about 2 wardrobe changes per day, but DD was a puker, and I would changer her 4-5 times per day until she was about 6 months old. I typically did laundry every 2-3 days because I didn't have a huge stockpile of clothes for either of them. I would have needed a TON of clothes to be able to go entire week without doing laundry. For the first 6 months, I would say 10 onesies in each size and 6 sleepers. But that really depends on how messy your baby is and how often you will do laundry.

My son was 8 pounds 15 ounces at birth, so we didn't need any NB clothes. He went straight to the 0-3 month clothes. He outgrew those pretty quickly, and went to 3-6 month clothes by about 2 months old. Then he went to 6-12 month clothes by about 4.5 months old. He wore that size until about 9 months old when he switched to 18 month clothes. He stayed in those a while until he was 16 months old, and then he switched to 24 month clothes. He wore 24 month until the age of 22 months when he switched to 2T.

So, he went through sizes 0-12 months quickly, and stayed in 18 month and 24 month the longest so far. I needed clothes in both winter and summer for those sizes, since he wore them through different seasons.

As far as how many outfits, I hate laundry, so I bought a lot of clothes. I liked to have between 12-15 different outfits in each size and for each season. I also like variety, and didn't want him to look like he was wearing the same thing everyday. I'm having another son soon, so a lot of the clothes will get reused, which is great!

I also think it has a lot to do with the shape of your baby, not just size.

My DS was over 9 pounds and 21" at birth and he wore nb clothes just fine for a good 3-4 weeks. He was always at the too of the charts for height and weight, but was just built solid, and not chubby. He wore sizes pretty true to size.

My LO was born at 7lbs 2oz and was in newborn clothing for 5 weeks, we only had three NB sleepers when we went home so I had to buy her a few things. She could have fit in the NB sleepers much longer except I felt like her feet were squished so I moved her up to 0-3.

She was in 0-3 until 3.5 months when I moved her up to 3-6 due to a change in weather.

She's 5 months old and still on the smaller side of 3-6 clothing so I expect to be here for quite some time.

We did a ton of laundry when she was in NB and 0-3 clothing as she had undiagnosed reflux for her first 8 weeks so there was lots of vomiting.

I bought a layette set with 4 little onesies in 0000 (NB), and ended up having to send hubby to buy at least another 3 while baby we were in hospital. She was average size (3.36kg) and was 51cm but with long legs and feet which didn't fit great into NB leggings. She stayed in those for about 3-4 weeks before moving on to 000 (0-3 month)

My LO was little and behind about 3 months til she grew out of her 9 month clothes at around a year. She moved into 18 month clothing when she was 22 months.

I think when they are really little 5-7 outfits plus extra onesies would be enough if you had easy access to a washer. That said, I had around 5-7 neutral outfits and ended up with a TON in each size since my daughter stayed in sizes for so long and needed new seasonal clothing at times, too.

Sorry this is long!
-my son was born 7lb7oz and he was in newborn for about the first 3-4 weeks.
So from 1 month - 3 months he was in size 3 months.
3 months - 6 months of age he was in size 6 months
6 months - 9 months (now) he was in size 9 months

So basically he was always one "size" ahead. Almost like clockwork, when he hits one of those ages he goes up in a size.
*Mind you, this mostly applies to footed sleepers (at least in my case). Since they have "feet" the length of the baby really matters. Onesies and regular pants I can maybe stretch beyond those limits I mentioned above - so he's about to turn 9 months next week and I'll still be able to use size 9 month onesies and pants for a while. But the footed sleepers, he's already pushing the limit on those!

As for how many of each...hmmm. I think that we could get by with this for each size:

NEWBORN being the only exception - I didn't put him in anything but footed sleepers! When they are that small you just want them stay warm and comfy and I didn't want to pull anything over his head. So for newborn I'd say 10 kimono style white undershirts and 10 footed sleepers.

For all other sizes (3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 12 month):
-7 footed sleepers
-10 white onesies
-10 "cute" onesies
-10 pants/shorts
-socks - I like to have his feet covered most of the time (whether its cold out or AC in our home). So I have about 15 pair. Newborn days I just used the plain white gerber ones. As he got older I got cute ones that could coordinate with outfits (carter's computer socks, trumpette brand, etc)
-1 pair of jeans
-1 pair of "nice" pants (like khakis for special occasions)
-1-2 "nice" shirts/sweaters (I got tiny baby button downs and polo shirts/onesies for holidays or church when I want to snazz him up a bit)

Odds and ends, I wouldn't say you HAVE to have but are nice to have:
-I have a couple of "hoodies" that I can throw over his short sleeve shirt if we go into a chilly grocery store, for example
-Cute things like overalls - maybe 1-2 pair. I recently snagged a pair just because they are cute and could work well for a special occasion or even the playground. Its versatile.

Without a doubt you'll decide what articles of clothing you like more than others, and sometimes you'll just want to buy something because its cute and not because you'll need it . My sister, for example, has and 11 month old and she still wears footed sleepers all day most days. She just doesn't change out of her PJ's when she's home So she really only gets dressed in "real" clothes if she is going out of the house.

When we had DD1 I was like you and tried to avoid newborn items that would be quickly outgrown. I had three NB sleep n' plays and that's all. After 2 weeks of repeated daily washing of these three items I sent DH out to get more. She wore NB for 4 weeks. I would recommend 5 footed sleepers in newborn size. Maybe keep the tags on in case she is a big baby

All other sizes (3mo, 6mo, 9mo, 12mo)
7 footed sleepers for PJs per size
9-12 outfits per size

You could probably get by with less if you have the capability to do frequent laundry. I didn't like to do laundry more than two times per week.