All week long we’re talking about home organization! Today Abbi shares her answer to Joy’s question yesterday, about organizing kids’ clothes. To catch up on the rest of the series, click here. Read on!
If you’ve followed any of the Mommy Quick Tips posts I’ve had the honor of writing for our blog, you will know that I am a lover of organization. It wasn’t long into the mommy years that I realized that there is a difference between loving organization and being organized. There are many facets of my life that live in chaos. For example, under my bathroom sink – please don’t ever look there. But for every corner of chaos you’ll also find an equally impressive corner of organization. One of those areas I would welcome you and {a-hem}like to introduce you to – is my kids closets.
Having 4 kids in a very short number of years has led to large quantities of clothes rotating through my house. It wasn’t long into parenting my second child that I realized there had to be a system for tracking, storing, donating, re-selling, and organizing kids’ clothes.
A Supply List:
Large Plastic Bins or boxes
Dry Erase Marker
Plastic Bags (large or garbage bags)
Storage room in each closet
The Setup:
Each closet gets 2 bins (preferably stackable) and a plastic bag. The bin is labeled (using the dry erase marker) with the current size and season (summer/winter) hanging in the child’s closet. The other bin is labeled resale. The plastic bag is for donations. Multiple bags can be used (and labeled) if clothes were borrowed from someone and need to be returned.
The Process:
As your child(ren) grow about of an item, determine if it is to be kept, set aside for resale, handed back or donated. Place in appropriate bin/bag in the closet. When the bin or bag is full, I either move it to the top shelf of the closet, deliver to a friend/family member (or goodwill), or set it aside for my next trip to a resale store. Then replace the bin/bag with an empty one.
Ongoing Storage:
If you’re like me (3 girls spanning over 5 years and 6 clothing sizes between the oldest and youngest), these bins add up fast. Once a storage bin is full for a season, I re-go through all the clothes, keeping only the clothes that I know will be worn by the next child (my kids have very different personalities – one loves shorts and another dresses). I would rather resell or donate some of the clothes and use the money to get items that I know the next child will wear, than store a bin of clothes for 3 years that will never be used.
Additionally, I use the top shelf of the closet, as well has some of our hall closet for storing bins – all labeled by size and season. This makes it super easy when the season changes or when the kids sizes change. It also allows me to visualize how much clothing I have in a given size and season allowing me to plan and predict a clothing budget and shop accordingly.
OCD Tendencies:
This may expose way too much of my OCD side but I figured it was worth sharing some of my OCD tendencies when it comes to organizing my kids clothes. I always shop, store, and donate in full outfits. Nothing drives me more crazier than finding a shirt that I know had a matching skirt that has gone missing…or finding half of a set of pajamas. So, I always store and keep outfits together…which may or may not be safety pinned.
I really really really recommend moms to never store clothes in the garage or an outdoor storage unit. Here’s why. It’s hot…and dry. Think about it as if you are keeping those clothes on a constant low-heat cycle in the dryer for months on end. It destroys the fabric and ruins any elastic that may be in the clothes. If your desire is to store clothes for future use and you want them in good condition, the garage is about the worst place to choose to store them. If you’re short on storage space, try using the lower rolling bins that can go under the bed.
What are some of your tips for storing and organizing kids’ clothes? Do you and a fool proof system that works for your house?
