Organizing Kids' Clothes

My boys have a lot of clothes!  It was becoming overwhelming until I came up with a system to organize them.  Because I have two boys that are two years apart, I am lucky enough to reuse their clothes and not have to buy a whole new wardrobe.  I found that when I wasn't organized, I would misplace clothes and miss the opportunity to take advantage of using them again.  I couldn't have that!

I decided to get some plastic storage bins.  I got 10, because with our yard sale addiction, we end up buying sizes ahead of time.  I keep one bin for each size and season. 

For example, right now the boys have 3T and 5 summer in their closets.  My bins are labeled 3T winter, 4T summer, 4T winter, 5 winter, and so on.  My last bins are for all of the clothes that are bigger than the sizes I have in the other bins.  They will also attend the private school where their daddy teaches, so I have a bin for those clothes.
This time, when I switched out the boys clothes, I got really smart.  Instead of taping my labels onto the bins and then having to adjust and retape all of my labels as the boys grow out of sizes, I taped clear plastic page protectors onto the bins.  Now all I have to do is slide the label into the protector each time I change out their clothes.  I use construction paper torn in half for the labels.  This makes them easy to read.  

In the future, whatever size Brady (my youngest) has grown out of goes immediately to my pile for Kids Market.  I tuck the label for Jackson's clothes in the top of his closet so that I can use it again when I pack up at the end of the season.  I'll be getting out winter clothes next, so I will take that label out and replace it with the size from Jackson's closet.
I just took up the clothes, so it won't be this empty for long!
Since the bins are stored in the attic, I have a shelf in our laundry room to organize the clothes as we get them.  After a substantial amount is collected, I add them to the bins.
I store the boys' shoes in the same manner.

How do you organize your children's clothes?
Featured on: Life Your Way







8 comments:

  1. I love this idea. I just wish I had place to store the large bins! Thanks for sharing. :)

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    1. Before we had attic space, I used the big ziploc storage bags. I used the shelf above the boys' closet and under their crib/bed to store the bags.

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  2. I just found you on Pinterest. I do the same thing, but house them in my storage room in my basement. My boys are also 2 years apart. :)

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  3. AnonymousMay 27, 2013

    I also have two boys (10 & 13 now) and they both have a horrible time keeping clean, FOLDED clothes, FOLDED! I wash & fold laundry (which you all know takes precious time mom's are usually short of) and they take to their room & MAYBE put in dresser. But even if they do that, they mess 'em all up looking for that one special shirt to wear that day. I'm wondering if anyone has ideas to store clothes they are currently wearing? Instead of using a dresser that ends up full & messy with the drawers hanging open. I'm thinking of just using the 'ole "laundry basket method" that my little brother did when he was a messy little boy! LOL

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    1. I'm struggling with this right now. Right now, I'm using the plastic drawers that fit in their closets. I have run out of space for their clothes, so I am currently looking for a dresser. I still don't know if it will contain the mess of clothes in their room! Their shoes are also a problem. Brady LOVES shoes, so he is always going through ALL of our shoes anywhere in the house. I'll let you know when I come up with a solution that works for us.
      ~Erin

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  4. I love your post! It's the motivation I need to finish my big winter switch out. It's almost Thanksgiving and I still haven't finished. I have 4 kids and we're not done so we have a LOT of buckets of clothes to be passed down. I keep clothes that are too big or next season in long buckets that fit under their beds and dressers labeled by size. Everything else gets put in buckets in the garage organized by size and gender. Shoe storage is my downfall. I've just been throwing them all in one huge bucket. It's hard to go find the ones we need when it's time to switch those out. I'm tackling that today! Shoes that fit go in shoe organizers hanging on their closet doors, and one or two pair in their basket by the front entry and winter boots at the back entry under their winter coats and snow pants. Oh and I also can't stand it when kids don't put their clothes away nice and shut their drawers! My 10 yr. old rolls her shirts and pants and puts them in her drawer nice so she can see them all without lifting any others. We're working on getting the younger ones to follow suit!

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    1. I'm so glad this helped you! Shoes are my biggest downfall, too. Right now, they're in a pile on my laundry room floor, because my youngest likes to go through them on his own. I'm tackling that this weekend. We are also working on putting clothes away neatly. My husband does a lot of the laundry and doesn't have the same views of keeping clothes nicely, so it's a little tough. I've been working with the boys on it, and they're getting better at it! You sound like you have a very good system going for how much you have to store. Keep it up!

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  5. Hi Erin, just want to say your ideas is awesome!

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