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Kat
10-9-12, 10:43am
Hopefully this isn't a dead horse topic, but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions regarding the organization of kid's clothing. Maybe for older kids it isn't so bad, but goodness! These baby clothes are driving me crazy! So many sizes and different seasons. My daughter outgrows them so fast, and different brands fit differently, so she might be wearing different sizes all at once (for example, she has 9, 12, and 18 months in her wardrobe right now that all fit).

I guess one obvious answer is to pare down, but I don't feel as though we have too many clothes for her. I do laundry once a week or so, so she has enough everyday clothes and jammies for that plus a few extras for accidents, playing outside, etc. She also has a few dresses for church. That's about it! We do live in the Midwest, so some of her pieces are mix and match for layering--I guess that does add a bit more to the equation, but I can't help that it is 70 degrees one day and 40 the next! She needs to be comfortable in what she is wearing.

How did you (or do you) deal with the constant in-and-out of kid's clothes?

Rosemary
10-9-12, 10:53am
It does get easier once you get out of toddler sizes - although still not consistent, the actual size of different brands is closer.
I used to sort the clothes by physical size (not tagged size), smallest to largest, and then keep the ones that were too big in the closet to reach for when we needed something bigger.
There's a lot of turnover of clothes until age 2, and then it slows down a little. Now that my DD is 9, her clothes can last up to 2 years if she starts wearing them a little large.

decemberlov
10-9-12, 11:30am
Is it a matter of organizing according to what clothes she wears according to the weather? If so maybe you could buy different color hangers: blue for cold weather clothes and red for hot weather?

Or is a matter of organizing according to size? If that is the case you could most likely make some dividers out of cardboard and scrap book paper like these:

Float On
10-9-12, 11:41am
Very cool rod dividers decemberlove - wish I'd thought of something like that when the boys were little and sharing a closet and dresser. It always felt like an explosion of clothing (they are 11.5 mts apart). Toddler stage was easier than baby stage for me because they could both wear the same shirts and that lasted until about 5/6th grade when they wanted their own rooms and then had to divide up the clothes.

Kat, I remember organizing the baby clothes by drawer. One was labled HOME and one was labled TOWN. I did have a minimum amount of clothes for them but was pretty stern on 'these clothes were only for town/church trips".

Mrs-M
10-9-12, 11:45am
Yes, paring-down definitely helps, but plain old-fashioned organization (believe it or not) is the ticket.

When our first was born, that was easiest. One baby, one clothing-set. Simple. But as each subsequent baby made his/her debut, baby/kids clothing organization proved challenging (to say the least)! Small home, little storage space...

One thing that really helped me out a lot, was utilizing closet space for all things long-sleeved, warm, and dress, as for everything else, I did my best with dresser-drawer organization.

For example, sleepers and pyjamas, were mated together (same dresser drawer), t-shirts, socks, and undies, shared their own space in separate dresser drawers (sometimes mated with one another when space was at a premium), shorts and light-summer things, a drawer (or two) of their own, while all things diapers, had their own place/space, which was usually out in the open, sitting on top of vacant dresser space.

As each child grew out of certain sizes, I'd separate those clothing items from the rest (active clothing), reserving a special place for them so I could fall back on them for future use (new babies). This is a big one, because it eliminates having to sort through multi-sized items at dressing/changing time. The closet shelf proved invaluable for this! (Hint-hint)...

You could also incorporate the use of reusable sealable plastic totes for storage, which can be kept stacked and out of the way. I did this, too. Huge organizational plus!

In the end it boils down to experience, comfort, and balance. One of my favourite saying is, "practice makes perfect", and as you continue to wade-through baby/kid-dom, you'll become more adept at addressing you and your children's needs as they arise.

P.S. Super-nifty dividers, Decemberlov!

lmerullo
10-9-12, 12:25pm
The practice makes perfect premise is exactly right! Find what works for you and implement it.

I got one of those weekly hanging cubby things for the closet, like this. (http://www.target.com/p/hello-kitty-hanging-closet-organizer-days-of-week/-/A-14025573#prodSlot=dlp_medium_1_4&term=closet%20cubby%20hanging) Then, I just pre-load a weeks worth of outfits and the littles don't have to go into their dressers at all. No messed up stacks, no green striped shirts with red plaid pants, etc. Even socks, under garments and shoes can be laid out, all ready for a busy morning.

Additionally, I do a FIFO (first in, first out) method when putting away clean clothes. Helps to make sure the kiddos don't always wear the same few items, while others just languish at the bottom of the pile. My biggest problem is keeping matching sets together. I have recently begun folding the pants/shorts/skirts inside the tops that match. This way, a matching outfit is simply grabbed all at once.

All non-current clothing sizes are in plastic tubs, labelled with the size, and stored either in the garage (next bigger) or the attic. We have been gifted enough clothes to last our granddaughter who is 3 until she is about 8. Also, the hand-me-downer is still growing and will continue to pass down to us. Then, we have two grandsons who are 7 years apart, so we are saving the bigger clothes for the younger brother. Makes for a lot of tubs, but it's a simple matter to check through everything twice a year with the seasons and box or unbox what's needed.

Once you have completed your family (No need to store for the next arrival) it is key to have a good "pass along" strategy. I have been known to approach a mother in the grocery and ask her if she needs clothes for her little one. I gave away four bags full of stuff that way! This works best if you don't have someone smaller in the family to utilize the outgrown clothes.

Some strategies I have heard:

Multiples of the same item / same color / same size. Or, same items with different colors (this seems to be the dressing theme of our clothing gifter - we have a 10 days worth of t-shirts that all coordinate with a few pairs of pants and shorts, all same brand and size. They must have had a good sale on them)

Each child is color coded - #1 kid has all white socks and underwear, #2 might be all pinks, etc. Helps to sort a multi kid household's laundry.

Hubby and ds have recently asked me to start marking the inside of their clothing, as they are constantly taking each others'. For children, we often take out tags, so a fabric marker can help with marking sizes on items.

mtnlaurel
10-9-12, 6:13pm
One of the things I feel most fortunate about is what I call the "Hanna Andersson" style that has been popular in girls' clothes over the last few years. Layers - florals with stripes with polka dots with whatever, the kookier the cuter. This is a popular trend that I have embraced to its' fullest in my daughter's wardrobe as it completely makes my life easier (and simpler)!

I can hold onto a dress that then becomes a little pinafore-type shirt in a year or two.
I have targeted a few brands that wash great and I search them out (ebay, consignment, craigslist, thrift -- in that order).
I don't pay over certain amount for certain pieces
Shoes - Keens last FOREVER, between sis and friends we can get about 2.5 kids through 1 pair of Keens and they do make them in cute girl mary jane styles and cute winter boots.
Socks - all the same style/color except for 2 pr of 'church socks' and I buy a fair amount at a time for 2 yrs at time. (baby feet grow faster of course)
1 pair of 'church shoes' per season

With son:
Columbia ROC pants (no longer made but I can find on eBay) or Carhartts or Dickies from Walmart
Talk about beating a dead horse, but I found the Columbia ROC pants at an outlet a long while back for a song and bought multiple years of pants and it made my life SOOOO easy until he grew out of last pair this past yr. :(
Short sleeve shirt with long-sleeve shirt under in winter.
Socks - short white in summer, ankle hikers in winter
2.5 'church clothes' outfits

2 drawers:
One is Going Out/School Clothes drawer.
The other is Play Clothes/ Camping Clothes.

Plastic bins a must.
1- Outgoing clothes to cousins.
2- Out of season clothes in next stage sizes
3- Clothes of son's that daughter can grow into
4- Incoming clothes from friends or that I buy ahead that are then incorporated by size/season into the other bins

And here is a cute little thing that I've done with a few sentimental clothes of my kids -- I've dressed their teddy bears with them so they are out everyday and I get to see them and go "AWWWW" everyday rather than sitting taking up space in a closet in a box.

If I am not vigilant and merciless in my editing .... the whole quasi-'system' can go to heck in a handbasket pretty quick.

Mrs-M
10-10-12, 10:32am
Threads such as these are my favourite!!!

So many super ideas everybody!

Kat
10-10-12, 2:45pm
Wow! Thanks for all the great information, everyone! :-)

Right now we are working mostly with a dresser--not much hanging space. So I hang her dresses after they have been washed and pressed, and have the drawers organized by clothing type. First is jammies, then complete outfits, then mix and match tops, then mix and match bottoms. Socks and tights are in a basket under her changing table.

I guess it isn't so much what she is wearing now that is getting me. It's the organizing the constant in-and-out as she outgrows, which is complicated by the fact that she doesn't outgrow everything at once. I don't have a lot of storage space at my house and keep all too-small and too-big sizes at my MIL's the next town over. So it is annoying to have just a few things to pack away each week.

I guess that is just the way of it when you have little ones. I suppose it'll get easier when we are done having kids and the ones we have are a little older!

I love your idea of laying out the clothes for the week, lmerullo, and may try that!

mtnlaurel--I made note of the shoe brand you mentioned in your post and also love the style that allows dresses to become tops later!

Mrs-M
10-13-12, 1:33am
To add, how about a couple of diaper stackers, Kat?

If you're dedicated in the folding department, you can store-away a heap of things/stuff in a typical diaper stacker, and they hang conveniently from any doorknob or closet-bar.

I've come across all sorts of diaper stackers at the thrift store, and for cheap! Just another option for you to think about.

Tussiemussies
10-13-12, 1:38am
This is off the topic a little bit, but I recently saw somewhere that a woman made a quilt out of her child's outgrown baby clothes. I thought that was such a great way to keep them and remember those little infant days that go by so fast...

Mrs-M
10-13-12, 1:40am
Awww... that is darling, Tussie!

Almost like a time-capsule quilt!