I always knew I wanted more than one child so after our 1st child (boy) was born 10 years ago I kept all of his clothing as he outgrew them so that I could pass them down to our next child. A few years later we had another boy so it worked out perfectly that I saved the clothing because I did not have to buy anymore clothing for that baby. I have done the same with my oldest daughter’s clothing, passing them down to the baby. I have been blessed to have friends and family pass down clothing to my children over the years. I always say they have kept my kids clothed!
Even though I have not purchased very much clothing for my children over the years we have accumulated A LOT! Recently I was given 3 large garbage bags full of clothing for my daughter. I was happy to receive these bags but dreading where I was going to store all these clothes.
In the past I had “tried” to keep the clothing sizes together. If a child outgrew a size clothing I stored them in a Rubbermaid bin but I was not diligent about being organized because along the way sizes got mixed up and then I would have a child totally miss wearing any of the clothing that I had stored aside for them.
It was time to take action of this dis-organization! Time to clean house! I asked my husband for help which I knew I would initially regret but ultimately appreciate. He is the king of organization. His plan was to dump ALL the clothing I had stored away in plastic bins for sizes newborn to size 12 on the ground in my daughter’s room, sort through it all and organize the clothing by size and store in plastic bins correctly. Sounds like a mess? It was!
This was a long and tedious process but after a full day of my husband, oldest son and I going through the clothing we got this massive mound of clothing all organized by size in their own storage bins. As we sorted through the clothing I got rid of a huge trash bag full of clothing which, I donated to Salvation Army.
So now if we do have another baby I will not have to go through several bins to find clothing for that baby or when any of my kids outgrow their clothing I can easily that clothing in the correct bin.
Now I can open my daughter’s closest and “shop” for clothing when needed! Do you keep all your children’s clothing for your other children? If so how do you store it?
Organizing is my favorite past time! This is a great reminder post to store those summer clothes and donate the ones I don’t wear! Happy organizing!
I need to do that desperately! Organize everything and find out what we need to buy! Thank you for sharing it!
I keep almost everything except panties, socks and shoes. Those we buy new for each child but everything else we store in a plastic totes just like the ones in your picture. We are done having kids so now when the youngest outgrows her clothes we pass them on.
I don’t keep much because I’m a wicked minimalist at heart, but I do keep some things for hand me down purposes. Usually when my girls outgrow clothing though, I give to family and/or friends (mostly cousins) that are close in size and age or send it to Goodwill/Salvation Army.
That’s a great idea. We gave away so much of our kids’ outgrown clothes to relatives. I was glad the items could be worn again.
You have accumulated a lot of clothes for a person who didn’t buy a lot of stuff lol. Organizing for clothes is essentially important as you can end up with so much so soon. Apart from Salvation Army you can check sites like “Thread Up” to see if they purchase clothing.
I keep all the baby clothes, I didn’t after my girls but that was ok because I ended up having 3 boys after my 2 girls. I have a lot of boy clothes so if we end up having #7 and its a girl I’ll have lots of shopping to do.
I have so many clothes that need to be put away somewhere… This is a great idea!
I used to have everything organized by age / size until we moved to Alaska. I purged a ton and the rest got co-mingled. So now we just have one HOT mess here, too.
This is a great idea, I think these same principals would work for organizing anyone’s closet. I think putting like stuff with like stuff is a great way to get started in organzing.
Wow, that sounds like a hug project but it will be so helpful in the long run. Since I had one girl and one boy only a few things worked as hand-me-downs but I still have plenty of clothes in storage that need sorting.
That is so helpful for me right now since we are on a major decluttering kick! I need to try your method.
I kept a few key pieces for baby boxes. The rest I passed down to friends/family or donated. 🙂
Labeling the outside of the boxes with sizes is very helpful. I have stored many clothes over the years only to find they were to small by the time I looked in them again.
Great job Nicole! We, too, use rubbermaid bins and label the outside. If bins are clearly marked it makes it much easy to change out sizes and seasons.
That is how I store it too- in tubs by size. I don’t think we are going to have any more kids though so it is time for me to have a garage sale!
Mine is almost the same as yours! I am only keeping girl clothes right now though, because I have 2 girls. The latest will wear the older one’s hand-me-downs, and we plan to have more, so if the next is a boy, I will probably have to get rid of the girl stuff, because I really only have room for one gender’s clothes. I only keep stuff that is in good condition, and I only pass on things that I would keep. I pass on all my son’s things. I keep one big tote where I accumulate things for him for the coming season, and at the end of a season, I store what I think he might still fit into the next season. I just did that today! I store most of the big coats separately. I love organizing clothes!
Mine is almost the same as yours! I am only keeping girl clothes right now though, because I have 2 girls. The latest will wear the older one’s hand-me-downs, and we plan to have more, so if the next is a boy, I will probably have to get rid of the girl stuff, because I really only have room for one gender’s clothes. I only keep stuff that is in good condition, and I only pass on things that I would keep. I pass on all my son’s things. I keep one big tote where I accumulate things for him for the coming season, and at the end of a season, I store what I think he might still fit into the next season. I just did that today! I store most of the big coats separately. I love organizing clothes! It’s time consuming though!
Excellent advice! Organization is always a challenge so tips are always appreciated.
I started doing this when my kids were babies. Now I have 50-100 totes of clothes, just waiting for a little niece or nephew
I keep all my oldest clothing! Him and my youngest are 3 years apart so it is nice to be able to save money with hand me downs. I keep mine in the closet in labeled bins too :). There isn’t much room for anything else, but it is worth it to save money 🙂
What a super idea and so organized too. My three kids were all 4 years apart so I didn’t save any clothes to hand down.
We have a few boxes full of special clothes, toys and trinkets. I just can’t give those things away and my daughter wants to keep it for her kids!
My daughter does the same thing for her 4 boys. She stores them all in labeled bins. She was just telling me today that she had to swap out summer clothes for winter ones. It’s a process, isn’t it?
What a great idea to store clothes to pass down. I have always kept some things but was never as organized as this.
I am so inspired by this post! My daughter is my first and only 18 months and I’ve been staring now and her outgrown clothes boxes thinking about how I need to go through and organize them (they are a disaster) and get it all squared away before the new baby comes but I don’t even know where to start! Thank you for the help 🙂
It would be nice to organize used or outgrown clothes like this. It would be easier when you reuse it in the future or you eventually donate it.
Those were the days of organizing sizes for my daughter. Now that she is a tween, I cant go shopping without her so nothing to organizing anymore. That said, I have to organize my own clothes. Fall/Winter is perfect time for organzing.
I can attest to this method, this is the way I did it when my kids were small! It made moving up in size or from season to season so much easier. Just take out the appropriate bin, switch the clothes out, change the label, and put it back in your storage area. Easy!
I have mine all in boxes and labeled with sizes and girls/boys. It helps when the younger ones grow up.
I save all of my oldest’s clothing since my youngest will be able to fit into them soon enough!
These are great tips. I still have boxes of my kids baby clothes – and they’re both now in their 20s!
I like to store my kids clothes in the clear bins too and put an 8×11 paper with the sizes on it too. It helps so much! Lately though I’ve gotten lazy with mixing sizes and need to do this again. Great tips!
I have not organized my kids clothes in way too long. It is something I am working on for the whole family now. No fun. 🙁