I've developed a few systems to make this process easier for me.
Giant caveat - I am new-ish in this parenting thing and I'm not sure how much this process will scale when kids have more decision making on their own wardrobes
1. Space Budget. This is invaluable to me. "Where do I put these clothes" can be answered in so many ways. "How much space do I want to give to storing and managing clothes?" is a way easier place to start.
2. Always Be Purging. Get rid of stuff that doesn't fit kids, that is stained/ripped, that they wont wear. Move clothes out of drawers when clothing is not being actively used.
3. Try to have as few clothes as possible without making your or your kids lives harder. We are lucky here because schools have uniforms. I LOVE school uniform! For many weeks of the year, my kids wear the same uniform monday to friday. I only need weekend kids clothes and school holiday clothes.
4. Try to have all your babies in the same season. Obviously this is not really good sorting advice and can't be followed in any way. I've noticed Isaac and the twins are able to wear a lot more of the same things because they were two weeks (and 5 years) apart. Lilah was only two months (and two years) apart from Isaac but two months in baby clothes is a lot of months.
5. Did I mention getting rid of clothes? Have a "I love this" bag and then everything else goes goes goes! If you want to sell things then have a "sell" space, but make sure you're happy with the amount of space you're using to sell baby clothes, or hold on to potentially sellable baby clothes. Also, baby clothes are super cheap second hand, so I tend to go with "sell" as much as possible and assume I can buy something pretty cheap if I need it later.
Anyways, here's our current fancy storage system:
When I need something for Lilah I check the 5-6 box
6-7 is what Isaac is in now, and also what he will be in soon. I also consider them as follows
Babies Future
Lilah Past
Lilah Current
Lilah Future/Isaac Past
Isaac current/Future
I am probably shuffling clothes out of their drawers at least every two weeks.
Isaac and Lilah each have one small sets of drawers in their room:
Drawers are organized as follows.
 |
| Lilah Top Drawer (L-R) Trousers, Shirts, Dresses & tights |
 |
| Lilah Middle - School Uniform |
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| Lilah Bottom - Pyjamas, Underpants, Jumpers |
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| Isaac top (L-R): short sleeve shirts & button downs, long sleeve shirts, trousers |
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| Isaac bottom: Pyjamas, underpants, jumpers |
Not Pictured: Kids also have coats downstairs, Shoes downstairs, and a Kallax drawer with Socks, Hats, Gloves, Scarves etc.
British houses don't always have closets and I think that's insane. This is our general organization and it keeps me from drowning under a mountain of clothes... for now.
Wow, that is a lot of stuff to organize. I had trouble with just my own stuff, especially the "getting rid of" part. It seems very organized though, which I guess you kind of have to or you would go slightly mad (right?)
ReplyDeleteYour comment about closets is interesting, as San Francisco houses often don't have closets, and I think I read once that it was because early taxes were charged per "room" and a closet was considered a room, so they did not put closets in to save on tax!
I am so glad we have closets (albeit small ones) in our house because I prefer to hang clothes vs. fold. I have a tote for bigger clothes for each kid, but really like your method of having a stacked plastic divider and labelling it by age/size! That's brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI wish I’d known this before I had kids and had an organization system in place.
ReplyDeleteHi! Daria from momofchildren.com
ReplyDeleteMy kids are 7 and 4, and I am constantly purging. Clothes and (shhh) toys. My kids also have uniforms and that makes things so much easier! My husband tried poo-pooing the idea of a uniform and I told him to go jump in the lake. I love uniforms.
Off the top of my head… L has about 5 dresses, tights, leggings, and T shirts. She does not like to wear pants or jeans… Part of me feels she should have MORE fun clothing but she hasn’t mentioned it so I’m letting it rest for now. Once she hits middle school and the comparing game starts then I’m sure she would want more.
R has his uniforms, his cargo pants, a few sweaters. Again, nothing major. One Christmas sweater, one Halloween sweater.
Maybe I’ll do a post about kids’ clothes later. Thanks for the inspiration!
That is a lot of clothes you are handling. But your systems seems very solid (for me not having kids so what do I know).
ReplyDeleteI think. few of these ideas, tips can be applied to my own closet... probably not the next month/year clothes though.
I go between thinking I should swap out summer and winter clothes and thinking I should just own the amount of clothes that fit in my closet and not swap them out. So I think it can be applied to grown up clothes too! But yes, hopefully I am not storing too many different "next sizes" for myself :-)
DeleteHi Rachel. Hopping over here after I saw your comment on Elisabeth's blog. I am a BIG fan of school uniforms. Our two foster girls (soon to be adopted) went to our public school last year, but we put enrolled them in private school this year. the uniforms are so nice - less to think about and less drama with 'needing' to wear certain things/brands, etc. for these tweens. I had an extra dresser in my little boys' room back in the day and I took the big boys' clothes, stored in the spare dresser and then it was easy to access when I handed it down to the next brother. My gang is mostly older now, but they end up leaving a trail while in college and the boys think they've left clothes to the youngest brother, but he doesn't identify those clothes as his. Loads of piles and frustrations. Ha.
ReplyDeleteLOL at big brothers leaving clothes for little siblings but not telling them! I imagine this is my future, when we just have clothes and kids and no real idea of what belongs to who.
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