Piles and Piles of Clothes – What to Do?

By Shannon Burghart

I am not a clothes horse. Anyone who knows me knows that most days you’ll find me in jeans and a sweatshirt. So, I have never been one of those people to change out my clothes for seasons or who’s always adding clothes to my closet. Therefore, I have never had a need for any sort of system, once in a blue moon I’d clean out clothes that I knew I’d never wear again, but that was about it. And then came kids—the clothes I was responsible for multiplied, by a lot! I’ll never forget how cool I thought it was that my daughter had so many 0-3 month clothes, it was going to be so fun to dress her up. Really? She grew out of many of them before she could ever wear them. So, how could I keep up with what fits and what doesn’t or what’s in season and what’s not? How can I make sure it’s as easy as possible in the morning for everyone to get dressed?

Again, with an organization plan developed purely out of necessity. First, let’s talk about daily clothes. How can we make sure we spend as little time as possible getting clothes ready to wear? A hanging clothes organizer that goes in the closet and is separated by days of the week has saved my sanity. Once a week I put in clothes for the week and I don’t mess with it again. Actually, now as my kids are getting older, I let them put their clothes in for the week so that they can’t complain about what they’re wearing. I also include underwear and socks so that the whole ensemble is ready to go! All shoes for the week go in as well (typically it’s the same pair, but if we need any special shoes they’re waiting for them).

But that really hasn’t helped with the mountain of clothes that don’t fit anymore or are off season. So, this is where I go back to the same plan as with toys. Nothing too brilliant, but it sure has helped me– I use bins and I purge. I have 4 bins (mine are pretty big because I keep them in the guest room closet, but if space is tight, the under the bed bins are great).

The first two bins are my favorite purge bins. As you all know by now, I love to consign, so I have a fall/winter and spring/summer purge bin. Anything that can no longer be worn by either child goes in these bins, which just stay in the guest room closet .Then when I’m ready, it’s all there together for me to consign. If you’re not a consignor then these bins can go straight to your favorite donation spot. Be generous to these bins, if they don’t wear it it goes! (This is much easier to do with kids than my own smaller size clothes that I swear I’ll fit into again someday–but that’s a topic for another blog!)

The other 2 bins are off season bins for each of my kids. As the weather changes I pull out the bins and switch the clothes. This is also the time when I really use the purge bins. If it won’t fit next season when it’s time to switch, it goes in the purge box. I tried one year to leave all of my daughter’s clothes in her closet and not take out the fall/winter items. What a mistake! That closet was always a mess, because she’d pull out everything. And in her younger days, it was anybody’s guess what she’d find to wear—85 degrees and she’s in jeans and a sweater and she knew it was just perfect! My son loves to wear shorts, so putting them away takes away any battles when it’s 20 degrees out. (As an aside, if you have multiple kids, you may want another bin for hand me downs.)

So, it’s not any earth shattering new ideas, but it is pretty simple, takes little time and has greatly diminished the aggravation level in my house. I’m always open to learning new tricks though. What do you do to keep your kids clothes organized and hassle free?