Managing your child’s wardrobe can be tricky. If you are like most families, your child’s wardrobe consists of clothes that currently fit, clothes that are for future use (either hand-me-downs, or clearance purchases), and clothes that s/he has recently outgrown. Too often in my work as a professional organizer, I’ve come across closets and dresser drawers that contain a mix of all three types of clothes. This situation can make the task of getting dressed stressful and time-consuming for a kid. Who needs that? So let’s talk about 2 simple tools that you can use for organizing kids’ bedrooms.
One of the keys to keeping your child’s wardrobe organized is to only store clothing that currently fits your child in their drawers and on their closet hangers.
To help with this, I recommend putting a storage system in place that includes 2 simple tools…
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ORGANIZING KIDS’ BEDROOMS: THE TOO BIG BIN
In my house, we store clothing that is too large to wear right now in under-bed storage bins. In years past when my kids were preschool age, I would take advantage of end-of-season clearance sales and stock up on pants/shirts in the next few sizes up. These items were stored in a series of Too Big bins. Now that my kids are older, it’s a bit more difficult to buy their clothes several seasons in advance (their growth is too unpredictable and they now have an opinion about what they wear…go figure!). So at this point, one Too Big bin per kid is sufficient for us.
Each spring and fall, you’ll need to go through the Too Big bin and coax your kids into putting on a fashion show to see what items now fit and need to be relocated to the current clothing storage area. Otherwise, you’ll kick yourself when you discover that you missed the window of opportunity, and the clothes in the Too Big bin need to be transferred directly to the Too Small bin!
ORGANIZING KIDS’ BEDROOMS: THE TOO BIG BIN
Soon, your kids will be switching out their spring/summer wardrobe with their fall/winter wardrobe. As your child begins to wear his fall/winter clothes, you’ll likely notice shirts and pants that have morphed from last year’s “respectable outfit choice” status to this year’s “ridiculously small” status. You and your child should resist the temptation to throw the clothing item back into drawer/closet. Instead, designate a bin for clothing that is now too small and teach the kids to immediately put clothing items into the bin as soon as they are identified as snug-fitting!
In my house. we have one large Too Small bin that lives in the bottom of my son’s closet and serves as the final resting place for clothes that either my son or daughter have outgrown. If you have more than one child, you may decide to designate a bin for each child, or one bin for each child bedroom in your home. The one bin system works well in my house.
When our bin reaches full capacity, I sort the clothing into categories:
- Clothes to be consigned
- Clothes to be given away as hand-me-downs
- Clothes to be donated
I make it a point to bag up each category of clothes and put them in my car so that I’ll be sure to deliver them to their respective destination during errand day that week.
Do you have a similar system for managing kids’ clothing? I’d love to hear all about it…especially those of you with uber-large families!
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Janet Barclay says
What a great system – so simple, yet so effective!
Natalie Gallagher says
It’s a “Must Have” in my opinion!
Olive Wagar says
Great idea, Natalie! Simple, easy, & efficient! And the too small (or don’t like) might work for adults, too.
Natalie Gallagher says
Olive,
Yes, unfortunately we adults may benefit from a “too small” bin as well, lol! Thanks for stopping by!