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Organizing Kids’ Clothing…

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

Last week, I shared some of my tips about making the morning rush a little easier to navigate by prepping a bunch of different things in advance. Today, in partnership with The Quaker Oats company, I'm going to dive a little deeper into how to organize/save kids clothes so that they are easily accessible. That way when you are getting the kids (or yourself) dressed it's easy to find everything and get on with grabbing breakfast and heading out for the day.

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

So your kid's drawers might look something like the above shot. And that's what my drawers looked like before I realized it was taking way too long to find stuff when things weren't folded consistently, things weren't labeled, and it was hard to tell what was what. Here are my four musts for getting it all organized…

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

1. Fold so that all pieces can be viewed from the top. I used to fold things flat and lay them into the drawers on top of one another. But then whatever is at the bottom never gets seen, and if you try and pull things out from the bottom, you end up having to sift through whatever is on top. By folding so all your items can be seen from the top, you can easily see what's what and when you pull it out, all the other clothes stay in place.

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

2. Label each drawer with its contents. I like to have the drawers ordered from top to bottom based on what's being worn. For example, tops in one drawer, shorts/pants next, then dresses/rompers. Especially since you (or your partner) might not remember your kid's clothing purely based on the color or pattern, label each drawer for easy access for both putting the clothes away and for pulling them out. This will help save a ton of time when it comes time to pick outfits for the next day.

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

3. Organize long-term storage as kids outgrow clothes. If you are saving clothes for future children, once your kids outgrow their clothes, save the clothes into bins labeled by age. For example, I have: 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, then it goes by half years or full years like 2.5 to 3 years old or 3 to 4 years old. I pretty much keep the sizes consistent with how baby/kids clothing is labeled but also based on when my kids actually wore them. So even though it says 9 months, if my 12 month old still fits into it, I would store it in the 12 month bin since my next kid will most likely have a similar growth pattern.

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

Now, this might seem overwhelming if you haven't already started organizing as you go. But have no fear, because you can simply work through what you have an start dividing the clothes into bins labeled per size. As soon as something is too small for one of my kids, I put it into the next bin of their past or current size. This also works with clothes you are saving for when they get bigger so you can have a bin for their next size up if you have a bunch of clothing that was given as a gift that they don't yet fit into.

Tips for Organizing Kids Clothing

4. Group like with like. And then when you have time to sit with the most recent bin, you can cluster together groups of clothing like "rompers", "pants", "bibs" etc. Grouping them together within each bin may seem like an extra step, but when you're ready to use these clothes again in the future and your new baby needs a sweater cause the temperatures just dropped overnight, it will save you a ton of time digging through a pile of clothes especially if you're on your way to work and need to find things quickly.

This helped me so much as we packed away Ruby's old clothes and now get to use them for Coco. As soon as Coco's current clothes get too small, I cry because my baby is growing too fast (ha!) but then I also just pull out her next bin and can refresh her clothing and pull out from her dresser the smaller baby clothes that no longer fit. It keeps things rotating in and out as these little ones grow.

Do you guys have any other tips or recommendations you use for storing your kids' clothing?

This post is brought to you in collaboration with the Quaker Oats Company. All content, ideas, and words are my own.

{Photos by Casey Brodley, styling by Ariel Fulmer}

26 comments

  1. Joy, these are all great ideas and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I am in the process of organizing my closet to make more space 🙂 A few questions: Can you please share where you got these blue bins from? Are they sturdy? Also do you roll the clothes and arrange them vertically in the drawers? Can’t tell clearly from the pics. For those who don’t have too much closet space or room what’s a good tip to store long term stuff? I tried using the vacuum bags but that didn’t work out too well.

  2. I love this. Seriously. I usually lay my children’s school clothes out the night before and pack lunches after I tuck them in… to save time… but I LOVE this organization system!!

  3. any pictures of coco in a ruby hand-me-down with a photo from when ruby was wearing the same thing originally? would be adorable to see! also, and wow, looks like you have enough clothes to go for weeks without doing laundry! that’s a sure plus!

  4. These tips are so helpful! Where are the blue bins from? I’ve been using big plastic bins and vacuum space saver bags. Also, what to do if we only have a closet with shelves?

  5. Hi Jilly,
    We probably do have some! But I also always forget to do that (which would be so cute, you’re right!).
    These kids get their clothes dirty so fast that sometimes there are multiple outfits worn per day!
    Joy

  6. Hey Lydia!
    The blue bins are Ziplock which I got from Amazon. As for your closet with shelves, sometimes I’ve used hanging shoe compartments or you can use clear shelve dividers to help section off areas in a closet.
    Joy

  7. Hey Shruti!
    The blue bins are by Ziplock and I got them on Amazon. They come in a bunch of sizes. They are not hard-edge, they are more like a thick plastic which I like because that makes them light and also see-through. As for long term storage in a small space, it’s hard to say not knowing how much space you actually have, but I limit the clothes to what we can fit in our drawers. Once the drawer is close to full, we can’t add in anymore. I have also cleared out a lot of my own stuff to make space for the kids’ stuff 😉
    Joy

  8. Joy
    Can you tell me what size these ziplocs are? There are so many on amazon but i am mostly finding vacuum seal bags which i am not a fan of. This is perfect for what i am in the process of doing with my kids clothes!

  9. What a great post! We aren’t sure if we are having a second baby, so I am keeping all of my son’s just in case. Since he’s only six months old it is not too difficult/messy yet, but they are all just thrown into a bin, so it would be nice to organize them even a little! Also, we’re in the middle of a giant move to Germany, so I am wanting to organize everything so we are able to settle in efficiently/quickly to tiny apartment living and enjoy the country. Thanks for all these tips!

  10. This is a wonderful post! I’ve been doing something similar with my little one. We have a small one bedroom apartment, so I have cleared out one of my drawers for his clothes that fit. I keep the clothes that are too big in the ottoman that has a storage compartment within, and the clothes that are too small in a large bag under the bed.

  11. I do the same rotation system, but instead of the ziploc bags i use one of those cardboard boxes that bulk diapers come in. That way the size of the clothes (according to diaper size) is already marked on the box!

  12. Your drawers look perfect for adults but i think they get messy when your kids start to search something. My son picks his outfit each day by himself and after that the drawer looks horrible (not everyday). i think he can’t decide what he wants and puts out two or three shirts, but he is not able to put them back – he is 4,5 years old… 🙂 so maybe you have any tips for that problem? Now we are trying to do the laundry together so he learns how to fold his clothes. And later he helps me clean up his drawers. Sometimes 🙂

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