Sorting and Storing Kids’ Clothes (Zone Defense)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.
This year we’re on Zone Defense, moving room by room, tackling clutter and disorder. This month we’re closing in on the laundry room, linen closet, and clothing storage.
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I'll send you time- and money-saving tips every week!
Two weeks ago I gave you your linen closet/laundry room assignment. Last week I shared my results in tackling those two related zones. At least they’re related at your house.
Today we’re talking about another area of textile storage: kids clothing.
Save Those Hand-Me-Downs
Chances are if you’ve got more than one child you have some type of clothing storage. With four boys born in quick succession, you can bet that I held onto their outgrown clothes to pass from one to another. Some of those articles of clothing have even survived long enough for their sisters to wear! Saving hand-me-downs has saved us a boatload of money.
In the kids’ younger years, it seemed that we had dozens of boxes of clothes to sort each time the seasons changed or a kid moved up a size. Especially with a baby in the house, you’ll find several groups of sizes: newborn, six months, nine months to a year, etc. The increments are small and outgrown quickly, so it’s in your best interest to have a sorting method.
Now that my kids are bigger, it seems that the immensity of our hand-me-down collection has lessened. But, we still need a good sorting method, nonetheless.
Tips for Sorting and Storing Children’s Clothing
1. Limit what your kids have access to.
While I wouldn’t call us minimalists, I think hubs and I realize that we have an abundance of stuff and we try to curb it whenever we can. And we try to do that with the kids’ clothing. We aren’t flashy dressers and we live in a moderate climate, so this helps in limiting ours and the kids’ wardrobes.
We want to make it easy for our kids to put away their clothing, so we limit how many articles of clothing they have access to on a regular basis. This amounts to about:
- 4 pairs of shorts
- 4 pairs of pants
- 5-7 tshirts
- 4 long sleeved shirts
- 2 sweatshirts
- an abundance of socks and underwear
- For the girls, 3 to 4 dresses are in the mix
2. Don’t store things you (or your kids) don’t like.
When money is tight, it’s tempting to save everything. However, to hoard clothing items because you “might” need them clutters up your house and prevents you from sharing with folks who really do need them.
If it’s stained, torn or a decade out of style, don’t save it. The stains deepen, the tears aren’t going to fix themselves, and your kids will bless you for not dressing them in tasteless clothing.
Instead trust God to provide for the needs as they arise.
3. Store clothing that is in good condition.
That said, feel free to save clothing that is in fair to “like new” condition. Utilizing hand-me-downs is a great way to save money and conserve resources.
4. Use dust-free, bug-free packaging.
Storing clothing implies that you hope to use it again. Be sure to package it in a way to help it hold up over time. I like to use plastic totes with lids to keep out dust and bugs. You can add bay leaves (cheap when bought in bulk) to further deter bugs.
Be sure to label the boxes so that it’s easier to find what you need at a later date. I have blue boxes for boys, and label according to size, and beige boxes for the girls. Store the boxes in a cool, dry place, out of the way of your household traffic, like a closet.
What about maternity clothing?
These same tips hold true for storing maternity clothes if you hope to have another pregnancy. Remember, though, that pregnancy is the time when we are tempted to feel the blahs about our looks. If you can help it, don’t hold onto the clothes that make you feel frumpy. It’s not going to boost your spirits as your body changes.
Consider loaning your maternity clothing to friends in the interim. Hopefully, your friends are good about laundry and stains. If they’re not, don’t sweat it. It’s still a great way to bless someone else and free up space in your closet.
I liked these tips quite a bit and have been already following them with my 2 boys. One difference that has helped me along is that I have the air tight storage bags. I keep one in each of my children’s rooms so that as I’m having them put something on or as I’m putting on the clothing and found it to be too small I’m able to fold it up and place it in the bag. Once the bag is full, or there are no more clothing items in that size, I go thru the clothing and decide which items are no longer wearing well (stains, style etc. especially with cartoon themed clothing…. they more than likely will show how out of style once the next one comes) then I toss the bags into a rubbermaid container labeled. (the bags are sucked of the air inside too) I don’t have space inside the house so this method not only helps keep the majority of the unused clothes out of the house but safe as the rubbermaid bins or sterilite cheaper rubber bins are stored in our less than perfect shed space…. unregulated climate/humidity.
Ha!! I call it “Mount Rushmore,” too! Thanks for the tips!
we’ve only got one child and unsure about the future, but we’re saving our “favorites”, in case we can use them again. I am trying very hard to let lots of things go by sending them out into the world for friends to use…..
The big problem i had was the “in-between” sizes! the first 2 years are crazy, between season changes and how fast they grow! I started to put an empty, reusable bag in the corner of her closet, and whenever i come across an item that no longer fits, or needs to go into a tub for storage, I put it in the bag. That way, I only have to lug the tubs out (which are in the garage) when the bag is full. 🙂
I am expecting the second of the pair of Irish Twins at the end of September. I will have 2 under 2 for a year. Baby clothes are so small and easily mixed up between sizes, even before we have started doing mixed wash loads. I keep accidentally putting the 0-3 month clothes that were on their last wash before storage in with the 6-9 month clothes. Any suggestions for keeping them easily identifiable for sorting besides checking every (often faded and crumpled) tag after every wash?
I use plastic totes too.I try to store clothes for each child only a couple sizes bigger.My children ages are 20,10,6&4 and they are boy girl boy girl.If I try to store too much it starts taking over the closets.
I’m really enjoying being able to wear all the maternity sun-dresses that it was the wrong season for with my last pregnancy.
I definitely jettisoned all the stuff I was never going to wear after my first kid was born. And I’m happy to see some old favorites again. I’ll miss them when #2 is born!
I have four kids, boy then girl then boy then girl . . . so I’ve had to organize clothes and store them for a handful of years between each kid and gender (2.5 years between each kid).
One tip I would offer is that because the new clothes were worn and washed so many times, when you need the next size of clothes for the younger sib, you can often pull out a size up from what they actually wear because the clothes have shrunk. I have forgotten this in the past – and missed utilizing whole sizes of clothes. Just a tip from a mom who saves and reused most everything!