It can be hard for moms to keep up with their kids’ changing clothing sizes, especially with changing seasons too. My girls can easily share some of their clothes and the rest of their wardrobe ranges from 2T to 5T, which adds up to lots of clothes and lots of laundry. To minimize the many clothes on the floor and stuffed into the drawers, I’ve come up with a few tips to keep our kids’ clothing streamlined so they can easily wear their favorites and reduce the extra clothing clutter.
Keep your kids’ clothes hidden away
Our biggest issue is having too many clothes that my girls can easily access and change their outfits 5 times a day. This will only get more crazy once little brother can dress himself and add to the collection of clothes on the floor. We put the kids’ dressers in the closet so clothes are out of sight, and the kids know once they are dressed they don’t need to change unless they spill food or liquid on their clothes. Limiting access to my kids’ clothes helps significantly reduce the amount of laundry each week, since inevitably clothes on the floor end up in the laundry hamper. I’ve also found that rolling each clothing item saves a lot of space in the drawer!
Regularly purge old sizes and stained clothing items
Kids’ clothes can last a long time if properly cared for. Other items are short lived after one play time in the mud. My now 2-year-old went through a stage of wearing out the knees of her pants within just a few days from crawling on hard surfaces. Once she started walking her pants and leggings lasted much longer. My baby boy is very active and I’m sure will ruin lots of t-shirts this summer. Kids’ clothes should be useful for fun childhood play and easily replaced when an item gets ruined. I regularly go through the kids’ clothes and remove items that are well worn or out grown. This allows my girls to have their favorite clothing items to choose from without a bunch of extra filler in their drawers. I do keep a paint shirt or two on hand for creative projects.
Nellie’s Wow Stick had no trouble removing the yogurt and Cheetos stains from the front of my daughter’s white shirt. It’s always best to try to rinse a stain out as soon as it occurs, but Nellie’s stain remover is also pretty effective at removing old stains, oil based stains, and even fabric discoloring from clothes that were put away dirty.
Donate unused items or kids’ clothing that is too small
We regularly donate or give away clothes that are out grown or old. We can give clothes to a younger friend or cousin to enjoy, or donate them to a service such as Schoola (which also gives back to schools) or a local Just Between Friends consignment event, to turn your old clothing into a little bit of cash back. I’ve had a great experience with Schoola and Just Between Friends which is a great outlet for selling all of our unneeded kids’ stuff, including toys, baby gear, educational resources and more!
Put kids’ clothing for the next season and bigger sizes in storage
I also store clothes that are too small for my oldest daughter but too big for my younger daughter. I have seasonal boxes and next size boxes for the kids, so we only keep the clothing the kids can currently wear out and accessible. This means jackets, gloves and sweaters go into a box in the summer, and shorts and tank tops go into a box during the winter. I also buy ahead for my kids when I find a particular great sale on universal kids’ clothing basics.
Shop for kids’ clothing off season
Shopping for kids’ clothes during the opposite season is a great way to save money. I love buying swimsuits in the winter and snow boots in the summer. Garage sales in the summer are also a great way to find secondhand winter basics such as snow gear and boots that are expensive to purchase new. Many of my favorite kids’ clothing stores offer end of the season sales, and if I buy a size or two up I can completely stock up on my kids’ wardrobes for the next year at a fraction of the regular retail cost.
How do you organize your kids’ clothing for school, winter, and summer in the midst of rapidly changing kids’ sizes and growth? Can you relate to having a catch-all pile of clothes on the floor that results in loads and loads of laundry? I hope these tips are useful for organizing your own life with your family. I love finding practical ways to help my kids live organized and reasonably minimalistic lives.
Hi, I’m Katie! I live with my husband and 3 kids in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I love Jesus, coffee, creative projects, taking photos and traveling. I’ve previously worked as a web designer, journalist and barista. I hope you enjoy our creative projects and family adventures!
Absolutely great ideas and for organizing kids clothes. I found this very helpful for me. I got some great ideas from your article. Thanks for sharing.
Yes yes yes!! Although this is my most dreaded chore but I feel so much better after lol!! Thankfully though, my kiddo would much rather wear no clothes… ever… so I don’t get the million changes a day!
Haha Yes! It can be much more challenging to get your kids to keep their clothing on!