Organizing kids clothes
Tips on how to go about organizing kids clothes; Where you can store them; How you should fold them to maximize space; What you can use as dividers; How to make it fun for you and your little one
Keeping kids clothes organized is not an easy task, especially once your little one is old enough to go in himself and pick what he wants to wear. Sometimes after our little one has gone in his dresser, it’s like a tiny tornado went in and threw clothes everywhere.
I’ve tried and tested different layouts and technics over the past couple of years to organize kids clothes. I thought I would share what I like doing when it comes to that type of organization.
Before becoming a parent, it always puzzled me how parents organized their children’s clothes. People kept telling me that when they had their children that there were pieces of clothes that they didn’t even get to wear. I wondered… Was that because the kids grew out of it all so quickly or because it was hard to see all of the clothing possibilities and options at a glance which subsequently meant that some were missed?
Once we brought our little one home from the hospital, I quickly realized that the nursery needed to be practical more than it needed to be neat, cute and well decorated. Every time I was putting away our little one’s clean laundry, I tried different options and layouts to see what would work best. I looked on Pinterest for visual ideas but nothing really “fit” until… I read Marie Kondo’s book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up” (I talk about the book here). I will share key points from her method. Let’s get started and sort through the clothes!
Get it all out!
Take everything out and sort to see what needs to be kept and what can be tossed out. Where ever you can find kids clothes, take it out and pill it up in one place. It might feel overwhelming at first but this step is very important. It’s important for you to see how much clothes your child has for you to visually assess if he or she has too much or too little.
Once that is done, try sorting the clothes and dividing it in categories. This should help ease the overwhelming-ness. Group the pants together, tops together, underwear, etc. Again, this is to visually see if the amount you have for each category is what is really necessary for your child.
Folding
Having your child’s clothes organized is one thing but having them folded in a way that let’s you see it all at a glance is genious and necessary, I can assure you! Here is where Marie Kondo’s folding method comes in.
The KonMari Method for folding is genius for kids clothes. That type of clothing is usually smaller than adult clothes which makes them harder to fold or to keep organized. The basis of Marie Kondo’s method is that once the piece of clothing is folded following the KonMari method, the piece will be visible even though the drawer is full because it can stand on its own.
Start by laying your piece of clothing out and look and see how you could fold it to make a rectangle. Once you’ve achieve your rectangle you will then fold it so that you can stand it up. That way, you don’t have to pill your clothes in your drawer and never see the clothes at the bottom. Additionally, if you use this folding method, you won’t have any issues pulling out a piece and having all the rest of the clothes coming out as well. Here is what I mean.
Pants
Here is how you would fold pants. As you can see, it’s important to start with your clothes in a rectangle shape to then fold it so that you can store it upright.
Tops
Shirts and tops are slightly different than pants mainly because of their initial odd shape. Once you’ve found your “rectangle” you are good to go. This folding method would also apply to t-shirts.
Underwear
It may seem silly to apply the KonMari folding method to underwear but trust me, you should try it out for a bit before you make up your mind. Once these clothing items are folded, it’s so much easier to rotate them and not always wear out the same ones.
Socks, stockings and thights
There is no such thing a “balling up” socks with this method. Marie Kondo is adamant that if you fold your socks instead of balling them up with the elastic from the socks that you socks will last longer. I’ve been folding our socks like this for a few years now and I’m not going back.
Storing
Now, to store all these folded clothes. Since you’ve already sorted, divided and folded your clothes, you should have an idea of what kind of space you need for each clothing category. With that in mind, consider this:
Where is the majority of your kids clothes stored?
- In a dresser?
- In a closet?
- In a night stand?
- Do you have clothes for all four seasons out or do you store some away?
- Do you have some clothes of bigger sizes for when you child grows up?
These questions should help you narrow down how much space you will need to store kids clothing. If you have them in more than one location within your child’s room, make sure to determine where goes what. Do your best to make the storing of kids clothes practical which will make it easier to remember where everything goes.
I personally find that the trick is to be consistent as to where things go. Then, it becomes a habit and a standard for you and your little one.
You’ll notice that I’ve been mainly talking about folded clothes. If you would rather hang you little one’s clothes, you go right ahead! You can organize hanging clothes as well as folded clothes.
Dividing items of clothes by colour can also make it easier for some kids to find what they are looking for, putting it away or even to match clothing items when getting dressed in the morning. Weather you fold or hang your little one’s clothes, grouping similar colours together will make it appealing and practical.
Here is what I did
Our little ones clothes are mainly stored in his dresser which is in his closet. The remainder of the closet is storage for other items such as blankets, bed sheets, hangers, etc.
He has a drawer for pajamas. Pajama tops and pajama bottoms are not separated. Each pair is stored together. I added a small basket to store his seasonal pajamas (pajama shorts and t-shirts for the summer and thicker long sleeve pajama tops and pajama pants for the winter). That way, the “different” ones are easier to find.
Here we have socks and underwear. I have contained these smaller pieces of clothing in baskets to keep them organized and divided. I personally like to group same colored socks together but I don’t do that with underwear. I simply do a rotation from the ones in front with the ones in the back when the front row has been emptied.
We have two drawers assigned for pants. That way, we can divide pants by colour or by material type. It makes its easier to choose clothing in the morning depending on the temperature for that day.
The drawer for shirts has both short and long sleeve shirts but I have divided them. Short sleeve shirts are on the left and long sleeve shirts are on the right. Also, you may notice that I have paired similar colored clothing together here as well.
I’ve also assigned a drawer for sweat shirts being that these are usually bulkier. In the summer time, I use this drawer to store shorts. By that time, some sweatshirts don’t fit anymore so I can discard them and it gives me room for a row of shorts.
Remember to keep some areas flexible for seasonal clothes if that’s something you would like to do or have as an option.
Organizing and Dividing
Use what you have on hand. No need to break the bank and get a closet organizer kit at your hardware store or expensive bins for your little ones dresser drawers. You can easily use old shoe boxes, cereal boxes or even snack boxes as dividers. If you have baskets that you don’t use, you can always paint them to match the look you are going for (like I did).
You can make what you have look custom by being strategic and creative with it. For instance, printed labels or image-labels for the younger ones can help as well (Bonus! It would look so good!). It gives them the independence to choose, put away and dress themselves on their own.
Moreover, you may want to consider going through the organization process of your child’s clothes with them close to you so that they can see what you are doing and why. Monkey see, monkey do right? Depending on your child’s age, you can also ask them for their imput as to where certain items should go and try to understand how their brain works and see what is practical for them. You never know, maybe this will give them an interest into putting their clothes away after you’ve washed the, right!?
Just so you know, it’s not a set-in-stone rule to implicate your child. If you want to do this organization project all by yourself, by all means do so : )
Extras and overstock
With many kids growing out of their clothes very quickly it’s practical to have an area designated to clothes that are too small as well for clothes that are of bigger sizes. Having those conveniently placed with all the cloths makes it easier to sort or find items of clothing in the right size.
Here is what I came up with in our little ones closet. I have a designated basket for clothes that are too small. When I notice a piece that no longer fits, I add it to the basket. Once the basket is full, I make a run to the basement to store it with all the other clothes.
I also have the other bigger baskets where I like to keep bigger sized clothing. That way, if I stumble on a good deal at the store, I can stock up and buy bigger sized clothes and have some handy when I need them.
This type of a project is mainly about maximizing the space you have and about being practical. I hope this post has given you the confidence to achieve the look and feel you are seeking for kids clothing.
Do you have any tricks to organizing kids clothes that you would like to share? Let me know in the comments below or share my post with fellow parent friends who may find this practical.
