I need some organizational advice/help. I still have ALL of Boo's and Yaks' clothes from birth to present*. I dutifully boxed up outgrown clothing and put them up in an old diaper box (I know this isn't ideal, but it's been a cheap solution), and labeled it with the size/gender of the box's contents. The problem is, I'm running out of room with a set of boxes for each gender and size. The diaper boxes were great, but now they are just odd sizes, and some are jam-packed with clothes (12-18 mos) and others are half-full(0-3 mos.) and let's face it -- the boxes are pretty ugly. The kids are growing out of their clothes left and right, and my storage room is becoming a safety hazard!
This is exactly what it doesn't look like.So, here's what I need to know:
1.) How do you sort your clothing? (by size or by season, or both? Do you put shoes in with the clothing?)
2.) What do you store them in and how do you label it?
3.) How do you utilize your storage space to fit all of the "stuff" when you don't have a lot of storage
space?
4.) How do you decide what to keep, and what to throw/give away?
5.) Any other advice or tips would be appreciated.
Thanks, Friends!
*Once we find out the new baby's gender, I think I'll do some serious tossing.
This is exactly what it doesn't look like.
8 comments:
I buy the vacuum seal space bags - they now make them in canvas and they are see through (love that). I sort by season and size. I know it sounds like a lot but now that "magoo" is out of all of the clothes "bug" wears it helps me find clothes for "bug." Shoes - once they are outgrown - if they are really well worn I toss them (mainly because it means their foot is molded to the shoe and that is not good for the next kiddo to wear); if they have only been worn for Sunday's or special occasions I put them in the box in which clothes they were wearing them with and then label the box something like these - Spring/Summer 0-3 months, bonnets, hats and shoe size 0-2.
I hope this makes sense!
I only have boy clothes, so it's a little easier. I use clear bins, all the same brand and size so they are easy to stack. I combine the smaller sizes (one bin is newborn-6 months) and did start separating by season once Little Man was old enough to be in one size for more than one season. After Bug went through them I gave away anything decent that I didn't want and only kept a few things so we aren't storing so much.
Hope that helps!
My storage is in terrible shape, so I'm not qualified to comment, but from traveling I know the vacuum seal bags work wonders for storing in small spaces. Good luck!
I do what LTrain does.
Amy, I have done the EXACT same thing as you have done. We really have no storage space either. Lately, my husband has been trying to persuade me to get rid of a lot of boxes. Maybe we will do a huge spring cleaning and just save some of the outfits that are sentimental.
I sort by size, in the same brand/size large storage bins (so they stack nice) and label them on the outside. I keep the boy and girl clothes separate. I don't save a lot of the shoes, they get so hammered. I look forward to the day when my final decision is made about have more kids or don't have more kids. Because then I am going to save the sentimental, favorite, memorable clothes and make a quilt or something for memory sake, then take the bulk of the clothes to my friend's children's consignment store and recoup some of the $$$ I have invested in those TWELVE (and counting) huge containers of clothes. :) One more thing I do is try to be very selective about what I store. If it's looking quite 'worn' already, I give it to Goodwill. Then I'm not storing stuff that I will likely throw out rather than put on the next kid. Good luck.
Amy, I know I already told you what I do but I did want to mention that I also have a bin or memory box for the those extra beautiful or sentimental dresses/outfits I just can't part with. Sadly, for the boys, Emma's bin is about 10 times the size of the boys for this stuff. I have 1 or 2 dresses from each each age so far. For the boys I have their blessing outfits and then 1 or two other things. Oh, well. Doubt they'll care much when there grown and I hand them the stuff.
Really, it is not easy to store growing kids clothing!! I sort them by size... I have enough storage space!!
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