Now that it’s getting a little cooler, my kids are looking for their long sleeved shirts and pants and leggings. Time to change over the clothes. It’s a task that takes longer than you might expect but if you follow a few steps you can not only organize their dressers and closets so that they can find what they are looking for, but you may save money by only buying what they actually need. What you’ll need: a few sturdy shopping bags or heavy duty kitchen bags, approximately 50 gallon clear bins (1 per child), 1″ painter’s tape, a Sharpie, note pad and pen.
1. Working with one child’s wardrobe at a time, take out all the shorts and short sleeved shirts and tanks and summer dresses. I do leave a few short sleeved shirts (especially for my son who will wear them year-round with a long sleeved shirt underneath) and I do leave a few sports-type shorts for the kids, ie. soccer shorts and for gym.
2. Sort these clothes into two piles. Use the shopping bags or kitchen bags to hold the clothes that won’t fit next summer, and one into a clear bin for next year. Put a piece of painters tape on the top of the lid and along the side of the bin and label. I label with the child’s name and season. We get hand-me-downs from older cousins, so I label the bins with the child’s name, season and age. If you get hand-me-downs too or if you shop a season ahead, guesstimate the child’s age when the clothing item will fit him/her, don’t go by the size of the clothing. This is particularly important when you are storing baby clothes. Our youngest daughter does get hand-me-downs from her big sis, and those clothes go into a bin and are labeled for her.
3. If you’ve done something like this last year, pull out the clothes for that child for that season. Take another look and discard any items that look dingy or too small. Hang up fall/winter clothes or put into dresser drawers. I like to hang as much as possible because I think it’s easier for them to see what they have and make a choice than to rifle through neatly folded clothes in their drawers, because they won’t look so neat after they rifle through them!
4. Assess what your child has for fall/winter clothing and make a list of what’s needed in his/her wardrobe. It’s easier and more cost effective to shop this way when you know exactly what they need.
5. Repeat for each child and if you’re feeling really ambitious, tackle your own wardrobe next!
Where to donate clothes and toys coming up next….
