Organizational Tips: hand-me-down clothing

If you have kids, you fall into one of two categories:

1. you are done having kids
2. you want more kids

If you are done having kids, quit hoarding keeping every dang outfit your precious spawn has ever worn for “sentimental” reasons, and refer to this post on how to decide what to keep and what to donate. If you want more kids and fancy the idea of using hand-me-down clothing, then this post is for you!

I’ve learned that if clothes are tossed into trash bags or cardboard boxes, then stuffed into the back of closets or an attic, they get forgotten, therefore defeating the purpose of saving them in the first place. For example, I bought a cute pair of Vans sneakers for my son (in the next size he was to wear), then stuck them on a random shelf, and forgot about them. By the time I re-discovered them, they were about 3 sizes too small. Oops.

So, I present to you Reason # 542 why storage bins are your friend. If you’re saving the clothes so your other kids can use them (not just to hoard), I’ll let you know how I handle things.

1.) Only save what you think the next kid will actually wear. If something is stained, ripped, stretched out, or tacky, no need to keep it. Baby Brother doesn’t need to LOOK like he only wears hand-me-downs. That’s like playing favorites with Big Brother. Not nice.

2.) I don’t save things that won’t be used within 3 years. I’ve found that after about 3 years, clothes tend to discolor, elastic gets crispy, stuff goes out of style, etc. I don’t really want my kid to look like a ragamuffin, savvy?

3.) Separate by size, so you don’t have to constantly re-sort. Then label the storage bins. Nathan is 5.5 years older than Noah, so I don’t save his clothes – I pass them on to friends. I do keep Noah’s clothes for Jonah, and Jonah’s clothes for Josiah. Again, I don’t keep clothing that is stained, ripped, stretched out, etc. So, only keeping “nice” stuff, I separate by size and label the bins. For example, these 6 bins…

…are separated into the following sizes: 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, 18-24 months, and 2T. I go ahead and mix warm and cold weather clothing into the same bin, because often the seasons overlap. Where I live, some months (such as November, March, etc) are weird. One day will be 70 degrees, and the next day will be 40 degrees, so I mix seasonal clothing. As the baby of the family outgrows the smallest size, I pass those clothes along to a friend (keeping sentimental outfits, of course). Then I replace the “0-3 months” label with the next size the big brother has outgrown, such as “3T”. It’s an ongoing process. The 6 bins remain, but the labels change.

4.) I like clear storage bins so I can know what’s in them at a glance. Notice the photo above? Without even opening the bins, I can tell you I have plenty of size 3-6 months, but I’ll probably need to buy more size 12-18 months, depending on how many stains Jonah gets on the stuff he’s wearing now.

5.) Also, this should go without saying, but keep the bins in a place where they won’t be forgotten. The attic sucks for a variety of reasons (out of sight thus out of mind, possibly squirrels or other critters, evil spiders, extreme temperatures, basically just gross, etc). Store the bins in the bedroom closet, right above where the current size is hanging.