Tips for Organizing Your Kid's Clothes

Kid's and organization are two words that are hardly ever used in the same sentence. Face it, kid's just want to have fun. Organization is just not a priority. Adult's tend to get overwhelmed and exasperated at the thought of disorganization. Sometime in our early 20's the thought clicks in our brains, organization, the key to EVERYTHING! Everyone knows that organization is a trial and error kind of thing. Everyone has to find their own system or style of organization. While we might be at our wits end trying to get our kids to understand just how important the concept of organization is, there are a few things we can do to help make it a little easier on us, and possibly teach our kids good organizational skills in the process. Here are a few ideas on how to keep your children's clothes organized and ready for use.

Storage areas. Organize your children's clothes storage area for easy access. Designate each drawer in thier dresser for certain types of clothing, a simple system makes it easier for children to understand. Closet spaces can easily be modified to maximize space by using space savers, bins or shelves. Keep in mind that anything you put in there will probably be used as an inside jungle gym so make sure its sturdy and if necessary, nailed to the wall of the closet to avoid injury by. Put the items that they use the most down low so they are accessible without a lot of rummaging. Instead of leaving shoes in the box, pair them off and place them on a shelf or shoe organizer that can be hung from the closet bar or back of the door. Hang the nicer stuff towards the back of the closet, that way they won't be as tempted to wear them for dress up or to impress their friends. Another good idea is to separate school clothes from play clothes and put them away accordingly.

DOWNSIZE. This can't be stressed enough. How many outfits do they really need anyway? If they have an abundance of barely used clothing, have a yard sale, give items away on a recycling internet site or take them to good will. Pack ratting may just be the down fall of the American family.

Store seasonal wear. Most people have two wardrobes, warm weather and cold weather. Organizing this can make it so much easier to handle the work load in the laundry room. Kids will change outfits two or three times a day based only on the fact that what ever they are wearing is too hot or not warm enough. Leave out just a few outfits for odd weather wear and store the rest in bins. Seasonal wear should be gone through at least twice a year. When the average daily weather changes to where its going to be mostly cold or mostly warm.

Get rid of all that stuff that doesn't fit. About once every three months or so, go through all the kids clothing and eliminate all the stuff that doesn't fit any more. If there is something worth saving for a younger child doesn't quite fit yet, store it all in one bin and put it towards the front of where ever the seasonal clothing is stored. This way it's accessible if one of the kids has an unexpected growth spurt and its the first thing gone through when eliminate unwanted or unneeded items.

Odds and Ends. All kids have odds and ends, hats, purses, jackets they love but don't really need. Find somewhere out of the way but still easily accessible for the children to get to them. Put all of their belts on one hanger so they take up less space in the closet, plus these are mix-n-match items for many outfits. Purses, hats, spare jackets and scarves are easily sorted by using peg racks that can be placed on the wall inside the closet, on the closet door, on the back of the bedroom door, or even designate one wall in the room for several peg racks so that the kids have easy access to all their accessorizing needs and the room stays fairly organized. Back packs and book bags can be stored like this too. Other accessories can be easily stored in small stack up bins in the closet or on top of the dresser or even in one drawer in the dresser.

Dress up stuff. Place all their dress up stuff, costumes, old timey clothing in one place. Either a big bin in the closet with the toy box or a shelf is just fine for these types of items since it doesn't really matter if they get completely destroyed or not, the kids will wear them until they are thread bare and have to be throw away because the little sequins keep falling off and getting stuck in the vacuum cleaner.

Get rid of the stuff they don't wear because they don't like it. It's true, children actually do have some sense of style and if their closet is full of stuff they don't like to wear because it's not "cool" or maybe just because its itchy or ugly, they will dig to the bottom of the dresser to find something they do like leaving all the unused items bunched up in the dresser or strewed across the room as they try each item on and discard it. Give these items away or have a rummage sale. There is no sense in wasting the space on them even if they are just the cutest little outfits in the world.

Eliminate items they will only wear once. Lot's of us have clothing items that our child will only wear one time for a special occasion, what do we do with it then? Some items have special meanings such as christening outfits, baby's first Christmas sleeper, a really nice outfit bought for school pictures. If they aren't going to wear these again, get rid of them. These items can be stored for posterities sake or for a long distance grandchild that may come along, that's fine, just get them out of the closet. Something that is going to be stored for a very long time should be prepared by a professional dry cleaner to be sealed properly and stored away until wanted. Remember wherever these items are stored should be a temperature controlled and dry climate. Other items can be donated or consigned.

Now that we've got the organizing done, how do we keep it that way? Practice, practice, practice! Teaching kids to use a new organization system might seem hopeless at first, but with time and persistence they will learn it at least adequately. It has been said that it takes someone doing something 120 times for it to become a habit. Sooner or later,the kids will catch on and will probably like the fact that all their things are where they can find them. The best part is knowing that the kids have learned an organizational skill that will last throughout their lifetime.