Typical Suburban Family

To follow up on my previous post How to Organize Baby Clothes, I thought I would share some additional tips and tricks I’ve discovered over the years.

1. Pack clothes away by size.  Be sure clothes don’t get tossed in the wrong bin because you may miss the opportunity to use again if a 3 month outfit is packed with 6 month clothes and by they time you come across it your child has outgrown that size.  Bummer.  I have some outfits that are labeled 6 months for example, but ran very small and I used them with the 3 month clothes.  I pack outfits like that away with the 3 month clothes so that next time around I won’t miss using that outfit at the appropriate time.  Use your best judgement on where outfits need to go.
2. Pack clothes away clean.  This goes for either the clothes your child has outgrown or are yet to grow into.  I would have thought this was a given, but I’ve heard from so many people that they don’t do this.  Plan ahead folks.  Isn’t it much easier to just know all those clothes are clean already and don’t need to be washed.  Especially if you’re in a hurry and want to dip into a future bin and grab something quick.  Don’t get me wrong, they may need to be freshened up a bit if they’ve been packed away for a long period of time, but overall they are clean.
3. Fold the clothes.  Don’t just toss things in a bin.  Fold them.  Organize them.  You’ll be glad you did this 2 years later when you need to use them again and they aren’t all wrinkly and messy.
4. Organize by boy versus girl clothes.  Don’t mix the clothes together in one bin because down the road you may only need to pull your boy clothes out and you don’t want to have to go through all the girl stuff too just to get what you need.
5. Last, but not least, Label your bins!  You can see my previous post and download some free organizational printable sheets, or you can purchase stickers similar to the ones I use below.  They can be purchased in any color scheme.

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If you take the time up front to do these steps, it will make your life so much easier later.  You can’t predict when you may need these clothes; for what purpose; and what else will be going on in your life at that time.

It also makes it easier if you are ultimately going to consign your clothes.  Consignment sales typically want your cloths organized by size (and sometimes season!).  They need to be cleaned as well.  If all you have to do is pull out a bin and start labeling them, it will save you a lot of time.  Consigning can be a tedious and time consuming project, but it can pay off in the end when you receive your consignor’s check.

Now, go ahead and get organizing…..