5 Tips For Storing Kids Clothing

hat  |  top  |  jeans  |  grey baskets

If you are growing your family, you know what a time and money saver it can be to recycle your children’s clothing for the next one.  Especially in the baby stages, they grow out of things so quickly that most clothing only gets a few wears anyway.  But saving baby and children’s clothing for another child poses the task of storage.  So today I’m sharing a few tips + tricks to storing kids clothing to help your home organization up! 

Before you make a plan for storing kids clothes, take into consideration a few things. First, how quickly are you planning on adding another child to your family? If you don’t have plans to or its going to be a ways down the road, your storage options are going to be much more long term. Another question to consider is if you have the space to store the items as well. 

Storing your kids clothes for the future  may not be for everyone, but it certainly is a cost-effective way to clothe and care for multiple children! If you’re ready to store and save, here are my top five tips for making sure it is as useful as possible!

under the bed storage bins:  here  |  here  |  here + here

: CONDITION MATTERS 

Hand-me-downs get a bad rap, especially if they look like hand-me-downs.  The way I make sure that my younger children are excited and feel like they are getting new clothes like their older siblings is by making sure that anything that is saved is in like-new condition.  This means it cannot have stains, stretches, fading, or tears.  

: BUY QUALITY 

When buying clothing for any of our children, I’ve learned that buying quality is key (but not always).  I feel like there have been years when my kids are in a new size of clothing every three months and so to be able to keep up with that can be pretty pricey, especially if you’re buying high quality items.  But I think that it’s important to choose pieces that are built to last, especially if you’ll be saving them for multiple children. 

It should be noted that I don’t think it’s important to buy expensive pieces for babies.  Because they grow so quickly, there really isn’t opportunity for the clothing to get overly used anyway so it’s easier to save for another.  I’d recommend considering this route after the size 2T:

Buy To Last:

• Jeans and Denim
• Dresses
• Nice Shirts 
• Coats
• Hats
• Shorts and Skirts
• Sunday Clothing

May Not Last:

• Pajamas
• Socks
• Leggings
• T-shirts
• Loungewear

some of my favorite weatherproof bins

: WEATHERPROOF BINS 

Once you’ve gone through the clothing your child has gone out of and made sure that what you’re keeping is in great condition, I’d recommend folding clothing carefully and placing it all in weatherproof bins.  Whether you’ll be keeping the clothing in or outdoors, it likely won’t be touched for at least 1-2 years so it makes sense to make sure that the bin you use will not be affected by elements.  You can even place mothballs or anti-deterioration products inside the bin for added safety.

: LABEL EVERYTHING

You know how I feel about labels! Make sure you can easily see from the outside what size of clothing and what gender (if applicable).  This makes it much easier to pull what you need and not go through unnecessary bins. 

: STORE SHOES SEPARATELY 

Depending on how wild your kids are in their shoes, my boys can tend to destroy their sneakers, you may or may not be saving shoes for the next child.  I’d recommend making sure they’re in good condition and storing them in their own weatherproof bin.  Because it’s not apples to apples that a child will fit in the same size clothing and shoes as the last, this is the best option I’ve found to easily store clothing and shoes.

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. . . SHOP MY FAVORITE ORGANIZATION BINS . . . 

I hope these tips are super helpful when it comes to storing your kids clothes! What are you go to tips?