10 tips for organising kids clothes

Last Updated on August 30, 2024

Getting kids dressed can be stressful, if you can’t find clothes for them to wear, or if you find clothes they don’t want to wear, your stress levels can become unbearable. Luckily, organising kids clothes is something that makes getting kids dressed less of a chore.

If you’d like to do some kids clothes organisation in your home, here are 10 tips that will not only make getting out the door with kids easier, but will minimise your stress levels as well.

Declutter first

Decluttering kids clothes is a great way to not only organise kids rooms, but also organise kids clothes.

You can do this by taking all of your kid’s clothes out from where they’re stored, and sorting them into the following piles:

• Clothing that no longer fits, or your kids won’t wear
• Clothing that won’t fit when it can be worn (for example, shorts that won’t fit next summer)
• Clothing that’s damaged and can’t be repaired

For each pile decide if you’ll keep the clothing, sell them, donate them, or throw them out.

Put your sell items away so you can sell them when ready, put donate items in a bag and then in your car, and throw away damaged items.

Your keep pile is what you’ll need to organise, which can be done in any of the following ways.

Make it easy

My top tip for organising kids clothes is to organise them in a way that’s easy for everyone to maintain.

This isn’t always easy to do, because what’s easy for one person to maintain, may not be easy for another, or may not be the way someone else wants to organise them.

For example, I like to keep a tidy house, but my sons don’t.

So when it comes to organising their clothes, instead of putting things away neatly, and then being annoyed when my sons make a mess, I now organise their clothes in a way that’s easy for them to maintain.

This means no longer folding their clothes when I put them away. Instead, I place their clothes in boxes unfolded by category, so they can easily find, and put away their clothes, and make as much mess as they want when doing so.

Organise in categories

Organising kids clothes in categories, as mentioned above, means storing similar items together to make things easy to find and put back.

For example, this means storing jumpers together, trousers together, t-shirts together, jumpers and t-shirts together etc.

Store out of season clothing

Storing out of season clothing in an area separate from the clothes your kids currently wear, frees up a lot of storage space, and makes kids clothes organisation easier.

Some ways to store out of season clothing include:

• Using under bed storage containers
• Using vacuum bags
• Having a dedicated out of season wardrobe

Store outgrown kids clothes

Kids grow so fast, and if you have younger kids, or friends with younger kids, storing outgrown clothing means you can pass clothing on so they can be worn again.

One way to store outgrown kids clothes is to put them into a large plastic container marked with the size of the clothing on the front.

For example, labelling a large plastic container as 1-2 years, another container as 2-3 years etc.

Store the outgrown clothing container away from the rest of your kid’s clothes, and add to it whenever your kids outgrow something.

Once your outgrown kids clothing container is full, use it once a younger kid needs it, or when a friend’s kid needs it.

Use over door storage

If you don’t have space for a wardrobe or drawers, there are alternative storage solutions for kid’s clothes that you can use.

One of these is over door storage, which is storage with pockets that you can hang on the back of a door to store shoes, socks, tights, underwear, vests, school ties, or even hair accessories.

Use labels

Using labels is a great way to organise toys, as well as organise kids clothes, because they allow your kids to easily find and put away their own clothing.

If you have younger kids, using labels with pictures instead of words means that they can get into the habit of finding and putting away items of clothing themselves.

Organising kids clothes in wardrobes

If using wardrobes to organise kids clothes, there can be a lot of wasted space due to their clothes not being very long.

To maximise wardrobe space, you could do the following:

• Use slimline hangers
• Install an extra rod to hang more items
• Use stackable boxes or containers underneath hung items to store folded items, or accessories
• Use storage baskets that your kids can reach

Organising kids clothes in drawers

Organising clothes in drawers can be time consuming if you’re constantly refolding items, or putting items back where they belong after your kids have gone through them.

To save your time and your sanity, there are many drawer organising ideas that can help you to keep your kid’s drawers neat, or you can fold clothes and store them vertically, like you would file paper in a filing cabinet, so your kids can find what they need, without moving everything else.

Be flexible

Organising kids clothes, just like organising any part of your home, is an ongoing process.

Giving your kids time to get used to organising their clothes, being patient while they’re learning, and being flexible by changing the way you organise your kids clothes as your kids get older, and their organisation needs change, is the best way to keep on top of kids clothes organisation, so it doesn’t become unmanageable.

There are many ways to organise kids clothes, and the way you choose to do it may change overtime.

The best thing to do when organising kids clothes is to have a wardrobe declutter first, once done, you can decide on the method of organisation that best suits you and your family.

This may mean organising kids clothes in ways that you and your kids can easily maintain, storing clothes by category, using labels, and changing how you organise your kids clothes over time.

You may also decide to store out of season clothes, or clothing your kids have outgrown, use alternative storage like over door storage if you have limited bedroom space, or better utilise your wardrobes and drawers so you can fit as much in as possible.

How do you organise your kid’s clothes?