How do you organize your DC's clothes?

[acmom]

My kids clothes are currently split between their closets and dressers. Howeve, I find they make a giant mess finding clothes in the drawers. I tried the hanging shelves with an outfit for each day, but neither used that system too well.

How are your kids clothes organized and stored?

[lalasmama]

School clothes on the right side of the closet. Non-school clothes on the left. Undies, socks, jammies, and out of season clothes in the dresser.

School clothes are hung in mom-approved outfits as needed (ie, her black skinny jeans are hung with her black tunic because its the only shirt that works, but regular jeans and shirts are hung separately).

[lmwbasye]

I usually have all clothes in the closet except PJs, undies, etc. In this house, we have very very very limited closet space and we now also have uniforms that include button down shirts, ties, etc. so I have uniforms hanging in the wardrobe (along with a few nicer shirts/sweaters) and the rest are in their dressers. It is driving me mad. Every time George gets dressed, there are clothes everywhere from him digging through stuff but not sure there is much I can do since their uniforms take up the whole wardrobe (they share one).

[Melaine]

I am open to any and all suggestions! I was just browsing pinterest for ideas on this. We have a terrible time. I finally went to ikea and couldn't find the mid-size hangers I've been told about anywhere. So I still have the problem of adult hangers being too big and baby hangers being too small. So clothes fall out of the closet into the floor. Then the shoes are covered so everything gets to tossed around like a big salad. We also have a tiny dresser and a tiny closet for the girls to share and it just isn't enough. I tried doing a system for about a week where we pick our outfits out ahead of time but I am starting to think I just need to lock the closet and make them let me open it when needed. I think that's the only way to prevent the disaster that is on repeat at our house.

[Dream]

I try to hang them by outfit as much as possible. I had lot of hangers from Carter's etc the kind you can hang an outfit and I also bought more from staples. Love their outfit hangers. Things they wear in the house are folded on he bottom, and school and outside wear gets hanged. Socks, tights, undies etc goes in the drawer which gets messed up all the time. I HA don't found a way around it yet.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Does pulling them straight from the dryer or laundry basket count? The kids have so many clothes yet I'm drawn to a select few. As soon as they are clean, they get worn. I pull clothes out of the laundry, lay them out to wear in the next few days, without putting them away.

I do have everything in a dresser though. Everything is mix and match- no outfits to keep together. Shirt drawers (one for long, one for short sleeved), bottom drawer, undies, socks. Uniforms in the closet.

[anonomom]

We use the large multi-purpose bins from the Container store, because the girls have a big closet. One bin each for short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, pants, shorts, jammies, underwear and socks. Dresses get hung.

The bins do get messy, but at least the mess is contained. And it keeps me from buying lots of new clothes when I see that a bin is already full.

[wendibird22]

DD1, 6yo, has 2 dressers. One has pjs (one drawer for summer/short sleeve and one for long sleeve) and play/soccer clothes. The other dresser has:
1. one drawer underwear
2. one drawer socks (rolled with it's match)
3. one drawer shirts, separated by long sleeve and short sleeve this time of year
4. one drawer pants, separated by capri and long pants this time of year
5. one drawer skirts, skorts, and dresses
6. one drawer hoodies

I don't hang anything because DD can't reach the rod and I'm trying to get her to be as independent as possible. The drawers get straightened on laundry day or as needed but honestly the shirts end up a balled up mess most days. I've tried to relax my standards there and really just get her to do the tidying weekly. During the school year she picks out 5 outfits and lays them out on top of her closet maid 2x4 shelf. This keeps us from arriving at Friday with nothing to wear because she doesn't like the choices left or everything is mismatched.

[lizzywednesday]

I hang dresses & blouses but everything else is in the dresser. (We have the 3-drawer HEMNES from IKEA.)

Underwear, socks, tee shirts, and headbands in the top drawer. Tees are sorted by ROYGBIV and separated by sleeve length.

Jeans, pants, leggings/jeggings, and PJs are in the middle drawer. PJ's are arranged with the type most seasonally appropriate in front, so for warm weather, it's short johns in front, long-johns in back. Pants are on the left; PJ's are on the right.

Extra sheets, blankets, towels, and washcloths are in the bottom drawer.

ETA: After realizing a lot of you think of things as "outfits," the folded-in-drawers system works for us because I think about DD's clothes as separates. (Only buy neutral, solid-color bottoms, though I did splurge on some green jeans ... but they'll coordinate fine with at least 2 tops!!)

[hillview]

DS1 has a big IKEA dresser (Hermes?) and it has 6 good size drawers. Each drawer has a labelmaker label on it (on the outside, it looks ok but yeah it is labeled).
1) unders, socks
2) PJs
3) short sleeve shirts
4) long sleeve shirts
5) shorts
6) pants

Makes it easy to find stuff, easy for anyone (including house cleaner) to put things away. easy to know when you are out of something.

[maestramommy]

Like yours, split between the dresser and closet. They know which clothes go in which drawer. Top draw, under wear, socks, tights. Middle drawer, daily clothes, bottom drawer is a catch-all for extra jammies, swimsuit, and ballet stuff.

It's a bit messy because they now fold their own laundry and put it away themselves. But they do know where to find things, they just have to root around a little for the particular style they want. But whatever, I don't have to do it anymore, it's up to them and maybe they'll eventually realize they don't want to wear wrinkled clothing.

[BabyBearsMom]

The only thing in the closet are fancy dresses or things for next season or that are too big. In her dresser I have a drawer that is 1/2 socks and underwear and 1/2 PJs (I put baskets in the drawers to separate). Then I have a drawer that is all of her regular clothes. I fold outfits together so that the pants/skirts are folded inside the shirt/dress/tunic (makes it easier for DH when he is dressing them). Then I have a pile for shorts/pants/skirts and shirts that aren't part of any outfit. DD1 is super tidy so she doesn't like to muss around in the drawers. Then I have a drawer that has all of her shoes on one side and all of her sweat shirts on the other. Then I have a drawer that is full of DD1's toiletries. The top two drawers are for clothes that are either out of season or too small and I haven't had time to go through them to see what I'm keeping for DD2. DD1 can't reach the top two drawers.

DD2 has a three drawer dresser. The top drawer is pajamas, the middle drawer is clothes (folded in the same fashion as DD1's clothes) and the bottom drawer is either clothes she has outgrown that I need to send to goodwill or clothes that she hasn't grown into yet left over from DD1 that I have recently brought up.

Yes, I am a little OCD.

[A1icia]

I hate clothing chaos too!

We hang up the majority of clothing in our house.


For DS I organize his closet into 3 sections (it's all on one rod, I get clear plastic hangers in kid size like in the dept. stores from only hangars online - I get regular for tops and clip ones for hanging shorts/pants):

1. Everyday Tops - sorted by type (t-shirt/polos/button-downs) and then by color

2. Everyday Bottoms - loosely organized by type

3. Special Items - these include anything I don't want DS or DH to put him in (saving for something specific generally) - like an outfit I'm saving for pics or holiday or dressy clothing. I have an empty opaque suit bag on a hanger acting as a divider and keep this stuff at the far end.

For shoes he has an over the door organizer which also has room for accessories like bucket hats and sunglasses. Hanging on the outside of door are hooks for hoodies. In the bottom of his closet are 3 stacked under the bed bins for storage of out of season clothing. Plus his laundry basket. On the shelf above the rod we store his humidifiers and extra bedding/blankets and have plenty of space for the odd oversized item (rain boots and a straw hat currently).


He also has what I would call a small to medium size dresser with 4 drawers (all the same size):

Top: Sweaters and any special items I don't want to hang (fairly empty for the summer!)

Second: Socks & Swimwear - I have it divided but otherwise a jumble. To help with socks I limit the brands/types. For summer only white ankle from Gymbo. For the rest of the year a couple pairs each in white, brown, navy of Gap triple rolls plus lots of patterned socks from Boden.

Third: PJs - generally a jumble. But I limit to 7 max which helps.

Bottom: Underwear - always a jumble! But we are still working on PTing so he has a lot of extras as it's the one place I'll let him get cheap character stuff from target and then there are the nice trainers I out from the Hanna outlet.

The drawer order is a bit odd but it's what evolved and it works well for a 3 yo who must pick out his own underwear and PJs "all by myself" and likes to help but away his clean laundry.


Oh, and outerwear, including heavier hoodies goes downstairs.


I'm pretty agressive about pulling clothing no longer suitable for wear and keeping organized with a running inventory which helps keep it all under control.


ETA: I tried doing outfits but both DH and DS would completely ignore - now I still buy in "outfits" but know there will be lots of mixing so I try to make sure there are lots of good mix & match options for each piece.

[Neatfreak]

I finally went to ikea and couldn't find the mid-size hangers I've been told about anywhere. So I still have the problem of adult hangers being too big and baby hangers being too small.

They're in the children's section, not where the adult-sized hangers are, if that helps.

We're temporarily in a small apartment while our house is undergoing a pile of repairs, and my two kids are sharing one closet and one chest of drawers. Those drawer organizer cubbies from Ikea have helped a bit, but the clothes are still everywhere. I think that having both summer and fall clothes out right now is part of the problem.

[egoldber]

Both kids have a large dresser and that is where most items are. In the closet are dresses and special shirts that I don't want folded in a drawer, but the result of this is that these do not get worn very often!

Both kids I just organized the drawers the way the clothes best fit. :)

Underwear and socks are in bins and share a drawer.

ETA: Both kids wear separates and not "outfits". Most of their bottoms are solid and can go with almost any top.

[ilfaith]

Button down shirts, jackets, pants and uniform polos are hung in the closet. Jeans are folded on a shelf in the closet. We don't have as much in the way of "outfits" anymore, but those that we have (dress suits, track pants with matching jackets) are also hung in the closet. Everything else is in dresser drawers. PJs, underwear, socks, long sleeve shirts, short sleeve shirts, polo shirts, bathing suits, shorts all get their own drawer (or, as in the case of tees and shorts--of which we have loads--two drawers...one for nicer tee shirts/shorts and one for "play" aka "not for school" tee shirts/shorts).

[almostmom]

For us, almost everything is in a dresser. I can't imagine hanging up clothes after they come out of the laundry - too much time involved. It only takes me a couple of minutes to put folded clothes in dresser drawers though. And the kids can find what they want easily.
one drawer for pjs, undies and socks
one for short sleeves
one for long sleeves
one for pants/shorts
one for dresses and skirts (for DD), sports uniforms for DS

We don't have much space so closets hold bags of clothes for the coming seasons, along with winter jackets and extra bedding, as well as some rarely used toys. The kids' closets are not easy for them to access (one door sticks, one is wedged between the end of the bed and the wall so often blocked). Dressers, if they are big enough, work best for us.

[acmom]

Thanks! Glad we are not the only ones with this issue! I am thinking maybe we need a new dresser for DD (her current one is a hand me down - one of the tall nursery dresser/wardrobe types with small drawers on one side and a cupboard on the other). Any recommendations of dressers that work well for kids rooms? I noticed several of you mentioned Ikea. Thinking maybe a shorter dresser but with wider drawers might help.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Like a pp, we really like the tall Hemnes. Well made and fits a ton.

[acmom]

Like a pp, we really like the tall Hemnes. Well made and fits a ton.

Do your kids have trouble reaching stuff in the top drawers?

[KrisM]

Shirts are hanging in the closet. DS1 is tall enough to reach his easily. DD has a weird closet with the bar at only 4', so she's tall enough. DS2 has a double hanging rod, so his shirts are low.

They each have a dresser.
DS1 has 6 small ish drawers - swim suits, underwear/socks, pajamas, and the last 3 are either shorts or pants, depending on the season.
DD has 3 bigger drawers - socks/underwear/leos, pajamas and pants or shorts (off season), pants or shorts (in season)
DS2 has 4 drawers - socks/underwear, pajamas, shorts, pants

It works. The drawers tend to be messy as they just shove clothes in at times. I go through and neaten them at times. but, they're all able to put away their clothes in the right spots without difficulty.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Do your kids have trouble reaching stuff in the top drawers?

Ds2 would but I always pick out the clothes anyway.