PLEASE help sibling (twin) clothes organization

[Melaine]

So my identical twin girls are almost 9.

Much to our chagrin we are still in our first home which is about 1400 sq. ft. We have limited closet space/storage.

We homeschool, so that means more stuff, close quarters, more time spent at home, more time together.

DDs are really struggling with conflict with each other. When we are not at home, their conflicts are fairly minimal. 95% of our issues happen because of sharing a space, items that are communal or shared, doubles that might not be kept separate and clothes whose ownership can't be pinpointed. Also, I am frightened to say I am seeing signs of impending adolescence, increased worries about appearance, clothing etc.

One of my daughters is particularly perfectionist and we also have some anxiety issues with both of them. DH and I are brainstorming (again) on how we can limit conflict with the shared space.

I am open to any and all ideas. It's a small room, they have to share. No getting around it. Also, we can't afford to just buy a bunch of cool stuff to sort and organize, unfortunately money is as tight as the space.

So my plans so far:
Pull out all clothes: give away too small, too worn. Sort all items by owner. Label EVERYTHING with stickers or sharpies. Two different hampers. Laundry will be washed separately. All shoes labeled, two different spots for shoes. Possibly drawers?
Purge unneeded items. There are a couple categories particularly: hair items/jewelry and books that are really in need of purging. Other than that, we keep it fairly minimal as we have done a lot of purging already.

I'm interested in setting out outfits a week in advance but I'm not convinced that this will work well given our erratic weather. I'm seriously at my wit's end with the bickering over clothes. PLEASE help!!!!

[daisysmom]

I grew up with two sisters in a 1,200 sq foot house and one brother. I always shared a room, and often shared clothes, until I went to college. You said "When we are not at home, their conflicts are fairly minimal." Instead of changing things at the house and in the room, is stopping homeschooling an option -- meaning, are you finding that their needs may be better met in separate classes at a school? Or if not that, how about separate outside activities for afterschool? My DD is in the 3rd grade and we see that the twins are now consistently separated at her school. They don't have joint birthday parties either (which were the norm in K and 1). We find that they do separate playdates and activites too.

[Melaine]

I grew up with two sisters in a 1,200 sq foot house and one brother. I always shared a room, and often shared clothes, until I went to college. You said "When we are not at home, their conflicts are fairly minimal." Instead of changing things at the house and in the room, is stopping homeschooling an option -- meaning, are you finding that their needs may be better met in separate classes at a school? Or if not that, how about separate outside activities for afterschool? My DD is in the 3rd grade and we see that the twins are now consistently separated at her school. They don't have joint birthday parties either (which were the norm in K and 1). We find that they do separate playdates and activites too.

I grew up with two brothers and a sister and I always shared a room too. I was actually homeschooled as well ;-)
Twins are different from other siblings. Girl/Girl twins are different from boy/girl twins and identical girl/girl twins take it to a new level. I honestly don't think someone who hasn't experienced twins can understand. (I don't blame you for not understanding....it's just comparing apples and oranges to talk about siblings and twins.) Very different dynamic.

Obviously, we have discussed the pros and cons and we will continue to homeschool at this time. I am not going to change the path of their education because they can’t decide whose jeans are whose. My post is in cleansweep because I am looking for organizational ideas.

[petesgirl]

Well, no experience with twins... But on the organizational front, the ideas you posted are where I would start. Definitely get rid of unused items. And definitely label every. Single. Thing to help with the arguing. Is it possible for each to have separate clothing/ toy storage also. Even if it's one shared closet, split the space and designate an area for each.

[mikala]

Re: the sorting and organizing purchases, I've found a bunch of bins and things like over the door shoe racks at the dollar store. I've also covered cardboard boxes in pretty wrapping paper layered with contact paper for higher use areas in closets. It takes a bit of time but is very low cost. If you find you do need more bins and such it's definitely do-able on a tight budget. Our Target also has a bunch of back to college dorm organization on sale for 50% or more off.

[belovedgandp]

I just have boys in similar sizes but just to free up my headache since they owned many of the same t-shirts and such, we did separate laundry baskets and never mixed those two with anyone else. I'd throw DH's stuff in but that was easy to sort out.

Same for shoes, I had metal beverage tubs and your shoes needed to go in your tub.

Biggest thing was always putting things away in the moment.

[JenChem]

For shoes I love these low profile ikea storage boxes: http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/30256424/
http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/90178174/
http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/90248426/

[Green_Tea]

I don't have twins, but do have two daughters who are one grade apart, they share a room, and our house is even smaller than yours .

Two dressers, physical closet dividers, label all clothes with names. I stopped buying matching (or even coordinating) clothes as soon as they were old enough to express an opinion about what they wanted to wear. Sometimes they DO choose the same things when we shop, and that's cool, too. I think your other ideas are good ones.

At age 9, they can be individually responsible for their daily outfit choices without adult input. I wouldn't go crazy with outfit planning.

I think that as twins AND close-in age siblings get older, they do start to want to differentiate themselves. I realize that twins have lots of their own idiosyncrasies, but I wouldn't be quick to throw out the advice that some time apart from each other would be healthy for them. My girls really like each other a whole lot more when they get breaks from each other. You might find that encouraging your girls to explore different interests might make them more likely to cooperate at home.

[Aishe]

Re: the sorting and organizing purchases, I've found a bunch of bins and things like over the door shoe racks at the dollar store. I've also covered cardboard boxes in pretty wrapping paper layered with contact paper for higher use areas in closets. It takes a bit of time but is very low cost. If you find you do need more bins and such it's definitely do-able on a tight budget. Our Target also has a bunch of back to college dorm organization on sale for 50% or more off.

I second the rec to check out dollar stores. The Dollar Tree has some great bins and other storage containers in cute colors. I'm thinking you could color code everything (i.e. get one dd all green bins and the other all blue bins) to help keep things separate. Then you could label clothes with just a dot in the same color.

This blogger/vlogger has great tips for using Dollar Tree containers for organization.
http://www.doitonadimeblog.com

[KrisM]

I thought this was a nice idea for picking out clothes for the week: http://herewegoajen.com/organizing-s...y-of-the-week/
Gives them a spot to stick pajamas in the mornings too.

ETA: A friend just posted this type of thing on FB tonight. Weird. Anyhow, she says it works well for them. Her kids are 1, 3, 5, 7. She fills the drawers for the youngest 3 (all boys) and she and the 7 year old girl do it together. She says sometimes her daughter swaps from a drawer and wears Wednesdays clothes on Monday or whatever. She is fine with any of that, as long as it's still weather appropriate and gym day appropriate.