As Homemakers there is a lot we have to manage and care for. Our clothing and the never-ending laundry piles that go along with it are no exception. It is easy to become overwhelmed by non-stop loads of laundry and kid’s clothing EVERYWHERE. The good news is – It is possible to conquer kid’s clothes and keep laundry organized & manageable- all while making sure they still have clean clothes to wear. Here are some tips for How to Manage Kid’s Clothes.
We are heading back to school soon and this is the perfect time to STOP, inventory kid’s clothes get rid of the stained, nasty items and refresh kid’s wardrobes.
This post may contain Amazon Affiliate Links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure at homemakingwithoutfear.com. Furthermore as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases.
It has taken us many years to develop a routine to keep laundry from becoming a thorn in all of our sides AND from letting it takeover kid’s rooms. Because after all we ALL deserve to ENJOY our spaces and not feel overburdened by CONSTANT loads of laundry.
I want to share FIRST how to keep kid’s clothes organized and under control . . .
THEN!!!
I will share what we do 4 times a year to sort, declutter and update wardrobes. ..
HERE WE GO!!
How to Manage Kid’s Clothes, stay organized & Prevent PILES of laundry.
1: Keep it MINIMAL and pared down to the essentials.
I know, I know all you Fashionistas instantly stopped reading but hear me out. Even the most fashion forward kiddos can enjoy wearing cute clothing but also keep a reasonable amount. The KEY is to figure out what is a reasonable number of each clothing item to keep on hand and create a Master Clothing List for each child. BE practical rational and methodical about this.
How to Manage Kids Clothes Well – Ask yourself:
- Do we need any special outfits? (church, events, sports?)
- Do we have different seasons to plan for? (winter gear or extra rain suits?)
- How often do I want to do laundry? (once a week, twice a week. . . )
Watch as I demonstrate this process with my own children!
Kids easily become overwhelmed by clothing choice. . . most of the time my kids will grab the same thing, their favorite thing over and over anyway. . . so PARE it down to the essentials and just enough items to wear in between laundry days.
For us we find doing 1 load of laundry per child per week the most manageable. Therefore we keep 1 weeks clothing on hand at all times, replacing worn out or outgrown items as needed.
When kid’s have LESS to manage it makes clothing choices less stressful and also ensures they have a place for everything to live!
Ask yourself for your lifestyle (or maybe the current season) what does your child actually NEED??
Pro Tip: Don’t leave the wrong clothing from the wrong season in with they regular clothes. . . keep them separate and put away. . . because they will always choose to come out wearing their favorite shorts on the coldest, snowy winter day. . . don’t even make it an option.
How to Manage Kid’s Clothes Master Lists:
Spring/Summer Weather – notice we need less socks and pants because we just don’t use them as much.
- T-shirts – 5
- Long Sleeve Shirts – 2
- Pants – 2
- Shorts or Skirts – 5
- Socks – 7
- Underwear – 7
- Lightweight/rain jacket – 1
- Swimsuit – 1
- Sweatshirts – 2
- Pajamas – 2
- Nice shirts or dress outfit – 2
Fall/ Winter Weather: we add more pants, less shorts/skirts and add winter gear. . . notice we still keep one swimsuit just in case we travel or go to a waterpark.
- T-shirts – 5
- Long Sleeve Shirts – 2
- Pants – 5
- Shorts or Skirts – 2
- Socks – 7
- Underwear – 7
- Lightweight/rain jacket – 1
- Swimsuit – 1
- Sweatshirts – 2
- Pajamas – 2
- Nice shirts or dress outfit – 2
- Warm/winter jacket – 1
- Winter gear: 1 hat, 1 pair gloves, 1-2 pair warm socks, 1 pair snow boots, 1 pair snow pants
All of these numbers are just a suggested amount for each item. Feel free to customize this to YOUR family’s needs. For some this may seem a lot but I know for many of you this will seem like very little. THAT is the point! . . I encourage you to just TRY it for a while, make adjustments if needed.
YOU MAY ASK: What if they get dirty? What if they get wet??? . . . .
The beauty of this method is that if your kid’s have “nothing to wear” it is time to do laundry and there will be room in closets and dressers for clothes to go right back into rotation!! BONUS: even if EVERYTHING THEY OWN is dirty. . . it will barely make 1 full load of laundry!!!
BAM! We may have just SOLVED the laundry dilemma!
Sign Up for the Homemaking Without Fear Community and I will send you the cute, PRINTABLE Master Clothing List to help you inventory, sort and GET YOUR KID’S CLOTHES UNDER CONTROL.
2: Give EVERY article of clothing a home.
Listen to me Momma!
YOU are not failing. The clothing & laundry SYSTEM is failing you!
Finding a home for kid’s clothing will depend on a few factors. . . your living situation, the age of your children, the space in their rooms etc.
For example we are in a rental and so we don’t have dressers in the kid’s room right now. They have a bunkbed with 2 underbed storage totes (1 for each kid) and 1 rolling closet rack tucked between the bed and the wall. EVERYTHING they need (with the exception of jackets that hang in the entryway) must fit in these spaces.
Will a dresser in each kid’s room will work for you? Perhaps cubbies in the closet with a little bit of hanging space is best?
Maybe all the clean clothes go into one basket and your child dresses from there. Or do you prefer that all clean clothes are kept in the laundry room? Think outside of the box and the traditional dresser in every room. What is easiest and makes sense for YOU?
My point is there are lots of ways to store clean clothes, you just need to pick a method that works for you and make sure all clean clothes go right to their home. The good thing is, if you stick to the Minimal Master Clothing List. . . you won’t need a TON of space for clothes.
PRO TIP: I HIGHLY recommend labeling kid’s clothes storage areas. While simple, it is amazing how well this works. Kid’s easily “forget” where things go or get decision fatigue every time they have to decide where best to put something away. If you have a tag or label for them it makes it simple and straightforward. They can put things away accurately and most of the time without your help. For kiddo’s who can’t read yet try printing a picture of the item.
3: Make sure each child has THEIR OWN laundry basket.
DON’T MIX various children’s dirty clothes. Give them each a hamper or basket. Maybe let them design and draw their name on it! Whatever get’s them excited to take ownership of their basket. . . Put it in their room or somewhere that is EASY for them to get to. . . maybe the bathroom or laundry room? Make it something they don’t even have to think about.
Now establish ground rules. Dirty clothes ALWAYS go into the designated dirty clothes basket. If something is barely worn it gets put away.
If you find dirty clothes where they shouldn’t be make sure you prompt the child to put it where it belongs . . . even small children can help put their clothes away properly. Reward them with verbal praise or a hug or whatever your child prefers.
4: Get your kids involved.
Maybe you set a once a week laundry day for each kid OR you just wait until they “don’t have anything to wear” . Either way it is the PERFECT time to teach a great life skill if all their clothes are dirty it shouldn’t be more than 1 load of laundry. . . .
Even a toddler can help push, pull or drag a laundry basket to the laundry room for you to help start it washing. . . Older children can certainly wash, dry and put away all on their own. . . maybe you help set a timer to remind you/them to move to dryer?
As soon as the clean clothes come out teach them to put them away.
Let go of perfection! Putting away does not mean they have to be folded!!
Give yourself a break. . . Maybe it’s easier to hang most everything? Or maybe they simple sort and toss clothes into labeled drawers or bins.
We all know that folded clothes never last in kids drawers anyway right!? Lower your standards for kid’s clothes . . .as long as they put the clean clothes in their designated homes it will save you tons of folding time and ensures clean clothes are still available and easy for them to find.
5: Inventory and CULL clothing Regularly.
Now that you have a Master Clothing List, have gotten your kids involved, have tackled the dirty clothes routine and have set up a put-away system that makes the most sense for you. . . you MUST routinely inventory, cull and replace kid’s clothes.
Oh man you mean to tell me that we have a beautiful system it won’t just go-on forever??
Nope! I am sorry to say that as the months wear on you may feel things begin to slip or get messy again. . . kid’s get clothes on vacations, holidays, birthdays, camps, from friends. We must take inventory of what they have and declutter regularly.
PLUS you and I both know that when we don’t . . . they will choose the rattiest, nastiest article of clothing when getting ready for church! Am I right?!
Make sure you only keep clothes that are in decent condition. . . don’t feel bad about tossing anything that has served it’s purpose.
I recommend doing this at least 4 times per year or whenever things feel out of control (you will know) . . . At the beginning of each new season is a great time but also after and before school years, after Christmas or before summer. It is amazing how fast they grow out of things and clothing pieces accumulate.
If you feel things are getting messy again. . . it is time to take inventory and CULL!
When it is time to take inventory, get out your Master Clothing List and go through the kid’s clothes.
We live in NW Montana so we have 4 pretty distinct seasons. It makes sense for us to do this at the end/beginning of each season. I help the kid’s SORT all the clothing, get rid of everything that is stained, torn, worn outgrown and not worn.
Be ruthless with this and if your kids are old enough do GET THEM INVOLVED!
How to Manage Kid’s Clothes by taking inventory and culling items!
Start by gathering every article of clothing (clean or dirty) and making a large pile for each kid.
If they are old enough have your child do this. . .ask them to go through the large pile of everything and simply make a keep pile and a “get rid of” pile. . . It doesn’t matter at this point WHY it is in the get rid of pile. You will go through it later. Just have them do a quick sort.
Now go through the keep pile for each child and sort into like items, add anything that is too small or too worn to the get rid of pile as you go. Fold if you like but compare what they now have to your master list and compile a list what they need.
Make a shopping list for each child if anything is missing.
Now move on to the get rid of pile. Have a garbage bag and a large box handy. Sort the get rid of pile into trash (which goes in the garbage bag) and donation items (which go into the box) . Maybe you note with this method that most of the clothing ends up in the trash bag and that is OK . . .having less clothes means items get used and will likely wear out!
PRO TIP: As soon as you have sorted the donation box put it immediately into the front seat of your car so you DO NOT FORGET to drop it off at the donation center!
Checkout My YouTube Video where I DEMONSTRATE How to Manage Kid’s Clothes and prepare for a new school year!
Hey friend,
Having too much stuff, specifically clothing can be so stressful for not only you but also your children. Too many decisions and too much to care for can just be overwhelming. I hope these 5 tips to Manage Kid’s Clothes will help you to get control of this situation, avoid laundry overwhelm and just give you more time to spend with your family! While necessary, there are certainly more important (AND FUN) things to do than non-stop laundry.
Shop some of my FAVORITE Laundry Organization Ideas on Amazon!
This post may contain Amazon Affiliate Links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure at homemakingwithoutfear.com. Furthermore as an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases.
Enjoy Another GREAT Home Organization Post! How to Clean & Organize your Refrigerator
How to Manage Kid’s Clothes: Pin it for Later
