Q&A: Clothes maintenance

Jaymie writes:

"What's your system for clothes maintenance? I'm having a hard time keeping on top of what fits which kid when, and knowing what to do with the clothes that are 'between kids' at the moment. Tips, please?"

My "system" for clothes maintenance is to sincerely wish every night that some magic fairies would come and sort it all out for me.

Clothes--specifically socks--are the logistical bane of my mothering existence.

My alleged system involves panicking every few months that my kids' clothes all seem to be too small, and culling the too-small clothes from both drawers, and putting them in those big clear plastic containers for storage. Then pulling out the one with clothes that might fit my younger son, and having 20 minutes of nostalgia about those clothes and when the older one wore them. Then I text my kids' dad about the fact that we need to buy more clothes for the older one and more than we thought we'd need for the younger one (How does that always happen?). Every 9 months or so I send a box of too-small-for-everyone clothes to one of my BFFs for her son.

Someone must have a better system to share with us.

I refuse to believe that my reactive instead of responsive system can't be improved upon. So if there's anyone out there who thinks s/he's got it down, please, please post how you work it. I'm guessing Jaymie and I aren't the only ones struggling.

Comments

[Shandra]

This is so apropos because I am spending part of my holiday sorting out my storage room and dealing with these kinds of issues.

So I have an imperfect system too but I don't really think there is a perfect system. Mine is:

Laundry day - anything with holes or horrifying stains gets tossed; anything that was noticed to be small gets put in a bin that lives in the closet until it is full.

Seasonally - really twice a year - we sort out and box & label the rest, and crack open any hand-me-down bags from cousins.

[Shannon]

I do the same thing with the plastic tubs labeled with each clothing size. I feel like you have to do it a lot in a "four seasons" climate.

My biggest problem is that I never, ever, ever put my folded laundry away. It just goes straight from the laundry room to our bodies.

[Kate]

I would upload photos of our non-system if I weren't so completely mortified by it.

[Jen R]

I probably have more space in my midwest condo then you do in NYC... so this might not work for you, but here's what I do: I buy ahead clothes as I find them on clearance or at garage sales. I store those in plastic bins by size in our basement. Then I keep another bin in our son's closet and throw clothes in there as I find pieces that are too small. When it gets close to being full, I go through all of the current clothes and look for any pieces I missed, then close up the bin, label it with the sizes, and stuff it in the basement too. When a friend's kid gets to be that size, I can either just hand them the whole bin to borrow, or pull out whatever they need.

[Clare]

I store clothes by size in old diaper boxes stuffed under my older son's bed. Not the most aesthetically-pleasing system, but it mostly works. I have two boys, so I do keep everything that's in decent shape once my older boy grows out of it, for my little one to grow into. I am also keeping all the baby/toddler clothes, just in case....

I buy most of my older boy's clothes on-line at the end of the season (Land's End overstocks FTW), when the sales are fantastic and the shipping is free. I justify the higher cost with the fact that almost all of the clothes last long enough for the little one to inherit them. The little one doesn't get nearly as many new clothes, poor guy, but I do get them on-line, on sale, when it's feasible.

[Amanda]

I do the same thing with the bins in the closets--just throw anything that no longer fits in the bin. I participate in local consignment sales quite a bit though, so I unload a lot of the non-fitting stuff that way. I also buy a lot from the consignment sales. I buy clearance clothes as I see them...I live in MS, so chances are, if it's a short sleeve shirt, my son will be able to wear it at some point!

[Judy B]

I too stuff those vacuum seal bags full of outgrown/wrong season clothes, and stack said bags under a desk in my son's room. I'm 90% certain we won't be having another kid, but that 10% uncertainty makes me hang on to those silly bags of clothes! Seems like 2-4 times a year I'll go through the drawers, mostly based on seasonal needs.

Luckily we've been living on hand-me-downs and Grandma's generous trips to the Carter outlets, but think once we get to 3T, the hand-me-downs will stop. Seems like boys get too rough on their clothes at that point!

[Elizabeth]

I do the same as Jen R. I keep a bin in each kid's room (under the crib or in the closet) for their current size and throw in anything they outgrow. Periodically (usually when the baby goes up a size) I sort and put it away in long-term storage.

The only trouble comes when the top and bottom half don't match - my 3.5 year old is a 4T top and barely 2T pants.

[Brooke]

I have found that having lots of socks that match helps prevent a full sock drawer, but no pairs.

Other than that, I have no system, but I need to start getting rid of outgrown baby clothes.

[My Kids Mom]

I'm a bit ocd on this.

Each boy has ONE type of sock. One has green words on his white toes, one has blue. They don't need any other styles or colors. It might be harder with girls.

I have boxes in their closets marked "too big". When I'm given hand-me-downs, I try to put them in the appropriate box for the kid. When the older one wears something too small, it goes in little brother's "too big" box. (Or, more likely these days, onto little brother's back!) When the younger one wears something too small it goes immediately into a give away pile.

I can't convince my kids to remove something that is too small once they've put it on. So, I reach into the back of the shirt and put a safety pin on the tag. When I see it in the laundry, I know to pull the item from the rotation in the closet.

Seasonally, I pull out the "too big" box to see what will work for the upcoming weather change for each kid.

I usually get rid of clothes as soon as they're no longer needed, but I admit to a box hidden in the storage area with baby clothes I couldn't give away. If I could quilt I'd save some favorite t-shirts through the years too.

[hydrogeek]

This is the bane of my existence. I have the bin for the outgrown clothes in the closets, I have the hand-me-downs, I have the storage space, I just don't have the time to deal with it all. I shoot for a system like Jen R., but end up being very reactive rather than proactive. I'm planning to spend some time over Labor Day weekend getting this under control. Again. Frustrating.

[Stephanie Schwab]

Our clothes from one single two-year-old are threatening to take over our entire third floor. We got tons of hand-me-downs and have shared with younger kids and received piles back, along with lots of stuff that wasn't ours to begin with. I don't know who I'm saving these for; I plan to cull out the collection and at least only keep the "good stuff" - adorable, clean outfits; handknits and the like. Ha. We'll see when that happens.

[Erin]

Like many posters, I keep plastic bins in the basement with clearly visible labels (though my husband did the last round of organizing and decided to ignore the size labels on the infant onesies and instead did some kind of intuitive system which makes me crazy). The few clothes we've bought for older son ahead of time go in the bottom drawer of his chest (which also means we have a place to pull out long sleaves if we need them off-season). The second I see something is too small for either child, I pull it out of rotation and put it in the basement bin. I don't think of the weather as 4 season (though we live in a place with four seasons) but rather two seasons. I just keep a few long sleeve or short sleeve shirts/ pants in rotation throughout the opposite season for mixed weather or travel.

I also keep a stain stick in the upstairs bathroom, so when I undress them at night, any serious stain can immediately be treated, instead of waiting for wash day. We love dirt and berries at our house, so stain management is a must.

Once I decide if we're done having children, I'll pull out a few things that are too precious to give away (especially hand-made gifts) to keep for grandchildren (gulp!) and give the nice things away to friends with babies.

[Rhiannon]

This is slightly off topic, but I feel I need to say something. I really don't like getting hand-me-downs from friends and family. We just don't have space in our urban condo to hold all of these clothes, and I don't know how to say "no." I find it very stressful every time someone sends a box because there is just nowhere to put the contents. Please make sure you are giving your hand-me-downs to someone who really wants or needs them, and give them an easy out (i.e. "I'm sending a box to Goodwill. Do you want to look through it before I send it?").

[ML]

YES! This is also the bane of my existence and I find that I have to take a vacation day here and there to get on top of this.

Clothes for the future for DS go in a linen closet in the hall (overstuffed). Clothes for the future for DS go in the bottom drawer of his armoire.

As I notice clothes that are too small (usually while I dress them or sometimes in laundry) I fold them and toss them on top of a big, messy pile on the chair in my bedroom, to be sorted and put into big plastic tubs in the basement (and then what? I don't know, perhaps until I have enough free time to sort them to give away? Until my basement floods and I have to get rid of everything?). I do however stuff some really special clothes (ie: handmade, stuff I love) in some (messy) boxes in my closet, in hopes that I will give them to the grandkids or make a quilt out of them.

[ML]

Oops, I meant to write that clothes for future DD go in the linen closet.

[ML]

And I also agree with Rhiannon--I hate hand-me-downs from other people (as well as big bags of new clothes from my mother, who works in the garment business and squirrels TONS of clothes that I don't particualrly like for me and the kids) just because I hate the sorting and figuring out where things need to live. Plus I like choosing my own clothes!

[Heather/Cobblestone]

I'm a one and done with no friends with younger same-season kids.

Too small gets thrown into the unused 2nd bathtub to be donated when the tub gets cluttered looking.

One type of socks and no socks memorial to labor day.

[SarcastiCarrie]

I love free clothes. I love getting boxes and bags of them. It's like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one frugal dream. I hate shopping, so having a clothes fairy magically appear with clothes is womderful. I also don't care what we wear so we'll take anything (though there were a few pieces my mom picked up at a garage sale that had lace on them that I did not make my boys wear).

I have learned which of my friends and family appreciates hand-me-downs and which don't. I no longer send clothes to the people who don't want it. Someone actually told me it was stressful to get a big box of clothes. I didn't understand, but I nodded and mentally noted not to give her anything. I think she felt as though she needed to return the clothes and couldn't keep straight who had given her what.

[Ami]

I buy the vast majority of my daughter's clothes second-hand, and most of them in big batches from eBay. Search for "lot" plus the age and season - you can get 30 to 50 very cute pieces at a shot. I think these lots are less available in bigger sizes, though.

Currently a recently purchased batch of fall/winter clothes is waiting in a plastic bin under the crib for cooler weather to arrive; another plastic bin is half-full of clothes she's outgrown. Some larger hand-me-downs from her cousin are in another bin in the basement waiting for her to grow into them. We're planning on a second child, so we'll hang onto this stuff and re-use what we can; the rest will go back on eBay, to friends if any of them have kids by then, or to Goodwill.

[multimomma]

I love hand-me-downs as I am cheap, cheap, cheap. On kid #3, I finally wised up enough to ask people not to give me anything they wanted back, as keeping track of which item to give back to whom was making me batty.

[CrazyMama]

I love these kinds of posts. We have one boy and one girl with a third on the way. I used to keep almost everything and then once I was swamped with clothes I got a system.

Now I only keep favorites. If I didn't really love it the first time, chances are I won't put it on a second kid. And I figure I'm lying to myself if I think I won't buy anything new for second kid. I donate the rest.

For clothes that don't fit yet, I have one bin per kid in each of their closets. I have the worst luck buying ahead. One kid grows too fast, the other barely at all which leaves me with out of season clothes. I could use some pointers on this.

My last rule is to keep only one bin per year per kid. It also helps me to loan out whole bins to friends with younger children. I'm looking forward to the teenage years when the kids can sort through their own clothes!

[carmen]

I also utilize the "Moxie Method" on our clothing. Our boys are 2.5 years apart and we live in KS so seasons switch quickly. We're only a few weeks from the day when I freak and do the same thing. Luckily I have some BFF's with boys who are constantly passing me things for my older boy. It makes it seem like I'm always fishing through piles and piles of unsorted clothes though. And I'm already super disorganized so it drives me nuts. I always like it when we're firmly "mid-season" and I know there's no clothing switching coming up soon...

[Jamie]

RE: getting rid of clothing
I absolutely hate this as well, but have come up with a kind of "system." I store all clothing that my middle girl has outgrown in closet bags underneath the beds in multiple bedrooms. I then take them out when the baby is ready for them. I take the clothes that my baby has outgrown and put them in one of two large ziplock garbage-type bags in my closet (one for donation, and the nicer one to sell at the fancy kid's consignment shop in the City). When these are full, I drop them off. My older son's clothes, as the only boy, gets sorted into these two ziplock bags as well, and some of his t-shirts are saved for his younger sister in storage.

Re: buying and storing clothing
I am sort of a benign hoarder when it comes to the kids' clothing because I don't want to be caught needing to run out and buy them a bunch of clothing for any given season. So, I generally store "too big" clothing a year in advance. All of these clothes are placed in large plastic bags which are labeled and stored in the closet. I also break it down into "Winter" and "Summer" so I don't have to re-sort the clothes once I am ready to swap them out. I usually swap out clothes twice per year-- leaving some long sleeve shirts and pants available for all seasons. So, with three children, generally I have a year's worth of extra clothing for my older two broken into four bags in the closet. The baby's clothing comes from closet bags under the bed that are full of clothes from her older sister. The clothes that we don't need anymore are stored and donated in various ways (see above).

I cannot stress enough a few things that have worked great for us:
1) buying clothes in advance-- if you buy at the end of the season, clothing is much cheaper! Also, I collect clothing at consignment shops throughout the year so I never have to do a major shop. It's also the way I buy holiday presents :)

2) as the poster above stated, put a stain remover in all of your kids' bedrooms so you can just treat the stains when you take off the clothes and you never have to worry about pretreating the clothes in the laundry room. This saves so much laundry time and keeps the clothes in much better shape.

Clothing for three kids is still a total PITA, but this system works for us.

[Cloud]

My system works great in theory.... when I notice something is too small, I put it in the "too small" space in the kid's room- for Pumpkin, that is the top shelf of her closet organizer. For Petunia, that is in the drawer under her crib. When that space gets too full, I sort the clothes by size into jumbo size zipper bags, and then store those in boxes or plastic bins in the garage. Pumpkin's outgrown clothes are saved for Petunia. Petunia's outgrown clothes are put in the "to donate" pile.

When Petunia is close to ready to move up a size, I go retrieve the appropriate bags and wash the clothes and then put them out.

When Pumpkin seems to need new clothes, we go shopping- I do a lot of that online these days. We also pick up random things on sale, at garage sales, etc ahead of time and store them in a big plastic zipper bin on the top shelf of her closet.

In practice, it seems like I'm always dealing with f#&%$ing clothes. Petunia never has enough room in her drawers for things (we need to buy her a new wardrobe, rather than using the old dresser we had on hand). Pumpkin is in a phase where she's perfectly capable of going potty at day care but chooses to have "accidents" at home (telling us, I kid you not, that the "pee is having his dinner and doesn't want to come out" when we ask he if she wants to go potty) so we seem to need an unbelievable number of bottoms for her. And don't even get me started on the laundry. Or the shoes. My god, Pumpkin is hard on her shoes.

[Dawn]

I have a combination of clear plastic bins and diaper boxes with clothes in them, things that the older girl has grown out of, but that the little girl can't wear yet. I try to keep them sorted by size, but eh, it doesn't always work out.

When the little one grows out of things, I put them in diaper boxes (again, I attempt to sort by size), so I can pass on to her cousin. I think that's probably going to stop, though, because even though the cousin in almost 18 months younger, I think she's going to be in the same size as our girl by the time she turns 2 next spring!

Like Carmen said above, I feel like I'm always fishing through boxes of clothes.

I do keep a few things that I'm sentimental about in a separate box in my closet.

As far as secondhand clothes go, I have no problems with them, but I don't like it when people give me stuff in bad condition. When I give clothes to people, I do try to make sure that all the pieces of a set are together, outfits are matched up, everything is clean and stain free, etc.

[Cloud]

Oh, and @Erin- my favorite baby clothes that I just couldn't get rid of... a lot of them are now enjoying a second life as clothes for Pumpkin's rag doll.

[Summertime]

You all sound so organized! Doesn't anyone else have the make a not necessarily hidden pile in the parents room/I swear I'll get to it later system?

I actually do have a sort of rotational system but am a terrible procrastinator. I was sooo proud when I finally went through everything a few months ago for the first time in forever and decided to what to keep for future kid #2 and what to donate and got it all boxed up, FINALLY... and now we have five boxes of stuff that have yet to make it to the family shelter donation box on our (covered) back porch. One procrastinated step at a time I suppose.

[Cece]

I'm also obsessed with this - as pretty much all my kids wear are hand-me-downs or huge lots of second hand clothes that I buy. I also totally understand how you can get overwhelmed with big boxes of handmedowns comgin at you - and I HATE It when people want stuff back. I have one SIL who does this too me - but her clothes are too cute to resist, so I mark the tags with a little star and that makes it easier to sort later.

I used to just put them in a box and deal with it 'when I had time' (HAHAHAHA), but that went badly and cute things got missed.

I have a almost 2 year old boy, with no one to hand down to, and a 9 month old girl with 3 available baby girls to hand down to.

For both - for the future sizes, whenever I get a box that needs to be sorted, I sort it out by size, and then on the outside of the box, I mark what is in it (x number of shirts, jeans, whatever) so if I get the opporunity to grab some clothes of that size cheap, I can look to see if I already may have plenty of those. For instance, I have 33 long sleeve 3T shirts. This system was needed!

For my son, the minute he outgrows stuff, I throw it in a box, clean. I still havne't figured out what to do with it... I was bringing it to consignment - but that was a PITA. But it's also painful to just donate... although easier when most of it is hand me downs.

For my daughter, the minute she outgrows something, I figure out which baby girl will be able to wear what it is, and then I put it in a diaper box for that baby. I always tell the people I'm giving to that the stuff is theirs to do with as they wish. If that hate anything, just toss or donate.

If I get really overwhelmed with a random hand me down bag, I will give ti to my cleaning ladies! They love that!

[BlueBirdMama]

I've been saving all my son's clothing since he was born (he's now 3.5). Stage 1 is a "too small" bin in a cabinet in his room; Stage 2 is flat storage boxes under my bed (this is also where my maternity clothes live, or, alternatively, my non-maternity clothes since I'm prego again). I never had to deal with hand-me downs (I'm only child and the first of my cousins to have a kid) and though I do shop sales and consignment (love Lands' End overstocks, too!), I've always been able to keep the volume of "current" clothes under control. My only trick, if you could call it that is to buy a size or two up and let his clothes be baggy w/ rolled up pants legs for a while (along with his shaggy surfer hair-do, it works for him). Some of his jeans and t-shirts he's worn for up to a year this way.

Just found out I'm having a girl. After talking with other Moms I decided it's not entirely realistic that I'm going to put the little one in her brothers jeans and polos and stick a bow on her head and be done with it. So I need to go through everything and save some basics (onesies, plain t-shirts, gender neutral items) and maybe a handful of favorites for posterity/grandkids/baby#3 and donate the rest. Even if I have another boy someday, by then E.'s clothes will be 6-7 years old...I'd probably do better selling/giving/donating them now.

I'm pretty ruthless with my own wardrobe-- I have a very pared down closet and, other than the maternity clothes and some ski clothes, don't store any of my own clothes (we live in NorCal, so seasonality isn't as extreme). I like http://www.unclutterer.com for solutions on how to keep closets (both kids and adult) organized and pared down.

[r0ckaby3]

Even though I have two boys, they are 4 years apart, so I refuse to save clothes. We donate/sell at consignment, then buy new ones on consignment/sale/clearance for the current year.

I do have one of those space bags with a few little memento outfits/shoes from when the boys were itty bitty, but that's all I have saved.

[HereWeGoAJen]

I've been saving everything so far, but this can obviously not continue forever, as we are only up to 2T sizes with one child and I have three boxes.

[Charisse]

OMG, you all organize your children's clothes? I knew there was a reason I needed a hidden identity on this site. I basically do spring cleaning & fall cleaning, buy some stuff in the next size when there's a sale...and rage twice a year at the fact that the entire effing apparel industry runs on some idealized East Coast concept of seasons. So when Mouse outgrows her corduroy pants during a freezing June, all that's available is tank tops; and ditto for sundresses in October.

I have a great friend who also has an only daughter, to whom I pass on everything that Mouse doesn't absolutely trash.

[Lumberjack]

I admire all you moms' mad organizational skills! But... I'm feeling like a bit of a spendthrift as a result. I don't like hand me downs or the piles of new Carters clothing we get from my inlaws. I never say I don't like them because that is so ungrateful and I know it gives my inlaws pleasure to buy baby clothes. My own parents ask me to forward BabyGap items to them so they can purchase online. As a result, my son is always dressed in BabyGap, nothing outrageously expensive, but more so for sure than my inlaws and local friends' kids have.

People make comments on what a clotheshorse I am and how my son looks like he came out of a catalog. I wear the same things over and over though, barely ever buy myself clothes. I feel kind of snobby and guilty when folks make these remarks and when I groan inwardly at the goodwill of hand me downs and those new clothes I can't see my son wearing. I guess I am a snob! Dang, I won't admit it to anyone though.

As for the organizing, I like all these tips! I donate clothes to the battered women's shelter here and also trade at the baby store- a huge box of new clothes equals a play pen for me!

Hope other secret snobs speak up. Of course, I wouldn't be such a petty clotheshorse if my parents didn't request my BabyGap clothing lists every month!

[Donna]

2 girls, ages 3y and 9m. I have a complex system of tubs and drawers in their closet (which is a closet to die for!), all labeled w/the appropriate sizes. I buy ahead for the older one and store those by size also. So far, I have held on to things as the baby grows out of them, although I'm pretty sure that we won't have another child. And if we do have another, s/he will wear the same 3 outfits in rotation b/c the youngest child always gets screwed. Haha. I joke b/c the baby has never worn a pair of shoes, yet she has several handed down from her sister. Also, to make things easier, the baby wears her sisters socks (if she wears socks at all). Luckily (I think?) the girls are only about 5lbs apart in size and I expect they will weigh about the same within a year and they can share clothes until they are old enough to realize just how terrible it is. :)

[Creatingbalance]

I have no system, I have diaper boxes full of clothes too small and clear bins of clothes, I have a basket of new items bought on clearance that i hope have timed right and boxes of hand me downs in the next size up. I was just recently thinking I need to get a handle on this situation. I do love hand me downs for every day wear and then I can splurge on something really cute from Boden kids!!

[Paula]

No helpful system to offer, just a "thank god" i'm not the only one with a sock problem. I currently have ten unmatched single socks, for my 18 month old, lined up on the dresser. In the morning, in a mad rush before daycare, I scour the house in the vain hope that a match will turn up. When that fails, I ponder which two singles are at least in the same colour family. Where did all the other socks go?? I've decided that stealing single baby socks from someone else's laundry is a masterful way to drive someone completely crazy.

[Camilla]

I paid $30 to my church to have someone garage sale shop on my behalf (there was a services auction fundraiser, and I trolled for such help), since my kids are old for my peer group, and we don't have a great many sources of hand me downs.

It worked out nicely and I suspect I'm set for two years of snowsuits and shirts, though pants seem to wear out on boys before they make it to the used market.

I am in the "stuff the outgrown stuff into any of the plastic bins it might fit in" and the related "dump three bins on the kitchen floor and paw through them all for what you want" school of management, though.

[Kim]

You all organize your kids clothes
? I do spring cleaning & fall cleaning. I have no system!

[Cloud]

@Lumberjack- it is your (and your parents)' money, so I say dress your kid how you want. It will all come crashing down soon enough, when the kid starts insisting on choosing his own clothes, right? The people making those comments probably spend their money in some way you think is crazy.

My kids wear a mix of hand me downs, Carters, Target, Old Navy, Baby Gap, Hanna Anderson (talk about pricey but man do those clothes last), and incredibly cute stuff my New Zealand in laws send over and I'm glad I don't know the cost of.

[Charisse]

@Lumberjack, honestly, Mouse often could have stepped out of a Mini Boden catalog. They're similar to Hanna Andersson in terms of pricey but can take a beating, and both she and I like them. (I do love the Hanna Andersson playdress/daydress combo too.) I don't know that I'm a snob but at the moment we're in a fortunate situation and can afford it. When that was less the case, I bought a lot of things at Children's Place megasales - super cute but don't last quite as well. Other times may require other strategies.

It's funny, Mouse was actually just offered her first ever hand-me-downs from a 3rd-grader that she admires and she was super excited because having M's clothes would be like a present. We gladly accepted.

[BlueBirdMama]

@Charisse: you must live in the SF Bay Area; I've had the same problem looking for warmer pants and long sleeved t-shirts in June (eventually found them at Lands' End Overstocks btw). Clearly there are no local buyers at the big chains to deal with our micro-climate!

@Lumberjack: I'm not a brand snob, but I am a style snob-- in fact, I haven't told my in-laws I'm having a girl because I'm scared of he tidal wave of pink ruffly princess gear that will immediately follow (delaying the inevitable, I know, plus eventually she'll beg me to buy it anyway). When people give me stuff I don't want, I smile, say 'Thank you, how sweet of you' and either (a) put it on only when the individual in question is around or (b) donate it immediately.

I'm lucky enough to live in a city that has a Zara and that Zara has a kids' department as does the H&M-- the clothes are dirt cheap (even cheaper than Target, often) and v. Euro & hip. That being said, I've found stylish but thrifty clothes for my son at cool kids' consignment stores in our area, Target, Old Navy, Lands' End (esp. overstocks) and, yes, Baby Gap (the sale rack at Baby Gap is amazing).

The weird thing is, I have no problem shopping for my kid and am constantly on the lookout for deals (I don't actually end up spending that much money on his clothes and his wardrobe is not too voluminous)...but I *hate* shopping for myself.

[Missy]

I also go through everything seasonally (twice a year really) and try to do it early - like a month or so before the weather changes. There's nothing worse than having the first cold day and finding out your toddler has absolutely no pants!

I label bins with stuff to be saved for the next kid, pack away garage sale items, and bag up things to be donated. I grab a notebook and jot down who needs what and also make a note of what we don't need (so I don't buy something on sale just because it's a good deal) and carry that list in my wallet.

Also, we have a front coat closet in our house that we don't really use, so I keep all the kids coats that don't currently fit anyone or are out of season hung up there. That way I can easily grab all the coats from the next size without having to dig through bins.

One other thing I have found is that a large armoire with shelves works much better than a dresser in the kids room. The kids can see most of their clothing at once when the doors are open and they are usually deep enough to hold two layers of clothes. I can put out of season or dressy clothes in the back pile, and current season every day clothes in the front. I add baskets to hold socks and underwear.

[Carrie]

Now that I have a baby girl, I am all about getting rid of stuff as it is outgrown. I have an older boy.

I have two tubs in my guest room. As the kids outgrow things I throw items in the tubs, a boy tub and girl tub. I was giving stuff away on freecyle as the tubs filled up, but now I am doing thredup.com boxes.

I have bins of clothes in other sizes, all labelled, and I try to go through them once in a while and see what I have. It is really hard to keep on top of it, though. I feel like it's all I've been doing for the past four months (my 20 pound four month old needs new clothes every other week. She's just starting size 12 mo in some brands).

[Kate]

Stuff that's too big goes into the doesn't-fit-yet drawer.

Stuff that's too small goes onto the very-visible-in-the-parents'-room pile, en route to a friend with whom I still check every time before I hand 'em over.

Little bitty stuff that I loved and couldn't bear to part with went into a quilt. I don't remember the company who made it, but google tells me there are several choices out there. I love that quilt and still sniffle whenever I look at it.

We haven't received any hand-me-downs, though we'd have no objection if we did. I buy at Hanna Andersson, The Gap, and occasionally Children's Place. I used to get some disposable-type stuff at Target, but I've quit shopping there.

2-3 times a year (scheduled for tomorrow, in fact), I go through everything to look for shortfalls and rotate seasonal stuff.

I wish I were as organized as some of you all!

[Blanca]

Hahahahahaha. Moxie, you described my system step by step!

[Charisse]

@BlueBirdMama, yep, in SF! You too?

[Cloud]

@Charisse, if I didn't have a younger kid to use the hand me downs, I wouldn't organize, either. I'd just wash and donate.

[yasmara]

I use your system almost exactly, Moxie!

2 boys, 19 months apart, unfortunately born in different seasons (beginning of spring vs midwinter). I buy ahead a bit for Older Son when I find something on fantastic sale or at a thrift/consignment/discount store. That stuff goes in a fabric-covered storage box in our guest room because the guest room closet has already been turned into the craft closet (sorry, guests, must use every inch of space).

I save anything Older Son outgrows in a plastic bin in the basement for Younger Son & get him to try stuff on when the season changes. It's been a bummer when we get to the start of fall & find out that because of the season difference between my kids, Younger Son has skipped over a pant size that I have a ton of from Older Son, so we do still buy some new stuff for Younger Son, but not until we've gone through the saved clothes in the bin.

A tip for new mom's - find ONE shirt and ONE pair of pants/dress/etc. that fit your kid & then all you have to do is measure the other clothing items against those. The kid doesn't have to be involved beyond finding the first set of stuff-that-fits (also works for shopping - take along something you know fits your kid NOW & you can measure for future - saves a surprising amount of angst).

I have a friend with a boy younger than Younger Son (who loves getting hand-me-downs - I'm shocked by the people who don't like them, good to know for future reference!), so I keep a cardboard mailing box in the basement & throw in Younger Son's outgrown stuff for her son. I mail the box whenever it's full. However, since we do have the seasonal issue (no use sending outgrown shorts in the end of fall that her son will have outgrown by the time summer arrives), I also keep a Goodwill box/bag on the screened-in back porch & put stuff in there that's not appropriate to send on to her. Again, once that's full, I drop it off or take advantage of one of those pick-up notices I get in the mail sometimes.

I have a hard time letting go of some of their stuff, so I have 2 bins of clothes & favorite baby toys in the basement saved from their baby/toddler years. I periodically go through them (once a year) & see if there's anything I can stand to let go. So far, I cull a couple of items each time, but do plan to keep the bulk of really good stuff (Hanna Andersson, organic cotton, handmade, etc.) for the future. My mom did this & it was an absolute kick to see my boys wearing overalls that I remember from my childhood (gender neutral. The sturdy, timeless stuff actually holds up well (especially for boys).

This reminds me, I have a box to mail to my friend! Just dropped the goodwill stuff off today - cleaning up for my in-laws visit this weekend.

[Rayne of Terror]

I have two boys that are 4 3/4 years apart. I keep a diaper box in the closet that I toss the eldest's too small clothing in as I notice it. When that box is overflowing I sort it by season and size, label it, and stick it in the basement. I only kept the eldest's clothing up to 18m sizes because I wasn't sure we were having a second and I didn't want to store all those clothes.

I keep a small laundry basket next to the baby's crib and I toss all his too small clothes in there. When it gets full I offer it out on fb and give it to the first friend who responds that they want it.

When I need more baby clothes I put up a status on fb saying I need boys clothes size 2T does anyone have hand-me-downs? THen I'm inundated with free clothes. When I need more clothes for the eldest I tell my mom because she LOVES to shop for them and my husband asks around at work because he has several co-workers with tall skinny boys who are a couple years older than Henry.

I rarely spend $ on clothes. I like to think that by keeping the kid clothing moving through our hands it contributed to kid clothing karma and we'll get back what we need. So far it works.