Organizing Clothes for Multiple Children

One of the advantages to having same gender children is the ability to pass down clothes. We have been very lucky to receive tons of clothes from a relative who is a year older than our oldest. A good portion of those clothes have continued to be worn by each one of my three boys. This has saved us lots of money over the years.

Another way we save money in the clothing department is by shopping at thrift stores and clearance racks. If I find a good deal on something, I am not afraid to buy a piece of clothing that is too big for any of my boys at the moment. It gets put into a large tote to wait until it fits one of them. I recently found this very nice winter coat at Old Navy marked down from $50 to $10. It currently fits my middle son and I'm hoping it will still fit him next fall. If not, I know my youngest will eventually grow into it. Buying clothes in off seasons is a great way to save money. Many stores have their winter coats marked down as we head into spring.

Until I came up with my current system for organzing the boys' clothes, I used to spend a couple of hours twice a year going through the different bags and totes full of disorganized clothes to find the right size and season for each child. With my new system in place, it takes less than half that time.

I purchased three of the long plastic totes. Each boy has his own and they all fit underneath the bunk beds. This is very important since space is a precious commodity in our rented townhome.

They are very easy to access if a warm spell hits early and we need to grab a pair of shorts.

When the weather turns warm enough that I need to get out all of the summer clothes, I gather up all of the winter ones and the shorts and t-shirts get put into their dressers. Then I take a few minutes to go through the winter clothes and decide what the youngest has outgrown and can be donated (or turned into a rag if it's too worn). I also try to figure out what size they will be wearing in the fall/winter and put the correct sizes in their bins. Then it's time to go through the extra totes that contain clothes that were too big (or just too many of one item for a certain child - sometimes there are just too many t-shirts to put all of them in the dressers, but I don't want to get rid of them because some will get stained or torn and it's nice to have replacements) and see if anyone can wear what's there. This also allows me to see if there are any items I need to buy for the coming season.

The bottom green tote holds the "too big or too many" clothes, the middle has extra sweatshirts, and the top tote has boots, mittens, hats, etc.

I have been really happy with this new organizing system and so glad I took the time to get it set up. Do you have any tips for organizing clothes? I'd love to hear them!


This post is linked up to Super Savings Saturday over at Money Saving Mom.