Friday, April 11, 2008

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes Everywhere

Okay, so there are so many organizational hotspots in my home... it was hard to pick just one. Since bringing Kate home 4 months ago one of the most challenging things that I deal with is little girl clothing. It is everywhere....




in baskets, drawers, closets and on dressers, the floor and even under the beds.


Yes, that is a closet organizer... not very organized, huh?

Some clean, some dirty, and some who knows if it is clean or dirty... one girl would like to change her clothes every hour. Some days it looks like a bomb has gone off in a childrens' department store. I don't feel like we have excessive amounts of clothing. My girls are only months apart, and different sizes, so there is two of everything. With changing seasons and changing sizes, what is a mom to do?
I am participating in Lysa TerKuerst's swap and hop...
if you have any suggestions or strategies that might help this mom please let me know.

6 comments:

Becky Avella said...

This is so familiar! : ) I have two little girls, too, and they sneak in as many clothes changes a day as possible.

I love having girls, but they sure come with a lot of stuff. : )

Sorry that I don't have any solutions for you.

Sherry said...

The rest of my house is a disorganized mess but I do have a system for my kids clothes. I keep an 18 gal. storage container in the bottom of their closest. As they outgrow something, I toss it in.
At the end of a season, I go through the closet and take out anything they will not be able to wear the following year. All of these too small clothes get donated or sold.
I buy clothes to grow into ahead. I usually store these also in a container somewhere, usually the attic. I mark the containers "off-season" clothes or "boy clothes" or whatever.
I keep play clothes, underwear and socks in drawers and nicer clothes in the closet. This way when my kids get old enough to dress themselves for a day of play at home, they don't have to fight with hangers. I also bought those laundry bags with handles for the kids to put their dirty clothes in and they can even help take them to the laundry room when they are big enough.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is, won't it be nice when our girls are old enough that we can blame the mess on them? As well as say things like, "you are not leaving this house until that mess is cleaned up!" ;> Aahhh, people with older children just don't realize how easy they have it... ;P HA Ha! I say, just shut the closet door and go play! There I go being encouraging and holding you accountable again...
~Carol

johnsonfamilyof6 said...

I have 4 little girls, ages 11, 9, 4 and 8 months. We have a ton of girl clothes and I completely understand how some little girls love to change clothes all day long. At one point I actually hung every single thing that they owned in their closet and out of reach, all else went on the top shelf in the closet. Having a box of dress up clothes helps reduce the amount of real clothes they get into.
We have average size closets, so I keep large rubber tubs inside, one with clothes that they outgrew and another with clothes for next season. I am also hanging onto some clothes for the younger 2 girls by putting them in tubs in our attic. Every few months I consider a entire day devoted to organizing clothes. I allow our girls to watch movies and play in the back yard while I go through their drawers and closest. Donating clothes and resale shops help me to get rid of a ton, also if my girls won't wear a item because they don't like it I tend to just donate it and get it out of my way.
Less is more, amen?
I completely understand where you are at, I am right there with you!
Tanya
Mom of 4 little women

Jill said...

I have been working on this problem for many years and I still don't have a great system. Lots of tubs of clothes stashed away in hopes of using again someday and saving me money in the long run.

I love that I don't have to store any of Eli's clothes, I just bag 'em up and give 'em away.

Good luck in control the mess long term. (it never lasts long here);o)

Sarah@Life in the Parsonage said...

I found you through Jamie :) HAD to comment becuase that's what my house looks like...right down to the "closet organizer!" Only mine is all boys clothes! You're not alone :)