Wondering how to store clothes for your next baby? Don’t miss Heather’s quick and easy tips and secrets for kid clothes storage.
What do I do with these baby clothes? Keep or purge?
I agonized over the decision as our cross-country move date was almost upon us.
Our second child was topping out the charts, blowing through 3-month and 6-month sizes long before she hit that actual age. I had a growing stack of the most adorable clothes in the closet, but they didn’t fit her anymore.
I had always wanted more than three kids and wanted to hang on to the clothes. But part of me was in purge-mode because we were about to move from Virginia to California with the Navy.
Since we had needed fertility help for the first two, I couldn’t wrap my head around tackling that again. I had kind of resigned myself to the idea that 2 kids completed our family, but a part of me still held on to hope for more.
But did that justify storing a bunch of clothes indefinitely?
What to do?!?! How can I store all this stuff and keep it organized during the move?
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How To Store Clothes For Your Next Children
At this point, I decided to stick with and improve on my current system for storing clothes. It’s a simple system with a few keys to help things go smoothly and keep my sanity!
And though I did get rid of some clothes, I kept enough to warrant more bins and a storage strategy (you’ll find the rest of that moving story at the end of the post!).
1- Decide whether to keep or get rid of a size of clothes
This seems obvious, but as you can see I had quite the time deciding what to do. Consider your plans for future children, available storage space, and the condition of the clothes (whether they’re worth keeping or should be tossed).
Since you’re reading this post to learn HOW to store clothes, I’ll just assume that you have already made the decision to store.
2- Choose Where You’ll Store The Clothes
I had no idea what kind of storage situation we would have in San Diego since we hadn’t leased a rental home yet. That complicated my decision.
Prior to that move, we used the garage (next to the wall) and attic spaces, and parts of closets. Other good options are under beds or on closet/garage shelves. I had to hope that we’d find a place with storage space, or possibly consider getting a storage unit.
Once you know where you’ll store them, you can decide on what shape of bin you’ll need.
We use the deep rectangular shape (almost cubical but a bit longer on one end). If you’re going to store on a long shelf or under a bed, get the short (in height) but long (in length) tubs.
Wherever you store them, you’ll want to have easy access to them. One day you’ll realize that none of your child’s clothes fit, and you need the next size ASAP. You don’t want to have to search for hours, reorganize the garage, or climb over your older child’s tricycle just to access the proper storage tub.
3- Purchase Clear Storage Tubs
I always recommend buying CLEAR storage tubs. I did start out labeling the tubs, but the labels fell off and I got too lazy to redo them. Having clear tubs made it so easy to see what was inside. I could recognize the clothes and remember the size, or at least know if I was a close guess to the right bin.
I also recommend buying the same type/brand for all your bins. We get ours at Target, and I like the ones with the locking purple lids. That way, the lids are interchangeable between all my bins.
4- Store Clothes By Size/Age
It’s important to store the clothes by size/age to save your sanity. Believe me. It’s a huge pain to have to sort through every item when you just want to find an outfit that fits your fast-growing child!
Example: put all your 3-month clothes in one bin, and the 6-month clothes in a separate bin.
This will save you SO much time when you need to pull out the next size. You can put them right on the hanger (or right into the laundry) and know that everything you pull out will be the right size– No sorting necessary!
5- To Label Or Not To Label
Labeling all the bins would be the smart move. As I mentioned above, I have gotten very lazy and I don’t bother anymore. However, I’ve had moments that I wished I had redone the labels.
When I first started, I used mailing labels. They didn’t stick very long onto the plastic for some reason. If I were to go back and re-label, I would use Masking Tape (also known as Painter’s Tape) and write with a Sharpie.
Getting Rid Of Your Clothes When You Don’t Want To Store Them Anymore
If and when you do get rid of the baby clothes, here are a few options:
You can sell via consignment shop, at a yard sale, or on an online store such as ThredUp.
Donating is another great option for moving clothes out of your space. You can pass along clothes to a friend, donate to Goodwill, or find other types of thrift stores such as the Salvation Army Thrift store.
Some ministries and homeless or refugee shelters also accept clothing donations.
A Moving Conclusion
Ok, back to the story.
Through a friend, we learned of a family that had a baby just a few months younger than our little one. They had fallen on hard times and were in dire need of warm baby clothes in a Virginia winter. We had a ton of such clothes just sitting there, so I ended up passing quite a few items to them.
I held on to my favorite outfits and sentimental items plus some basics, holding out a tiny bit of hope that one day we might have another child.
Little did I know what God had in store for us in San Diego with our surprise #3! And yes, I did have to buy a few more clothes for #3 to replace the ones I had given away. But thankfully we still had plenty of my favorite outfits and sentimental items carefully stored away.
Now, with three kids, I have a whole stack of tubs as I save hand-me-downs for our younger daughters. (It’s nice that they all can wear the same stuff!)
If you follow this simple system you will be able to easily store and use your clothes whenever you need them!
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