How To Stay Organized With All Those Kids Clothes

With three kids under the age of five, it has been a struggle to keep clothes under control. If you have young kids you know how fast they grow out of everything. This past year I have started being able to move clothes from one closet to another but with the extreme changes in weather Minnesota brings, not all clothes stay out all year long. 

If I don't stay on top of clothes this is what it looks like:

 For my older two, when they outgrow clothes or we change seasons I get out the tub for their sizes and put it right in the laundry room. As the clothes come out of the dryer or off the clothes line, they go right in the designated tub. I start doing this as the weather starts changing. After a few weeks almost all the clothes are put away.  

I have also learned that the best time to change sizes are when the seasons change. Since my oldest was two she has been sizing up as we enter summer. I have the clothes stored in their rooms and under their beds for the next change of sizes. I can do this a month or two before size changes allowing me to better see what the needs might be for the next size of clothes.

For my youngest, I do something similar. The main difference being that her clothes will be gotten rid of in the near future. 

This fall I had my first garage sale. I've explored other options but with all the clothes I have currently to sell, a garage sale was the best option (it also forces me to go through the house and grab things we don't need). 

It can be time consuming to price everything and that is why many chose not have one. Since everything up to 18 months is already priced and in tubs, most of the work is done already.

As my youngest out grows her clothes I take an evening and sort through them. Soak some that have stains, throw away some that are in horrible shape, and grab a few items that I love and want to hand down to my future nieces. Then I start pricing clothes that are left. There are usually one to two tubs per size, so it takes about 30 minutes if I'm not interrupted.

Our town does two city wide garage sales, one in May and the other in September. My goal is to have two a year. I know there will always be things to sell for the next several years. With everything priced ahead of time, it will take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to set up my sale.