What do you do with clothing when no one will be wearing it soon? And how do you organize the hand-me-downs that you receive?
I love hand-me-downs. My youngest is the smallest girl on my side of the family, but not on my husband’s. That means we get to receive AND to pass along lots of goodies.
What Stays, What Goes
So how do you stay on top of all these random clothes that can show up at any time? By sorting them right away.
I have two designated drawers for hand-me-downs in my daughter’s closet. (Plastic totes would work just as well.)
Check Your Inventory Before Shopping
Before I start shopping for a new season, we open that drawer and try everything on. If it fits, it goes into the closet. If it’s too big, it goes back in the drawer for next year. (At the end of each season, anything that has potential to fit the next year goes into that same drawer.) Then I get to shop for only the things I really want to buy!
Passing ‘Em Along
And then there’s the flip side—the handing down part. B”H I have two boys and two girls, but they are 7.5 and 8 years apart, respectively. That means that not much can be passed down within my family. Sure, I can hold on to a little romper for 7 or 8 years and then not use it because what-was-I-thinking?! Or I could pass it on to a family member to enjoy right away. One of my nephews once came to my house wearing a romper that my eldest had worn. Two of his big brothers had worn that same outfit! What a waste it would’ve been sitting in a bin stored away in my basement. I’ve held onto and reused timeless layette and pajamas and some swimwear, but as far as real clothing—perhaps only two dresses have stood the test of time over eight years.
The Giveaway Spot
So, for the items waiting to be given away, I have one designated spot in my laundry room. You know the shelf you can reach enough to put things on, but not easily enough to get them off?
ps. check out this post for tips on how to keep clothes organized and this post for an out of season storage solution.
OhJoy Blog has a great post about organizing outgrown clothing according to size https://ohjoy.com/my_weblog/2015/12/organizing-kids-clothing.html
In my family we pass clothing back and forth and it’s understood that the clothes that get stained get purged and the new stuff added. It’s saved us so much money.
I just took out some carters cotton pj’s that were stored in plastic bins for several years. Much to my disappointment, the elastic on the pants sort of dissolved and was not able to be worn. A shame because otherwise they were perfect. Lesson learned to pass them on right away (unless someone has an idea of how to prevent that).
The same thing happened to me. But only once. I did research and it seems storing it a place that gets either too hot or too cold, exposing it to oxygen, or was washed in harsh water/bleach.
What about keeping clothes that don’t really go out of style like boys chinos or polos? I would hate to rebuy all of those especially since the quality keeps going downhill not to mention that they are now twice the price.