A Guide to Organizing Kids’ Clothes

Want to learn how to easily sort, store, and organize your kids’ clothes? This article is filled with tips and advice to help with organizing kids’ clothes.

Feeling overwhelmed by the state of your child’s wardrobe? If you want to learn how to easily sort, store, and organize your children’s closet and dressers, this article about organizing kids’ clothes will help you do precisely this.

An Easy Guide to Organizing Kids Clothes - 5 pairs of kids' sized jeans folded neatly in a stack on top of a white stool. The neat pile demonstrates the importance of organizing kids clothes.

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If it seems like it’s impossible to keep your kid’s clothes organized, don’t worry – you aren’t the only one! Whether your child is young enough to rely on you to help them get dressed or they’re old enough to manage on their own, it’s easy to find their closet and dresser a mess.

Organizing kids’ clothes in 3 easy steps

Sound familiar? You may want to dedicate a few hours to organizing your child’s clothes. By following this approach, you can eliminate the stress of a messy wardrobe and get things organized.

Let’s begin!

Step One: Sort through your child’s clothes.

The first step in the process of organizing your kid’s clothes? Empty their closet and drawers. Take everything out and lay it out where you can see it. Spread it out on their bed, a table, or even a big blanket on the floor.

3 Easy Steps to Organize Kids' Clothes - Five crew neck children's t-shirts, neatly folded and laying in a diagonal row slightly overlapping one another to show how to organize kids' clothes.

Then, get to work! Begin by sorting your child’s clothing into a series of hampers or piles.

Tips for Sorting

You can keep things simple with the three piles mentioned in this guide, or you can take things a step further:

The “Stay” Pile. This is for anything seasonally appropriate, in good condition, that your child is actively wearing.
The “Save” Pile. This is for out-of-season clothes your child doesn’t need right now. By putting your “save” pile into storage until the right season rolls around, you’ll save space and energy keeping your child’s closet and drawers clean.
The “Pass Down” Pile. If you have more than one kid, it’s common to save clothes the oldest grows out of for their younger sibling(s) to wear later on. Create a separate stack for these items.
The “Donate” Pile. Are you holding onto gently-worn items that your kids really won’t get much use out of? Don’t let them take up valuable space. Instead, separate these items from the rest of your kid’s clothes and donate them to someone who could really use them. Look for a local nonprofit that supports children in need. Chances are, there’s at least one in your area that could use the support!
The “Discard” Pile. This is for items that are overly worn, faded, ripped, or torn. If something needs to go but isn’t in good enough condition to donate, it’s time to toss it.

You can recruit your children to help with this process, or you can tackle the task yourself. Either way, you should aim to get through as much as possible in one sitting.

Step Two: Store and organize clothes your kids don’t need now.

Once you’ve sorted through your child’s clothes, it’s time to put everything away. Start by organizing the clothes you don’t need to put back into their closet. There’s a good chance you have lots of kids clothes you’d like to keep that your child doesn’t need right now. That’s OK! Just get them out of the way.

Consider clothing storage solutions.

To truly organize your kid’s clothes, you may need to invest in some storage solutions. Ask yourself a couple of questions:

How many clothes do I need to store?
How long will I need to store these clothes for? Will I need to get them out again in a few months, or am I saving clothes for another child to grow into a couple of years down the road?
Where can I store everything? Will I keep things in an attic, a basement, or a closet? Or are you short on storage space and need something a little smaller and more compact?

If you think a few boxes or bags will do the trick, consider investing in a set of Clutter Keeper Deluxe Storage Bags. These fabric totes are the perfect choice for storing kids clothes for the next season. They offer enough space to store 10-20 folded sweaters and can be stored under the bed, on a closet shelf, or wherever you’d like! Between the clear windows that let you see what’s inside and the label pouch on the outside, it’s easy to stay organized.

Don’t just shove everything into your storage containers. Instead, take the time to organize your kid’s clothes before you put them inside. Here are a few ways you can do that:

Organize clothes by season.

For most, this is the most logical way to organize clothes. Storing your child’s winter gear all in one place will make getting ready for the season a breeze.

Organize clothes by type.

Some prefer to organize their kid’s clothes by item. This is a great strategy if you have enough seasonal items to split into separate bags. Dedicating a tote to winter pants, another to winter coats, and another to sweaters will make it even easier to unpack when the season comes back around.

Organize clothes by size.

If you’re storing a bigger collection of clothes than a season’s worth – a wardrobe for a younger sibling to grow into, for instance – you might want to organize by size. You can sort by season within size categories, but clearly labeling your bags and bins by size will help you find what you need quickly later on.

However you choose to sort and organize your kids clothes for later, label everything! Include as much detail on your labels as possible. If you need to find something at any point, this makes it easy to know where to look.

How to Organize All Your Kids' Clothes - Pale pink knit sweater, curled up in a ball on a plain white background to illustrate the need for organizing kids' clothes.

Step Three: Organize your kid’s remaining wardrobe.

Once you’ve successfully stored the clothes your child will wear later, it’s time to put their wardrobe back in place. You should be left with a manageable number of clothes at this point – only what your child needs for the current season.

Store folded items in drawers vertically. Stacking them on top of one another makes it hard to see what you have. By adding dividers and storing folded items standing up, you’ll save space, and you won’t mess up your drawers looking for your kid’s favorite pair of pajamas. This blogger used this technique to transform her kid’s wardrobe!
Use storage bins to your advantage! You can add storage bins to drawers or closets to keep items separate. They’re perfect for socks, underwear, scarves, and other random accessories.
Don’t forget the door! You can use the door to store a hanging organizer. Alternately, install hooks to hold accessories like scarves and headbands.

Don’t rush through this part of the process. Take your time and put everything back in a thoughtful way, and voila – you’re finished!

Organizing your kid’s clothes is a worthwhile exercise, especially if you’re holding onto clothes to pass down to younger siblings. Take time at least twice a year to audit your closets and organize your kid’s clothes. You’ll be glad you did!

A Guide to Organizing Kids’ Clothes

Organizing kids’ clothes in 3 easy steps