It’s time to organize the kids’ closets, and give away mounds of clothes! Here are some tips to make giving and organizing hand-me-downs a little easier. Let’s all hope that the saying “once you give stuff away, you’ll have another baby” isn’t actually true…
- Dump into one pile on the floor so there is no turning back! This was Ford’s favorite part. This was my least favorite part.
- Choose destinations and create piles (ie charity, friend’s kids, etc). I knew a lot of the clothes would go to charity but I wanted baby Calvin to have some cute 0-12 month stuff and Ryder would get clothes Ford just grew out of.
- Toss clothes that are super worn including underwear, stained or ripped clothing, or super worn shoes.
- Designate a bin for items to keep! I didn’t expect how emotional this process would be. The little clothes brought back memories.
- Don’t feel like you have to keep everything for siblings. I was making this mistake and I realized we were keeping stuff we didn’t like in the first place. So I’m going to donate that and hopefully start out #3 more organized.
- Involve the kids! Presley’s old enough so I could reiterate how most of her dresses came from Avery so she was so excited to join along and come do the drop-offs with me. I’m always a big fan of involving kids when it comes to donating to charity. Have them join you to deliver the clothes you’re giving away.
- Maintain your clean closet with an accessible bin. Use throughout the year and throw in clothes your child tries on during the year that are too small, and then you can go through later.
- Organize the clothes you’ve set aside by size. I recommend not hiding them way back in the closet. We’re lucky to have this above closet space because you want them accessible because kids grow so fast.
I hope this inspired you to handle your hand-me-downs!
