Taking Inventory of Your Children’s Clothes

Organizing children’s clothing can be an overwhelming chore for sure.  Today’s guest poster is here to help us simplify this process.  Please welcome Daisha Johnson from The Family Scientista blog.

My husband and I are coming up on our 8th wedding anniversary. Every single one of those years has been spent as students living in very small quarters with our four young children. As a family of 6 the only way to stay sane is to stay organized! I’m excited to share one of my orgnaizing tips that will help you save time and money, a definite plus for those with a busy life on a small budget like us!

With four children, three being girls, we’ve got stacks of boxes of hand-me-down clothes waiting to be worn. When one of the kids is beginning to grow out of a size I usually dig through the closet to find the box of clothes the next size up. I try to plan ahead to see what they might need. This becomes quite tiresome with four kids growing at a rapid rate. I was in those closets and boxes more than I wanted or needed to be.

While shopping a few weeks ago I realized there had to be a better way to keep track of my children’s clothing. I had them sorted out in sizes and in labeled boxes, but I didn’t really know what was inside. A mental picture of the previous wearer at that age just wasn’t cutting it, nor was digging through boxes. I wanted to know what was in the box without having to open it.

So one afternoon, while the kids were napping and my husband was gone, I pulled all the boxes of clothes out of the closets and into the living room. I emptied the boxes one by one taking an inventory of all my children’s clothing, coats, and shoes. Now I know exactly what and how many of each item we had.

For each gender and size (3-6 Month Girl, 3T Boy, 6 Girl etc . . .) I wrote down categories and how many items I had for each. The categories I used were:

Onesies

Pajamas

Short Sleeve

Long Sleeve

Shorts

Jeans

Pants

Dresses

Sweaters

Coats

Misc.

You may also want to add underwear, socks, belts, swimsuits, snow clothes etc….to your list.

Be sure to take inventory of what your kids are wearing that day, clothes that are in their room, clothes in the laundry hamper, coats hanging in the closet and shoes in the basket to get an accurate record.

I chose not to write down details like color or style. It would take more time and those details weren’t important to me. I just wanted the item count.

Having 3 daughters who vary in size and girth I’ve come to realize that keeping shoes in the clothing boxes wasn’t working. My girls haven’t had the same size feet when they’ve worn a certain size of clothes. I’d been muddling through multiple boxes to find shoes that fit. To solve the problem I set aside a separate box for shoes, boy and girl, and wrote down a quick description and size.

Once I took note of all the kids clothes and shoes we own I typed up the inventory, printed it out, and taped it to the boxes. Now my boxes are clearly labeled, looking nice and neat. I have the document saved on my computer for quick reference. I also printed out a mini version to keep in my purse – perfect for taking along to the store.

It took some time and work but now I have a record of all the kids clothes and shoes we own.  No more excuses for over buying or getting the wrong size. The best part is no more shuffling through closets or boxes to find out what’s inside! Time saved is time well spent.

Do you have a system for organizing your children’s clothing?