Friday, July 17, 2009

Quick tip - organising the babies' cupboards

Organising the babies' clothes is starting to be a minefield.

Especially since I'm not good with seeing what size things are. I always have to look on the label to see the size. Poor kids!

So I thought I'd show you quickly what I've been doing.

I have these storage boxes and I separated the clothes into the various sizes, slapped on a post-it note and voila, organised!

Untidy but organised :)

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5 comments:

Unknown said...

Marcia,

That is a good idea! Now all you have to do is open the next box when they grow. I always had a hard time with that when my kids were small.

I'm curious to know how you solve the problem when they are toddlers.

You know, the age when they look through the clothes themselves, take everything out and try to throw it back in without knowing how to fold. That was such a huge issue for me and many of my mom friends.

se7en said...

Oh how lovely to see a post from our new mom!!! Please tell us how your babies are doing!!! Tell us anything about them... lots of love!

Nicol said...

I keep all of my organized by size in large plastic bins like you. Although I have found that I don't like them taking up extra space in the closet so they are stored in my finished basement. I just have to pull a bin up when I'm ready for the next size. This works well even with older kid clothes too. When we're finished with seasonal clothes, they get washed and stored in the correct bin so I don't have my toddler wanting to wear a coat in the middle of the summer.

Rachel said...

I've been doing something similar for about 11 years - though letting my family borrow sizes and storing it all at my in-laws instead of close by has taken it's toll on the organization the last 4 years.

One thing I've learned - not all brands interpret the same size the same way. I've pulled out "next size up" clothes only to find several pieces already too small, and had smaller pieces still fit after most of the rest have been dropped into the "put away" box.

For example: My sister has a petite and skinny 14 month old baby. She can still wear many of her shirts and outfits marked 3-6 months, as long as they are 2 piece outfits. She also has a few 2T t-shirts and onsies that she wears due to shrinkage.

On the other hand I've got a 3 month old nephew wearing anything from 6months to a year!

Some brands run really big, others really small, and some fit chubby babies/toddlers and others fit skinny babies. Joel can't wear the same clothes that his cousin 6 weeks younger can wear - but often hands down clothes that Avery will then get another year of wear from.

So I've learned to put something that looks smaller than it should into the smaller box in spite of the labels and often you will find a small size in a larger size box because it fit better at that time.

Another thing I do that works for me (usually). If an item is not fitting well anymore, when I take the clothes off, I try to put a pin or something into the tag or hem so I know to put it into the box instead of back into the drawers after it is washed. And when I find myself doing this several times a week, that's when I know to start pulling items out of the next size up box.

If an item needs repaired or gotten rid of - then I put the pin in the spot that needs fixed or across the front where I can see it. Then when it gets through the wash, I know it needs dealt with too.

Marcia Francois said...

Kim, thanks for the laugh. I would move the boxes to shelves too high for them.

Nicol, I would LOVE to have a basement although… it’s probably a good idea I don’t have one so that it forces me to keep things to a minimum LOL

Se7en, post coming up...even if just some pics

Rachel, I love the idea of the pins!!! Great tip. Thanks for sharing.

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