It’s that time again. October is upon us and with that comes some beautiful weather and a time to transition our closets for a new season. Here in the South we don’t have much of a transition into new seasons. If we’re lucky we get a few weeks of mild weather heading into another season. But for the most part it’s hot or cold.
In our home that means at the beginning of the fall and spring it’s time to swap over clothes to fall in step with the change of season. We live in a smaller home and two of our boys share a room and, naturally, also share a dresser and closet. We don’t have space to store all their clothes in their room at once. What’s not in use goes to the attic in totes that are labeled by size and season (ex: 4T winter). This clean out and reorganizing is mostly for the kids’ closets. Tom and I have a bigger closet that we share. But I will still use this time to do a sweep of our clothes to donate items we’re not using or get rid of things that aren’t in good enough shape to donate.
This whole process has become much more involved as the number of children has increased. Add to that that we’re not at a point where what we’re done with we can pass on to someone else just yet. Having four boys, it’s necessary to hang on to what we have until we know no one else may need it. So a main portion of our attic is devoted to clothes and shoe bins.
I tend to take one child at a time and work in two parts for an afternoon. While this can be an overwhelming task, I find it slightly therapeutic. There’s something refreshing about cleaning out and sorting and making things fresh for a new season. Little fact: when I was growing up I would organize my friends’ closets just for fun!! So there you have it. My brain was naturally made for this sort of thing. At times there can be a daunting feeling at starting a task like this, even for the most organized brain like myself. So here’s a glimpse at our method to the madness…
PART ONE: Cleaning out
- I start by taking out the clothes that are currently in their drawers and hanging in the closet and make piles by items type: shirt, pants, shorts, etc. I’ll look over each item and see if there are any that may not be in good condition to give away or store for another season. Once those are out of the way, I assess what needs to be stored for another season and put it in the corresponding tote. If there are any items that need altering, I’ll put those in a separate pile as well.
- Because of the nature of our erratic weather pattern, I will keep a few pieces of the opposite season to put back in the drawers in the off chance we get a cool snap during the spring. Same goes for the winter as it’s not unusual to have weeks with temperatures in the 70s at times.
- I’ll also make sure everything is washed before putting it back in the attic. Sometimes winter jackets and coats that don’t’ get washed every wear, for example, may have stains or spots that need to be removed before storing.
- At times I go the extra step and wipe out the drawers or vacuum them out before putting new clothes back in. Just depends how much time I have.
PART TWO: Unpacking stored items
- I will pull down the boxes that correspond with each of their ages and season. In a perfect world, every clothing brand would be uniform in size and that would help many a mother out. Since kids’ clothes, especially those smaller sizes, can vary so much, I will put things back in the box for the age they wore it and not necessarily the size on the tag so that when it comes time to get the totes out again, I’m generally working with only one tote per season per kid.
- I will look through the tote and decide what I want to keep out for the current season and then wash it all before putting it in their drawers or closets. The kids love this too. It’s so fun to hear them say, “Oh, I remember when I wore that.” And to be honest I have my favorites too. It brings back so many memories when we pull out the clothes.
- When I’ve completed the initial pull-out for the current season, the current tote goes to the top shelf in their closet instead of back to the attic. A few reasons for this: there are times I’ve realized I’ve taken out too many things and I’ll take the tote down and add items back. No sense taking up space in their drawers with things that aren’t being used. Or sometimes it’s the opposite and I realize there’s more of a particular type item we need. Having the current tote accessible also helps with items that are specific to a particular holiday. Usually after Christmas, for example, I’ll take a little time and repack the Santas and Reindeer, etc.
MISCELLANEOUS
- A few times of the year we are VERY GENEROUSLY gifted with bags of clothes from friends that are just a step ahead of us and no longer need the sizes I need. This is a blessing in so many ways and has benefited Thomas the most. Naturally, we tend to need more items for him given that he’s the oldest. Generally, I’ll do a quick run-through of the bags as there are usually multiple sizes mixed in and this way I know if there are things we could currently use. I have a general idea of what items we need and will choose what I want to keep and then either pass the rest to someone else or label it to donate when I’m swapping out our clothes the next time.
- Fill-in: I feel almost guilty to say that despite the amount of things we have, there’s almost always a few items that we need to fill in at the start of a new season. As we’re pulling out new things and sorting, I’ll make a list of items I know we need. For example, the boys are hard on PJs. We’re always finding holes in the knees of good quality PJs and they don’t always make it to pass down. Or I just noticed that JL will need a new pair of church sandals for the summer. After being passed down from Thomas to Arthur, the little strap broke and he won’t be able to use them.
Our goal here is to keep their items in their drawers and closets manageable for them. It’s helpful for them to take part in the process because they know where their items go and clothes aren’t spilling out all over the place. In turn, it also makes the process of them learning to put away their clean, folded clothes easier. We want them to value the things they have and learn to take care of them. And one day when we’re ready, we’ll lovingly pass down our boxes and hope that we’re able to bless others in the same way we’ve been blessed.
For now, this is what works for us. I see in the future this could take on a different mold as the boys start to level off to the same sizes and share clothes. I’ve already noticed a difference now that we’ve also moved into youth sizes (XS, S, etc.). Those need their own boxes and the clothes that are an actual size need their own box.
