Kids have a lot of stuff which means things can get cluttered quickly. Between how quickly they grow—resulting in lots more clothes than adults—and toys (especially if children have different interests) it’s hard to stay on top of. In the fall of 2019 we assisted a young family in Osterville manage the excess that comes with kids to keep their home looking great. The family is made up of a professional dad who works long hours, homemaker mom and three boys between the ages of four and eight. Yes, it’s possible to keep things beautifully organized with all of that energy!

Managing Kids Clothes

The clients are enthusiastic discarders and generally keep clutter low, but having three small boys is a challenge unto itself. Especially when it comes to the kids’ clothes. 

Divide the Space You Have

The biggest part of managing kids clothes is making your existing spaces work for you. Sure, you could purchase an organizational system like cubes, but we don’t advise this. Why not? Adding furniture is usually not the answer. Instead, as you’ll notice in other blogs, the trick is changing the spaces you have to keep things tidy.

We’ve mentioned before that lots of bureaus simply don’t make sense. Big drawers especially don’t make sense for small clothes. But you can work with what you have by simply dividing up the drawers to better hold things in place.

How should you go about this? There are a few different ways. You can use shoe boxes, plastic totes or buy space dividers at online and brick-and-mortar retailers. Why do we love this solution so much?

First, dividing drawers keeps things neat. Folded clothes stay folded.

Second, you know how kids freak out about how they can’t find a shirt they haven’t worn in eight weeks? It’s simple to find whatever they want to wear that day.

Speaking of that shirt they suddenly love, it can be difficult to stay on top of kids clothes and they aren’t always on board with decluttering. Dividing drawers allows you to keep far more clothes on hands and to do so neatly.

Closet Organization Hacks

Closets, like drawers, are often made better by dividing up the space into smaller compartments. Unless you have or install custom shelving, this can be tricky. Especially because in many homes, like the one of these clients, the closets have one clothing rod running the width of the closet. 

There’s then, usually, a single shelf parallel to the clothing rod.

Again, people like the clients are faced with a space built for much larger items than those belonging to boys all under the age of nine.

So our first closet organization hack is to divide the space.

Dividing Kids’ Closet Space

The before photo shows the usual. Yes, typical kids' closets are messy. With all that stuff, growing and energy it is difficult to keep things tidy. So, let’s divide it up in a way that makes sense.

The clients were on the right track using a mix of hanging organizers, hangers and bins. But they were very disorganized and becoming more a place to discard a passed-over shirt or to quickly toss clean laundry. There are also erroneous objects like a stuffed toy and hanger in them.

Closet Organization Hacks

The top shelf has items placed haphazardly and without any visible structure. The floor seems to also have spillover including so much on the left side that the hanging organizer is keeping the pile from toppling over.

What a difference a few simple hacks made! And without buying any new organizational aids.

First, we pulled everything out and created a simple system: button-front and polo shirts, jackets, sweaters and pants get hung. Tee and other casual shirts get folded and placed in the hanging organizers. A hack for any organization, not just closet organization, is to assign every type of item in your home a place. It’s easier to get kids into the habit of picking up this way and it also makes it easier to find things.

After assigning homes, we spaced out the hanging organizers. This accomplishes two goals. First, it doesn’t allow them to lean against each other in the event items are discarded on the floor, leading to a pile. Second, it allows them to be used for two different purposes that kids can easily adapt to. One could be used for clothes that are okay for school. On the other hand, one could be designated for play only or for special occasions.

If you’re worried about space for hanging items, you’ll see that we made sure to leave the top, larger sections of the hanging organizers empty. Now hangers can be placed essentially inside this top section, allowing for maximum hanging space.

Finally, we organized the top shelf with items of the same type together so that it allows for easy access to lesser-used items. The floor is relatively free although it would make a great spot for a shoe rack. This family keeps shoes in the attached garage to keep the floors clean.

The Peaceful Place Difference

Whether you have all boys, girls or a mix of children keeping their clothes, games and toys organized in a way that will stick can be tricky. Our experts are savvy when it comes to applying organizational strategies that work for the space, you and your kids. Contact us today to set up a free phone consultation and learn more.