One parenting task I feel no one is talking about is the “logistics of clothing.” And I am not talking about laundry here (but I do have a post about laundry here!) I am talking about facilitating the hundreds and hundreds of clothing items that are constantly flowing in and out of our homes. We are the facilitators, and no one even talks about that being a job! But, boy, is it ever. If you are like me, you buy new clothes to replace old clothes that they have grown out of three times a year.  Clothes in. clothes out. More clothes in. More clothes out. In this post, I am going to be giving my top 3 tips for decluttering your kid’s clothes!

1. Take everything out

The first step to decluttering your kid’s clothes is to make a bigger mess.

If you haven’t done this in a while, you are going to need to completely take all the clothes and shoes out of the closet. There are probably some clothes on the floor, hiding on a shelf, and no telling what else in there. Go ahead a take it all out! No, I don’t have to do this every time, but the first time- yeah. This is necessary.

While everything is out, give the closet a good cleaning. Shoes and toys are gross, y’all. This might be our only opportunity to give this space a clean.

2. Group Clothes

Now that all the clothes are out and we have the horrible huge mess, we need to organize the clothes. I make several piles.

• Throw Away Pile: clothes that I am embarrassed to even give away.
• Sell or Donate Pile: these are items that need to go asap usually because they are too small.
• Put Away Pile: clothes that are too big and need to be put away. Because I am on my second boy, I often have hand-me-downs. But my kids are 4.5 years apart and I don’t want something taking up precious closet space that he isn’t going to be fitting into for a couple more years.
• Needs Help Pile: this is the pile for the clothes you find that are embarrassingly wrinkled and need ironing or to go through the wash again. This year I have a lot of clothes that need the buttons replaced or moved (that were hand-me-downs from my oldest.) I put all of those in that pile and will take care of them before hanging them back up.

3. Do this seasonally.

Listen, this can’t be a once-a-year chore. Kids simply grow too fast. To make sure your kid has everything they need for the season (and to keep the closet from looking like a tornado went through it), I recommend doing this seasonally.

So there you have it! 3 tips to being a master facilitator to your kid’s clothes. Make sure to take a before and after photo of your kid’s closet and tag me in it @kaylabrint so I can cheer you on!