I mentioned this a few weeks ago and I am finally getting it posted. This has worked wonders for us and it has been a few weeks now and the system is still working great.
I was reading in a magazine about repurposing things and found a tip to use shoeboxes to organize and separate socks in drawers.
So something clicked for me and I headed straight off to Walmart to buy a cartload of sterilite plastic shoeboxes priced at $.96 each.
I marched home and started with my own dresser- I have a whole mess of tank tops that I wear daily. A bunch of camisoles for layering, tank tops for the gym, dry fit running tops etc..
Before it was a little maddening to try and sift through the mess of tanks in the drawer trying to find the right one. I just folded each one in squares and fit about 6-8 of them per shoebox. I divided them by category- camisoles, t-shirts, basic tanks and gym tanks. Each dresser drawer fits 4 shoeboxes perfectly.
Now this particular dresser drawer was overflowing before- a total mess. I found I had so much space! I have 30 tops in there right now and there is still room for a few more shirts.
So then I moved on to my little girls. They both have a lot of clothes and again trying to find specifically what I wanted was such a pain. We seem to have the same things over and over stuffed on top and that was basically what the kids would wear… which frustrates me because the drawers are overflowing yet they wear the same thing over and over!
So I organized all the girl’s clothing the same way.
This is my 5 year olds bottoms drawer- she has several skirts, shorts, jeans etc… all folded and tucked into the bins.
It makes it so easy to see everything they have at a quick glance.
My 2 year old tends to get grabby and I have to refold items here and there but my 5 year old has been really good. I can find the items I want so much faster and the girls are learning that they need to take care of their things and not just wad up clothing and cram it into the dresser.
I did take the time to make little labels for each box but that was really to serve as a guide for my husband when he puts the clothing away. I just put little labels on the back of the bins- if you are short on time you could even just use post it notes.
So this did take a little time to set up but overall it has made things much easier and faster in the morning!
You can see the way I sorted and stored little shoes here.
Anyone else have tips for organizing children’s clothing?
LOVE!! I was planning to go to walmart tomorrow anyway. Guess what I’m adding to my list?? Thank you!
Love your idea for storing the clothes for everyday use. I have a boy and a girl. I give my kids’ clothes to a friend when they outgrow those. No storage here…but I buy kids clothes during off season and believe me, at throwaway prices. I stow the bigger sizes away in a huge huge sterilite box. Have a box each for both the kiddos. In the beginning of the season I just go through the box and see which clothes can be used for that season. Works well for me.
What kind of bins fit your drawers?
Mary,
They are Sterilite boxes that are shoebox size and priced at .96. I found them to be cheapest at Walmart in the section with all the plastic storage bins.
I’m sorry, did you say your husband puts the kids clothes away sometimes? I can’t even get mine to put his dirty clothes in the basket. What’s your secret?
Ameena,
I dunno ;). My husband does a lot around the house. Not very much outside but he is a very big help inside with folding laundry, dishes, cooking sometimes….
Charlene, would you mind posting the dimensions so I can do some planning? I have some older & custom made dressers so I want to make sure the shoe boxes will fit. Thanks!
Ok they are Sterilite brand and 6 qt containers. The size is 14″ x 8 ” x 4 5/8. These are available at lots of stores but I found Walmart the cheapest and I used like 20 per dresser so a little less than $20. They do come with lids and I just put the lids under the container. I figured if I ever want to repurpose the tubs I might as well have the lids.
This question might be off topic, but I dont want to buy them if they wont fit 🙂 Is your girls dresser, the white-ish one, from pottery barn kids? It looks exactly like my girls dresser and if it is I wont even bother trying to measure, I will just buy the storage bins. LOVE this idea! 🙂
I have been doing this with my socks and such but never thought to use them for clothes too. We are in full spring cleaning mode around here (well I am) and I will be adding this to my to do list for each bedroom. Thanks for the tip. Would you mind mentioning which magazine you were reading?
Carley, No it is not PBK. This is the one we have:
http://www.diapers.com/p/davinci-roxanne-5-level-7-drawer-dresser-antique-white-9069
and actually we have the same brand in our master bedroom:
http://www.diapers.com/p/davinci-roxanne-4-drawer-dresser-espresso-8434
Delia,
Sorry I have no idea. I was reading about a lady that had a company based on repurposing things and she gave a few tips and one was to use shoeboxes for organizing stuff in a dresser.
I thought it was so smart but I wanted the uniformity of all the same boxes plus I didn’t think it was good to go buy 20 new pairs of shoes to organize my dresser ;).
I pinned this idea from Martha, to use a bookend for a similar purpose. It is image #14:
http://www.marthastewart.com/274465/a-call-to-order-maximizing-your-closet-s
Thanks! If you have any ideas on the kichen, please i’d be so grateful. My pots and pans are such a mess. LOL. ; )
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing this. We are remodeling the kids’ room and getting them new dressers. This is a good way to organize their folded clothes.
I have put my socks in shoe boxes in my drawers for a while now, but it never occurred to me to organize my daughters dresser the same way! I was putting her laundry away this morning and was annoyed at her 800 pairs of socks crowding in on her onesies and then I remebered this post. Thanks for sharing!
This is awesome Charlene! Great job. I’m always looking for new ideas to organize.
We have always just used the empty diaper and wipes boxes, but they tend to always be different sizes and end up having bags shoved in bags shoved in the boxes, so I needed a new method. We’ve done a clean sweep using your suggested method, and let me tell you, what a difference!! I went to Walmart and all they had left of the “shoebox” size were 4 blue ones. We went to target and they have packs of 5 (target brand, I believe) for $5.99. About a dollar more per 5, but I didn’t want to wait and order them. Thanks for your tips!
I hang all of my kids clothes on hangers in the closet. they have a couple shoebox size drawers to keep socks and underwear at bottom of closet. i’ve done this since they were babies and now 9/12. no dresser. no folding. they can hang their own clothes. i’m hoping to keep that system until college age. personally i have a tiny closet and small dresser. Good job getting organized Charlene. I am in cleaning mode at my house too. I plan to clean my kitchen floor today with oxyclean/hot water mixture sprayed on.
Love to see an organized drawer!
You can economize even further by using half the boxes in the drawer. if you space them out. Create an empty space between the plastic boxes and use that space for folding clothing or socks as well.
In fact the space between the boxes would be a great place to put bulk socks.
If you buy the same color and style of socks in bulk then no matching, tying, or folding is necessary ! This can simplify a child or even an adult’s life!
Ok, so I finally did this (my Walmart was out of the boxes the first time I went…someone else must have been reading this post! haha) but now I need a genius idea for using the lids! Come on Charlene, I’m counting on you! 🙂 Thanks again for this great idea!
Above Charlene said she keeps the kids underneath each shoe box.
Yep, Cathy, I’m doing the same for now…just hoping for inspiration for a way to actually use them! 🙂
Hi Charlene! Where did you put the labels? Can you see it from the front? My hubby would absolutely put it in the wrong spots too!
It looks horrible…!!! Not organized at all. The folding or whatever you want to call it looks messy. I would have never posted pictures of my drawers if they looked like that. Wow…Really.???
Hey Melissa! I used file folder labels and put them in the inside of the tub in the back. When you pull the drawer out you can see the little labels in the back. I did long sleeve, short sleeve, bathing suits etc….
Goodness Isabella, that’s awfully rude. I guess Charlene could have whipped out a clipboard and folded them like they do at The Gap for the sake of the picture. But honestly, with kids, it would stay like that for 5 seconds. You obviously don’t have kids who prefer to dress themselves. My drawers are a horrible mess and this would be a great way to help teach my son where things go when he “helps” me put away the laundry. Thanks for the great idea Charlene. I don’t have any of those tubs but I think I’ll try it with shoe boxes.
Really Isabella? You must not have little ones in your house. That’s a great idea for kiddos clothes. (and mine too!) There’s a difference between neat and tidy vs. extreme and control freak.
Isabella,
Do you have suggestions for how you would make them look tidier? I have a lot of workout tops that are dry fit fabric with sports bras so those are awkward to fold. On the left are all my t-shirts and the center are tanks and the right is sports stuff. There are 30 shirts though and I can see each one of them perfectly when I open the drawer. Also it only takes me a second to fold them up so it is functional and my children are able to also duplicate the little rolled up folds and they can also see exactly what they have.
Brenda,
I am pretty sure I couldn’t do a perfect clipboard fold even if I tried ;). That doesn’t seem very realistic to me. I probably could have tried harder to make it all look perfect but this was literally as I pulled my dresser drawer open and what it actually looks like in real life. I just want to see my shirts not impress people with how lovely the inside of my drawers look :D.
What is the height of the boxes and width also can I have the dimensions of ur dresser so I can compare it to mine?