Vlog: My least favorite task: Sorting kids clothes

This week my oldest daughter returns to preschool! This means we reinstate our school routine, from morning wake-ups to the bedtime routine. I figured this would be a good week to introduce you to my routines. I crave routine as much as my children, so I’ve developed several of them to make our life a little easier. Today, we are going to look at my kids clothes storage routine.

It seems like just about every season, my kids need to have their drawers cleaned out. They have outgrown clothes, some are just not seasonally appropriate and some are just worn out completely. I hate doing this task. It seems to take all day and then it feels like I’m just NEVER done. Clothes come out of the laundry or turn up in diaper bags and then I have to repack the clothes. So, I developed this system for completing the task and now it keeps my clothes safe and also gets the job done.

I start by raiding the drawers. I take everything out. I got through them and anything that is from the “old” size gets tossed in a Space Bag that is placed inside a Rubbermaid Tote. Once that is done, I put the box next to the dresser where it sits for about a week. This seems annoying, but this to make absolutely sure that I have everything from the laundry and it gives me a chance to make sure nothing else just “turns up,” which often seems to happen.

After the week has gone, I nestle the bags inside the Totes so that I can get to the air plugs. Then I run the vacuum and suction out all of the air. Sometimes, most of the time, I can fit too large bag in one Rubbermaid Tote.

What’s the point? Well, the Tote keeps it dry but the Space Bag makes it air tight and waterproof, and I like backup methods of safety.

Once they are all sealed up, I take the Totes to my basement, and put it on these awesome shelves in my basement. My husband make them to line both sides of our furnce room walls and hold full-size and half-size Totes. It works out perfectly. Besides kids clothes, I store camping gear, holiday decore and wrapping items on those shelves. I make sure it’s completely labeled.

The process works great in reverse as well. When I get the next-size-up clothes out of the Totes, they rarely need to be washed, or even Fabreezed. I just open the bags, sort them into the drawers and I’m on my way.