Cleaning your closet versus cleaning a baby’s closet is vastly different. For instance, a baby is changing sizes every few months. We as adults don’t fluctuate all that often unless we are pregnant or dieting. In addition, babies unlike adults are receiving clothes as gifts all the time from grandparents, neighbors, friends and from your late-night impulse purchases. Lastly unlike adults who probably have 30-40 staples in their wardrobe, babies can have a 100 or so items. It gets to be a little daunting sorting through everything just to put an outfit together.
I have determined that I can’t just spring clean my baby’s closet I need to do a quarterly overhaul. To keep everything under control I have broken down the cleanup process into a few simple steps. I begin by categorizing everything by size.
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Baby clothes range from preemie, newborn, 3-month, 6-month, 9-month, 12-month, 18-month, and 24-month. After which you get into the Toddler sizes: 2, 3 etc. During each quarterly inventory get rid of things that no longer fit your baby. You can donate them, sell them or save them for future babies. After you categorize all the clothes by size, and items that no longer fit are placed aside your next step is to sort out Holiday Wear. - HOLIDAY WEAR
Babies have obvious holiday wear. One of the best things to do is dress them up for all the different holidays and special occasions. These clothes are often worn only once or very few times during the given holiday season. Categorize all Christmas, Thanksgiving, St Patrick’s Day etc. clothes into Holiday Wear. Once the Holiday Wear is removed categorize the remaining clothes into seasons – Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. - SEASONS
Based on the current season we are in: Spring, leave those clothes out and store all the other items that cannot be worn during the Spring (ex. heavy winter coats) in a storage bin or another section of your nursery’s closet for later use. I should note that there are items that can be worn across multiple seasons. For instance, my daughter can easily wear a dress over a long-sleeved t-shirt with a pair of pants in just about any season.This leads me to a tangent. Buy Basics! I have several sets of Plain White onesies or t-shirts in sleeveless or long sleeved to place under my kid’s clothes. Basics are invaluable. You can adjust clothes to adapt to different seasons plus basics make great layering pieces.Now that we have categorized the closet by Size, Holiday Wear and Season, the last step is to create wearable outfits. - CREATE OUTFITS
My little ones are in day care five days a week. It’s exhausting getting everything ready in the morning. All our breakfasts and lunches in addition to our clothes. Therefore, I pre-sort everything in their closets into ready to wear outfits. This makes choosing something for them to wear a breeze and makes it even easier when my husband dresses them. Each outfit can consist of a onesie, t-shirt, a dress or sweater, pants or a skirt and socks.
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During the next quarterly inventory, we will be prepping for summer. During that closet overhaul I’ll be checking to make sure we have swimsuits and shorts ready to go for the fun beach days ahead! I hope these few simple tips inspired you to take a stab at spring cleaning your baby’s closet!
Julia Burge of Organizing Motherhood, is a Los Angeles Millennial Mommy that is navigating the world of marriage, money and motherhood all while juggling color coded balls. Her mix of humor, organizing tips, money matters and mommy related topics has landed her the honor of Top 30 Millennial Mom Blogs and Websites for Millennial Moms by Feedspot. She is a consultant for Monat, a social marketing company that focuses on Naturally Based, Anti Aging Hair Care for men, women and children.
