Storing children's clothes for later use

[chloechloe]

I have two little girls under 2 and will be trying to persuade DH to let us have another and their outgrown clothes are in a state of chaos. They are currently strewn around the cellar in boxes and in a big pile on an old coffee table.

Any tips on how to store things so you can find them again when the younger one is big enough? I had things sorted by age according to the label but alas no two shops seem capable of sizing things consistently and I can never seem to find things at the time I need them.

I expect an IKEA order for some plastic storage boxes may be necessary!?

I use rubble bags and label by size. My friends all laugh but I buy all of DD clothes from Sainsbury's when they have25% off and then she grows out of everything at the same time.

I store mine avoiding to size and season. So all 3-4 summer things go in one bag, all 3-4 winter things in another. I generally use the big blue ikea bags and store under beds.

I have a truly wonderful friend with a large family who actually put up two lines of bars in the loft, with all the children's grown out of clothes on hangers, sorted by age and size. Periodically she goes up there and has a re organise, she says its got like visiting her own personal department store but it's saved them a fortune.

I bought pretty bags from dotcomgiftshop (they do large zip up storage bags) and I pop a note in the top with a desc of what is in there. Alternatively could use gift tags and tie them to handle with desc on.

I bought a large amount of vacuum storage bags and put all sets of clothes in these then managed to fit them on top of the wardrobe. X

I use the vaccum storage bags, means they hardly take up any space, don't get dusty and aren't vunerable to moths or whatever (plus it's so satisfying to do!)

I bought a load of those colourful extra large laundry bags. Then get a load of carrier bags (thank you ocado!) and put all the summer weight clothes in a size into a bag/winter weight clothes in a size into a bag etc and then put a paper note of the size/season in the top of the bag and tie closed. Then fire into the big laundry bag. Weed out stained/old/worn out stuff as you go straight into a charity shop bag AND PUT THE CHARITY BAG SRAIGHT INTO THE CAR!!!

Might now apply but I put Christmas stuff in with the decorations likewise Halloween etc and holiday things in the suitcases. Rather than by size if you see what I mean.

I vacuum packed all the clothes and then stuck a label on the bag with the size. So all 0-3 are in one bag, 3-6m are in another, etc.

Sorted by label size/type (dresses, vests, babygros) and in labelled vacuum bags. Can always put too big stuff on...

Thanks for your replies. It sounds like vacuum bags are the favourite!

rumbling That made me laugh to think of your super organized friend going shopping in the loft!

noni yours is a great tip. I ended up buying another summer hat at the weekend for DD1 and then discovered the one she has last year still fits. That could have been avoided if I'd had all the summer hats in one place rather than stored genetically with clothes.

I just use clear bags that deliveries come in or next orders and put my sons old clothes in the clear bags in age size. So I currently have a bag for 3 to 6 months and one for 6 to 9 months and so on.

So it's ready for LO to use. One is 10 weeks and the other is 19 months so once LO wears them and outgrows I will just sell on Shpock/gumtree/Facebook.

There is a label inside each a bag clarifying the size