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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

How do you sort and store your children's clothes that they no longer use?

15 replies

hjscho · 29/05/2007 14:19

I need to organise all the clothes that my DC have outgrown. I have a girl and a boy (eldest is 21 months, so its not a mammouth task...yet) and I want to keep the clothes separate (I think that is a better idea). How do you organise yours and what do you put them in (mine will be kept in the loft until such a day we decide to have No 3).

I tried some Vac bags BTW but they were rubbish and they didn't stay vac packed.

OP posts:

Clary · 29/05/2007 14:22

Yes vac bags are crap. Useful as storage but do not stay vacced.

I have several bags under the bed (much to a colleague's horror) with clothes labelled - eg DD next winter/DS2 school etc etc.

It's v complicated for me as I have DS1, DD, DS2, so have DS1 clothes - will DD wear this? No? DS2 pile. Yes? DD pile, etc. DD clothes generally (unless DS1 hand-ons!) go to someone else, ditto DS2 stuff if any use still lol. But yes, I have bags and bags, inevitably.

Bizarrely, I have a few items which seem to move seemlessly from one child's drawer to the next, never needing to be stored - Boden fleeces are best for this - how is this possible?

TheBlonde · 29/05/2007 14:28

Mine are sorted by size/age
Stored in cardboard boxes (lined with plastic bin bags) or plastic crates

Outgrown clothes go into spare drawers first then get sorted through before getting stored

Mumpbump · 29/05/2007 14:29

Ds' old clothes are put away by size in plastic storage boxes which have closing lids and stack. They are presently in the loft awaiting no. 2's arrival.

MaureenMLove · 29/05/2007 14:30

I have kept only special outfits of dd's. All the rest get shared between family, friends and charity.

bozza · 29/05/2007 14:33

I store mine in huggies nappy boxes labelled by boy/girl and age. I have a 6yo boy and a 3yo girl. I have given all the boy stuff up to age 3 away to my two nephews (one on each side). My sister has just given birth to another boy so I am going to have to find something to do with the girl's clothes.

Original poster

hjscho · 29/05/2007 14:44

Woahhh Clary...that sounds complicated and sooper organised. I think I need a more simple option .

OP posts:

Clary · 29/05/2007 14:55

well mine is complicated y'see by the fact that girls can wear boys' clothes (well my DD does but boys can't really wear girls clothes unless maybe a very plain blue t-shirt. But some boys' clothes are just too boyish for DD...

So some things will jump a child, some will not, some... oh you get it.

Original poster

hjscho · 29/05/2007 14:57

Clary. What sort of bags do you put the clothes into before putting them under the bed?

OP posts:

ThomCat · 29/05/2007 14:59

I sort old ones in bags that say 0-3 months 3-6 months 6-12 months 1 - 2 yrs, 2 -3 yrs and so on. Then clothes that don't fit yet I store saying DD1 - Autum 2008 and so on.

Oh and I have a mum with a massive house with loads of spare room!

barbamama · 29/05/2007 15:00

Wow it gets complicated! I have just been going through ds1's (2) in preparation for arrival of ds2 and was already getting confused about sizes, seasons etc as they were stored by type rather than size). Re: storage I put mine in those grey zip up canvas bags from ikea with labels on the front then they can be lugged around between wardrobes, lofts etc. The babygros and vests I put in plastic shoeboxes by size luckily so that was easier as I just got the newborn ones out.

Original poster

hjscho · 29/05/2007 15:00

Aren't Mums useful

OP posts:

MaMonkey · 29/05/2007 15:02

I have a confession.

I am a baby-clothes-aholic.

My daughter is 14 months and I have bought her 100s and 100s of clothes.

I have kept on top of them though, mostly by giving away nearly all of it and only keeping the items that have sentimental value to me (e.g a few of her 1st babygros, a couple of outfits and her first pair of shoes).

However, we are undecided about having another baby, so the economical factor of reusing the clothes isn't such a concern.

bozza · 29/05/2007 15:02

Yes clary I passed on a pair of what I thought were plain blue jeans of DDs to my nephew in with a load of boys stuff. But got it reported back by my SIL that the button was flower shaped. TBH I thought, but didn't say, "does it really matter". I mean there is overtly girly (as in 99% of DD's wardrobe) and just a tiny little detail.

Bibis · 29/05/2007 21:43

I put everything on the spare bed and hope that no one wants to stay as I then have to hastily shove them in any nook and cranny which may be available (not many in our house).

As I have 4 children there are rather a lot of clothes littering the house

I am hoping that we will one day welcome a visitor who would like to sort out and put away all the clothes for me fat chance

Clary · 30/05/2007 10:45

Oh I actually use those vac bags despite the uselessness of them wrt vaccness.
Also any old zipped holiday bags that are past their best (egg zips don't really work.

every so often I root them all out and clean underneath as well.

And of course twice a year (seasonally) I have to sort through them and get out summer (or winter) stuff and file the non-season stuff. gAAAAH
My sister has a girl then a boy and isn't having any more so she doesn't have this problem, I guess, as very little of her DD's stuff is passed on to her DS.

Bozza that's mad about the flower button! DD looked very fetching yesterday in DS's old Boden faded blue shorts and a stripey T. But I think her pink-flowered stuff may be not suitable for DS2...

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