It is day 7 of the Spring Cleaning Party at Simple Mom.net and today we are cleaning children’s bedrooms. I am very lucky to have only two of these. I am also lucky that I don’t have piles of toys or crafting supplies to weed through. Our family only sleeps in our bedrooms. Play, work, and all activity is done else where in the home. I want my children to associate the bedroom with rest and sleep. I feel this encourages them to settle down faster at bedtime.

So, this is what my son’s room looked before and after. (I changed his bedding to a more spring/summer theme and I confess I still need to sew his valence and finish his crown molding.)

And this is what my daughter Sydney’s room look like before and after. Not too much of a difference here either.

I do, however, have two huge wardrobes of very small clothes to organize. Organizing kids’ clothing is a CHORE, and one I tackle seasonally. My daughter Sydney is 15 months and has way  too many clothes. She is my little fashionista princess and I feel like the servant organizing, organizing, organizing. My son Tyler is 2 1/2+ and doesn’t have as many different garments, BUT, everyone thought that they would get him winter outerwear for Christmas. So I pulled out about 15 sweatshirts, at least 4 coats with the tags still on them, boots he will never wear again, and enough mittens for an octopus. (He can wear only two mittens at a time and we live in Virginia and it snows like 2 times per year…when was he going to really wear snow boots? Okay, he did make use of the snow boots those two times. But it wouldn’t have been well worth my money to get them for him. Sorry buddy.)

Anyway, I pack away items that are out of season, take out those items I got at the end-of-the-season clearance sales the year before, and figure out what to recycle, gift, donate, and just plain throw away.

Here is what my hallway looked like before:

Here is what it looked like after:

My Kid Clothes Organizing Tips:

• Pull it all out! See what you have to contend with and make sure you have bags designated to donate, gift, recycle, keep, and throw away for sorting.
• Start sorting into your donate, gift, recycle, keep and throw away bags.
• If you are donating to two different charities, use two different bags and label them.
• Limit your storage space and don’t hoard (unless you have another child on the way and then its called being prepared.) You only have so much storage space in your home so impose a limit on the amount of stuff you keep. My husband and I aren’t planning to have another child, so I am giving away the baby clothes Tyler and Sydney outgrow. I know if we change our minds, we will still be able to acquire “free” baby clothing from friends and find great sales on the other items we need. I am not worried about wasting money, I am more worried about wasting space in my small home storing things I will probably never use again. (I also know that God will provide for my family and that someone else may urgently need the baby clothes sitting in my basement so why not put them to good use.)
• I usually place my “keep” items in plastic storage bins and place them on my basement storage room shelves. I make sure to label them clearly to indicate their contents. (However, in this case, I pictured the baby girl clothing in the bins and this needs to be donated.)
• Put the donate, gift, and recycle bags on your To-Do list and locate them where they will actually get donated, recycled, gifted, or trashed.
• Replace the seasonal garments that have made the cut and stand back to view your handy work. (And know that you have another 5 or so months before you have to do this again. *sigh* They grow so fast!)

An aside, I did find a pair of Sydney’s premie shoes. They were size zero. I photographed them here with a quarter so you could get an idea of how tiny her little feet where. These shoes were actually big on her at her traditional Korean 100 Days celebration!  I am donating these, but I am keeping her green poofy party dress she wore!

Do you have kid clothing/closet organizing tips? Leave a comment to share your organizing insight with others! Also read my guest post about Feng Shui Tips for Your Child’s Room at Kelli’s blog Mom to 3 Boys and a Dog.

Don’t forget to visit Simple Mom.net and Organizing Your Way for more tips about cleaning kids’ rooms. Happy Cleaning!!