Trying to organize stuff: do you hang your kids clothes or put in drawers?

[amsafko]

I am so sick of the disorganization in our home. I'm trying to get their rooms straightened up a bit. It got me wondering what most people do with their kids clothes. Do you fold or hang?

 

[Bren's Mom]

I fold everything except jackets, 'dress' clothes (Sunday clothes if you will), and 'Bigger Sizes' (clothes 'in waiting' for ds to grow into them). The bigger sizes are better to hang, imo, because you can clearly see what you have. I tend to buy alot of things on clearance in advance so this is important to me. Everything else is folded, I find it saves time...I can fold watching TV at night and just put everything away rather than have to stand at the closet and hang things.

Ds has 4 drawers in his dresser. The top drawer is for underwear, white t's, socks, jammies and belts, etc. The 2nd drawer is complete outfits for daycare to make it easier for Daddy to help get him dressed. (Dh hates to pick out outfits.) 3rd drawer is additional tops and bottoms. The bottom drawer is heavy sweaters, bathing suits, painting clothes and other misc things.

 

[BellyBaby]

I hang the "good" clothes. School, dresses, etc. Little kids get the bar you can hang from the top bar with extention bars so I can double the closet space, plus they can reach the bottom bar themselves.

Pjs, "home" clothes, undies, socks, go in the dresser drawers. Seasonal clothes goes in underbed boxes, well, under the bed.

 

[moniot]

I've tried both. My DS is almost 16 and my DD is 14. I found the easiest, for my son, was shelves. One for shirts, one for pants and one for sweatshirts. The socks and boxers go in a drawer. That means I can fold everything and put in piles and then just stack them in his room.

My DD on the other hand is a not so tidy!!! She is on her own as to where her stuff goes and I just keep her door shut. I have even quit folding her clothes and just put them in a basket in her room.

When my kids were younger I had the shelves for each day. Pants, shirts, sock and underwear all ready to go for the week. What a time saver in the morning. Now they pick out their own stuff each morning.

 

[dizkids]

I hang pretty much everything except some everyday/play tshirts and shorts. My daughter especially would tunnel through all my neat piles and waste my time so now she can manage to put it back on the hanger at least.

 

[icalum]

I have 2 DDs (6 and 8) and use the same "system" for each. They each have a 3 drawer dresser in their room. Then, in each closet, I have a small 4 drawer cardboard dresser for lack of a better word and a basket, in addition to the closet rods. PJs go in the basket in the closet, folded. The cardboard drawers have a drawer for each of the following: socks, undies, tights, and dance leotards/swimsuits. I hang dresses, jackets and sometimes outfits that coordinate. In the real dresser in the room the first drawer is for shirts, second for pants, skirts or shorts, and the bottom drawer has one half workout clothes and one half nicer outfits. The system works well for us and the girls have been able to help put away their own clothes for quite a while. Good luck on finding what works for you. I think the key is designating a place for everything first and then just getting everyone used to it.

 

[lady9]

I love an organized home, too. I bought a closet organizer for my children's closets. I hang DDs dresses on the left. The shelves and drawers are slightly off center to the left. I fold her sweaters and sweatshirts on 2 of the shelves. The 2 drawers are for her American girl clothes and accessories. For the bottom 2 shelves I bought 4 canvas box like totes. In those I keep her shoes she doesn't wear often and slippers, Webkinz animals, belts and other accessories that fall of hangars, and 1 box is for her "junk" she doesn't know what to do with but wants to keep. To the right of the shelves, I have a double clothes rod. On top are all her nicer tops or ones that need ironing. The bottom rod are her pants and skorts. I hang the skorts with hangars that have the clips so they won't slide off the hangar. I do have a dresser for her that I keep PJs, t-shirts, shorts, sweat pants, foldable pants like stretch pants and leggings. The key to organizing clothes in my opinion is to only have in season clothes that fit in the closets and drawers. At the end of the season, I go through each room and take out what no longer fits or won't fit next year. I donate or sell those. The things I think will fit next year go into a plastic tote to be stored in our basement. My DS's closet is basically the same as DD's but I don't have a high bar in his. He has only a double rod in addition to the shelves.

 

[DisneyDawnNH]

All shirts are hung for my DS11. Pant/Jeans are folded on the shelf and he has a bin for his socks, bin for boxers another bin for sleepwear. I eliminated the dresser completely because all folded clothes were pulled out constantly and left on floor or back into hamper again and again.

This technique works out perfectly for him - he can see all his clothes without opening drawers and unfolding all his clothes. The best part is it takes him very little time to put his laundry away!

Another benefit with hanging clothes in the closet is we have the "nothing allowed on the floor" rule now - so every week when I get his laundry I do a floor check in the closet to make sure he isn't stashing junk in the closet. Keeps his room very neat now!

 

[tinkermom23]

All shirts are hung for my DS11. Pant/Jeans are folded on the shelf and he has a bin for his socks, bin for boxers another bin for sleepwear. I eliminated the dresser completely because all folded clothes were pulled out constantly and left on floor or back into hamper again and again.

This technique works out perfectly for him - he can see all his clothes without opening drawers and unfolding all his clothes. The best part is it takes him very little time to put his laundry away!

Another benefit with hanging clothes in the closet is we have the "nothing allowed on the floor" rule now - so every week when I get his laundry I do a floor check in the closet to make sure he isn't stashing junk in the closet. Keeps his room very neat now!

I love this idea! I think it willactully work for me. My DS9 is so messy with his drawers and I get so tired of asking him to straighten them out. He can't seem to fold either, but I bet he can hang! (I thought it was genetic, DH can't fold or keep drawers straight either )

Thanks!

 

[daleswife]

all of my DS2 clothes are folded and put in his dresser cause he dont have a closet. I hang all my DD5's shirts, dresses, and jackets but her jeans and other pants are folded in her drawers...

 

[SAMANDEM]

I hang as much as I can - the drawers do not fit my dd's clothes

 

[MrandMissVacation]

We hang all shirts and tops.
We use a hanging organizer attached to the top of the closet rod for all pants and shorts (folded)
Undies in one drawer
Socks in another drawer
PJ's in another drawer.

 

[dizkids]

All shirts are hung for my DS11. Pant/Jeans are folded on the shelf and he has a bin for his socks, bin for boxers another bin for sleepwear. I eliminated the dresser completely because all folded clothes were pulled out constantly and left on floor or back into hamper again and again.

This technique works out perfectly for him - he can see all his clothes without opening drawers and unfolding all his clothes. The best part is it takes him very little time to put his laundry away!

Another benefit with hanging clothes in the closet is we have the "nothing allowed on the floor" rule now - so every week when I get his laundry I do a floor check in the closet to make sure he isn't stashing junk in the closet. Keeps his room very neat now!

WOW this is is my DS11 too : ) Laundry was nuts. I didnt know if i was washing clean or dirty.
Now mostly all shirts are tshirt style so they are all hung and facing in one direction so he can flip through them fast to see which one it is. Pants/Shorts are folded since we dont have a ton of them.

 

[ThreeMusketeers]

I don't fold, i make piles.

DD gets a pile, and they both put it away however they like. As long as it's in drawers or in closet that that's fine with me.

 

[Donnainnj]

Ok, am I the only one that just about lives out of the laundry room? I fold most of the laundry strait into each family members personal laundry basket. The babies I put away. Most of the rest of the clothes stay in the basket until used, except whites which usually the kids sort, and each person puts away their own. Occasionally DH will put some of his away.
Donna

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I have two sons in their 20's who live at home. They do their own laundry (and have since they were 12). Guess what they do? Leave it in the laundry basket. Yup, they have "clean laundry baskets" and "dirty laundry baskets" and they get dressed out of the clean ones and put dirty clothes in the dirty ones. It drives me nuts, but that's what they do.

Teresa

 

[puffkin]

I do both.

Hanging are most of his shirts, jeans and nicer pants and outfit sets. I think it is easier to pick out his clothes when the are hanging.

He has a 4 drawer dresser as well.
Top drawer- socks, underwear, long sleeve t's and undershirts
2nd drawer- PJs
3rd drawer- shorts
4th drawer- athletic pants and sweat pants type things

I keep a big plastic tote in the bottom of his closet. As he outgrows things it goes directly into the tote. I also do a purge at the end/start of each season. When the tote is full it goes to the basement for yardsale. I find it is much easier to weed his clothes out continuously rather than do one big purge a year.

 

[corie161]

Little bit of everything, but I couldn't live without the closet organizer.

Most of the time they live out of their basket until they have time to put them away. Good shirts get hung, tshirts, jeans each have a shelf, sweatshirts get put in a bin in the closet. Jammies, socks, undies are in a dresser drawer. The other couple of dresser drawers I use for storage of out of season clothes.

 

[sk!mom]

I did a combination of both with input from the kids once they were 6 or 7. Especially with DD it seemed that if she helped come up with the system then she did better keeping it organized. DS on the other hand would have been OK with one pile in the floor, I think. Glad I'm no longer fighting that battle.

DD12 has been coming up with her own system for a couple of years.

 

[Sorsha]

I hang most of my two younger DD's clothes. Their dressers are very small, and clothes get all wrinkley from being smooshed up in the drawers. This is our system of organization:

Each girl has two "milk crate" type baskets that sit on top of the dresser. Panties and undershirts get thrown in one, and socks get thrown in the other. I don't bother to fold the panties and undershirts, but I do match and fold socks.
Top drawer of the dresser is for pajamas.
2 of the 3 remaining drawers are for clothes they do NOT wear to school. Sweats, junky clothes for mucking around in the yard on the weekends, etc.
The bottom drawer is for jeans. Just plain old, match-with-anything jeans.

Everything else gets hung. I *always* hang outfits together. Sometimes these are outfits that actually "came" together (their Gymboree stuff, etc), more often that not, just outfits that I have put together of things that match. Also hanging are sweaters, dresses, and the odd random shirt that has no bottoms to match (these get matched eventually with the jeans in the drawer). Both DDs know that they may NOT mix and match from the outfits that are specifically hung together without asking me first. I believe in letting kids pick out their own clothes, but only within reason. I have not spent $100's of dollars on Gymboree and other clothes to have them go to school looking like color-blind ragamuffins.

Eldest DD is free to make her own system. When I do laundry, I hang any of her clothes that might wrinkle on a hanger straight from the dryer just to keep them wrinkle-free. Everything else gets put in a basket and delivered to her. She puts them away in her dresser or hangs them up as she sees fit. She is free to decides what matches or doesn't, but I still reserve the right to send her back to her room is she looks ghastly... which, for the record, I have never had to do.

So that's how we do it! I will admit, I am neurotic about how my kids dress, and they never leave the house without their hair brushed and fixed, usually with pretty bows or clips. Others may not be so neurotic, and I guarantee you will have less work!

PS: I am on my 4th load of laundry for the day. Being neurotic has its price...