Rubbermaid Mayhem: Sorting Your Kids Clothing
- Hannah Sherrill
- Aug 28, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Nov 10, 2024
Rubbermaid Mayhem: How to maximize time and money with your kid’s clothing through simple rhythms.
You know that feeling on a warm day when your oldest kid comes in asking for a t-shirt because the weather has turned warmer faster than you could blink? You open their closet door with a feeling of dread as it dawns on you that the bi-annual clothing season swap is upon you. Didn’t we JUST do this? Are we really going to have to sort through all these clothes again? Do we even have any t-shirts in here? Your dread only multiplies as you remember this process has to be done, not for one, but for three... or maybe more! Lord, have mercy!
However, I am here to tell you that the process doesn’t have to bring on dread. Let that dread bow and take a knee before these humble little rhythms that can transform this part of your home and take the area of your children’s clothing from a place of waste – where clothing goes unworn, too much is purchased, and time is wasted – to an efficient counting, sorting, and knowing of exactly what is in each of your kids’ closets. You can also sort and swap three kids’ worth of clothing in less than one nap time. I promise you. It’s possible. A little time getting organized up front will save you lots of time in years to come. Below are four rhythms and four values I have found helpful in establishing order and gaining efficiency in this area of my life.
Rhythm 1: Off season box for each kid.
This is my biggest tip for you and the rhythm that makes this area of my life as functional as it is. You MUST have a place to store upcoming, off-season clothing for your kids. This can be any box. For Pete's sake, we don’t have to be Joanna Gaines here. By golly, grab that unused diaper box! This box can go on the shelf above where your kid’s clothes hang, on the floor of their closet, or on a top shelf above your laundry. Ideally it should be in an area that frequently revolves around your children’s clothing. The main thing is that it is accessible and doesn't take you more than a few seconds to get into. In our house, each child has an off-season basket above where their clothes hang in the closet.
The main rule of this box is that it is ONLY for clothes that will be worn in the future. This is not a box that should be used for clothing your child has outgrown in a previous season (see rhythm 2 for that). Use this box for any clothes, whether purchased or given to you, that are in your child’s upcoming size for the season ahead. Did you just stumble on the deal of a lifetime at a recent garage sale of all winter clothes and it’s currently July? Throw all those clothes in your child’s upcoming off-season basket. Did Grandma just score at the Gap sale and buy a bunch of clothes for sweet Freddy, but he won’t wear them for 6 months? Throw them in Freddy’s off-season basket. Don’t even fold them. Did precious Marabelle just have a growth spurt, but you don’t want to pack them for the attic because sister Lucy will need them next season? Say a big hello to Lucy’s off-season basket and throw those clothes in there. Can you feel the sighs of relief coming yet? You can now shop those sales, thank Grandma, and pass on big sibling’s clothes all while having a place to put them that is out of sight. You won’t have to think about them until later.
Rhythm 2: Boxes to store outgrown clothes.
You will only need these boxes accessible when you actually go to sit down for the great Bi-Annual Season Swap. That means don’t hop into it willy-nilly. Decide on a day to swap out clothes a week or so in advance so you can make sure you have the boxes and bags you need for clothes you are going to store or donate. Again, this doesn’t have to be fancy. In our family we keep most of our clothes for the next kid, which means I have a designated space in our attic for bins of clothes. You should have a designated space too whether there is room in a kid’s closet, the attic, basement, underneath beds, or garage shelf. Find a space to keep 3-4 boxes of clothing. Since these boxes are only accessed a couple times a year, they can be in a more obscure, harder-to-get-to place than your off-season clothing baskets. Next, decide on your box of choice to best fit that space. The old Amazon box could totally get the job done if it’s all you can manage for the time being. However, I have found that in this case, spending a little money on some large Rubbermaid bins is worth the investment. I have some old ones that I bought when I was twenty years old and moving in and out of the college dorms because it seemed “worthwhile”. It turns out I was right. Thank you 20-year-old self! There hasn’t been a year they haven’t been used. Now if you are going to be donating all your clothes, you don’t need fancy bins. A garbage bag or old box will more than do the trick.
Rhythm 3: Lists for what you need in the future.
This has been the newest and most favorite rhythm I have introduced into this area of my life. For the longest time, I have had my household clothing spaces in order, but once I stepped out of the house to go shop a sale, or if I stumbled upon a garage sale, I always felt like my brain turned to a scrambled mess. I’m sure if you walked by me in those moments you’d wonder if everything was ok since I was likely standing stone still, staring blankly into the depths of some overwhelming garage sale bucket or disorganized sales rack. In actuality, there was nothing wrong, I was just sorting through six months of stored information, trying to dredge up from the archives of my brain what I had thought about purchasing the last time I had sorted through my kids’ clothing. It dawned on me one day… “Why am I doing this to myself?” For crying out loud, just the other day I pulled away from my kid’s favorite bike at the corner of the local park after forgetting to load it into the trunk after the stroller. Am I really going to remember what color pants my kid needed six months after I thought about it? In case the answer wasn’t obvious, the answer is, “No!” No, of course I am not going to remember. You won’t remember either. So, when you are sorting through your kids’ clothes and realize, “Hey, Princess Penny doesn’t have enough winter church dresses and is going to need two of those next season,” Write. It. Down. I have mine on a note on my phone, organized by child with sizes and colors listed so I can access it whenever I am out shopping. No more staring into the depths of sales racks while I rack my brains. Talk about a sigh of relief.
Rhythm 4: Shopping off season sales.
This is the biggest money saver right here. If you don’t have the good fortune of someone in your life handing down used clothing to you, you are well aware of the expense of buying every piece your child needs. Do drive-bys at garage sales and only stop if they look promising. Shop off-season sale racks at your malls and outlets. Shop your used children’s stores when they have seasonal sales. You can now do this with ease since you have a list of exactly what you need for the next season and a basket to put everything in until the time comes to wear it. Major win for your wallet and your mental space.
The Process: Tips for the actual Bi-Annual Season Sort.
Once you have your rhythms in place, the actual process is straightforward. However, there are a couple tips to make your time most successful.
1.) Make sure all your laundry is done. You don’t want to throw boxes of things for the future into the attic and then do your laundry a few days later only to realize there were several pieces of clothing in your laundry that should have gone into your attic. I speak from experience.
2.) Pull out everything at once and arrange in an order that makes sense for how you are going to sort. That means you need ALL the clothes from drawers and closets made into piles by kid so you aren’t mixing up sizes and genders of clothes. You will need your upcoming-season’s baskets pulled out because those are going to be the clothes you are going to swap into your kids’ closets once you put away the old stuff. You will need a box for clothes if you are planning on donating anything. You will need the Rubbermaid boxes for clothes that aren’t needed next season and are being stored away for a future kid. You will need a trash bag for clothes that have reached the end of their life and aren’t worth donating and need to be tossed. Once you have all those things lined up, just start sorting, one kid at a time. It is usually the best strategy to start with the youngest first and work your way up to the oldest.
Value 1: Efficiency over aesthetics.
We live in a day and age where organization is equated with aesthetics (thank you Pinterest and Instagram). While I am a big fan of aesthetics, and I am not above things looking pretty as well as organized, we are apt to think that if it looks pretty, it means it’s organized. While a natural fruit of organizing is that often your space will end up looking tidier, you don’t need to spend $40 on a fancy basket for your kids' closet to implement organizational rhythms and strategies that will enrich your life. I used diaper boxes in my kids closet for the longest time before I stumbled across a $6 basket sale at Aldi and purchased what I am currently using. The point we need to remember is that the primary purpose of organizing and implementing household rhythms is not to improve aesthetics or reach a point of perfection but to give us back more time, money, and mental energy so we can spend more of it on what actually matters in life. I don’t want to spend a ton of time, mental space, or money on my kid’s clothing. In light of eternity, it hardly matters. Try to see organizing and rhythms as a skid loader that’s clearing a mess of brush out of your life, leaving behind lots of wonderful space for something better. Aesthetics can be a by-product of organizing, but it isn’t first. Therefore, use the diaper box if you need to in order to get the process started. Let aesthetics follow as you have the time and money.
Value 2: Quality over quantity. Enough is enough.
This is a tough one in our consumer-driven society. The truth is that it feels good to buy stuff. The dopamine kick is real. Especially if you really hit a mega sale. If you’re honest, you’ll admit that it feels good to come back with a big bag of clothing that you can proudly claim, “Isn’t this a steal?”. However, you know what else is a good feeling? Contentment. The practice of being satisfied and finding peace with exactly what you already have. Contentment is also the practice of recognizing when what you have is sufficient and saying no to anything else that might come your way, even if it’s on a great sale. One thing that has really helped me is thinking through my laundry routine. I do my kids’ laundry once a week. That means, in theory, the most my kids need is 7 – 8 outfits to last the week and a few outfits for church so they don’t wear the same thing to church weekly. Thinking through your life on this practical level is a good way to determine what you need to buy and also a good measure for when to stop. The same thing goes for your kids’ shoes, jackets, and coats. Is there a way for you to choose jackets and shoes that are more versatile and can be worn more often so you can get by with less? Those items might be worth a small splurge… but that honestly could be its own topic. The point is that less is often more, and the word “no” is typically the best word in your vocabulary when it comes to being organized.
Value 3: Less space = Less waste.
This is for my small space people. If you find yourself tight on space, I want you to recognize that you have an opportunity to be rich in thanksgiving. Small spaces are a gift. They force us to value what we already have, to determine exactly what we need, and to prioritize what is important in order to keep us from drowning in too much stuff. Those are all things to be thankful for. Small spaces also provide natural limits. They force us to pick and choose what is needed over what is wanted because we actually can’t fit it all. That’s a blessing and a big step towards practicing contentment. Small spaces also create a rich environment for creativity to be fostered. When your space is limited, you are forced to think outside the box or consider options you may not have otherwise perceived if a solution had been readily available. Lean into all the wonderful reasons to give thanks for a small space! While space indeed can be a real problem depending on family size, it rarely is the problem. More often our problem with our space lies in our relationship with our things or our refusal to be content.
Value 4: New ain’t heaven and used ain’t the devil.
If you are anything like me, a new article of clothing can feel like a little bit of heaven. What is it about pulling back crisp tissue paper to reveal the coveted items you’ve been anticipating coming all week through the mail? It stimulates all the senses, and I am here for it! Also, if you are anything like me, you might sheepishly admit a little bit of embarrassment over shopping second-hand. Lord come back and catch me in covetousness, but God forbid he comes back and catches me or my children in a secondhand pair of sneakers. It is all so frivolous. If I am honest, it has taken me some time to come to terms with how deep my vanity runs and how my care of what other people think can keep me from being content with what the Lord has given me. There are three huge positives to shopping second-hand right off the bat. 1.) There is less waste overall. You are choosing to wear something in perfectly good condition that someone else threw away. 2.) It’s less toxic, and it is less chemical exposure for your children, which is arguably better for their health. 3.) If you must do it for financial reasons, being able to shop second-hand should be seen as a point of provision. While I am not at all opposed to buying new, no matter who you are, we should all consider used items with more frequency.
Before I say, “Bon voyage!” and wish you well on your way to reclaiming control of this area of your life. I will leave you with two of my favorite scriptures when it comes to working, taking initiative, and living in contentment. Put your hands to it. Take initiative and responsibility over it. Give thanks for it. I 100% believe with those three things, you can end up in a much better place from where you began. Blessings!
“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer, and gathers her food in harvest.” Proverbs 6:6-8
“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:14-18
Click below to check out the "Kid's Clothing" highlight of my Instagram account for more specific pointers and videos of the process. You can also download my Clothing Sort Checklist:
Helpful but Unnecessary Items:
Click below to check out the "Kid's Clothing" highlight of my Instagram account for more specific pointers and videos of the process. You can also download my Clothing Sort Checklist:
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