Spring, Summer, Floods, and Winter

Where's the flood? Your pants are creaping toward your knees, again. I know we held on to your sisters pants so you could wear them. The trick? Finding them!
Pull out the big plastic bin of clothes, nope, this is the boys' bin. Not this one either, grr! Here it is. Dump out all the clothes, sort according to size, no, season, both? Too many piles! Too many clothes!
Kids, stop jumping in the clothes!
Find pants and shove all the clothes back in the bin before they end up all over the house. Too late.

I HATE THIS!

My brilliant sister shared this idea with me a couple of years ago, I tried it and LOVE IT!

Supplies:

• Plastic storage bins: Just about any larger size or shape will work.You probably already have some shoved full of clothes.
• Box of 2-gallon size storage bags (or several boxes depending on quantity of clothing)
• Black permanant marker
• Clear packing tape

Step 1:
Sort clothing according to size, season, type, gender

Step 2:
Get a 2-gal. bag and (here is the key) fold and roll clothing items, one at a time and place in bag.
You will be surpried how much can fit into one bag.
Tip: as you zip the bag closed, try to squeeze as much air out of the bag as you can (gently kneeling on the bag worked for me).

Step 3: Do NOT skip this step!
Label what is in the bag with a permanant marker. Size, season, etc.

Step 4:
Repeat steps 1-3 until your clothing is all put into bags.

Step 5:
Arrange bags in storage bins (depending on size of bin, I can fit 4-6 bags).


 

4 bags fit into this 58quart (55 L) bin





6 bags fit into this 18 gal. (68 qt.) bin.



Same bin as above. 2 bags are laying flat on the bottom of bin.

Step 6: Do NOT skip this step either.
Place a strip of clear packing tape on lid and/or side of bin.
Label the contents of bin, on the piece of tape, with marker. This will save you so much time!

Note: If you pull a bag out of the bin, cross off that item on the top label.
While you are using the contents of bag, keep bag in the bottom of a clothing drawer.
As kids grow out of clothes, put them (clothes) into the same bag until you are ready to put it away.

Also: Store a marker with the bins and/or empty bags. Anytime you change the contents of a bag or rearrange things, label it! Cross off old info and add updated info.

Congratulations! You have now simplified your storage of clothing!

Now you know what clothing you have and where it is. Yea! No more dumping out bins of crumpled clothes and searching for that shirt you knew you saved.
Take a deep breath and go take a nap!
This sounds like a lot! It really isn't. Once you get everything in place you will save so much time and frustration each time the seasons change or your children need a new size of clothing.