Kids Clothes Boot Camp

How do you determine when your child has way too many clothes? Here is a great test, walk to your child’s room and peek inside. If you see mountains of clothing and possibly a shape that resembles a bed then it is definitely time to whip the mess into shape. Have no fear all is not lost, and there is no need to send in Search and Rescue.

Send your child into their room armed with a few trash bags; give them the instructions of anything that has not been worn in at least the last year must be placed into the bag. Send into the troops with some laundry baskets to remove the pile of clothes that are just dirty and need to be washed. Perhaps another round of troops with some additional storage containers is also helpful to maintain the organization that will emerge from the Battle of Clothes.

While your child is busy, deciding what clothes to keep you can decide what you want to do with the ones that are being cleaned out. You have several options, these range from giving them away, many charities have a need for children’s clothes almost continuously to help those who have been struck with a disaster such as a fire, or hurricane victim. Some other options include finding a thrift store that accepts children’s clothes and selling them there for a flat fee.

Your other options include, consignment shops and yard sales. Consignment shops almost always sell children’s clothing and they will sell the item for you, and keep a small percentage for their fee while you get the rest of the money. Yard sales are also another great place to rid your house of excess clothing. If you have cheap prices, you can almost be assured to move the majority of the clothes out.

Once the clothing situation has been conquered, you can truly assess the situation and see what more your child needs. You are likely to find a few needs that will have to be addressed, such as more socks, new jeans minus holes in the knees, or even a few shirts that still have sleeves attached. Once you have cleared out the clothes you do not need and that do not fit you have a great place to get started and quickly organize the rest.

Try to sort through the clothing for everyone at least once a year to ensure that you have plenty of what you need, and clean out the clothes you do not need. Children’s clothes especially tend to pile up for a very long time before they are sorted, try to avoid this by doing it once a year.