Clothing tips for kids!

Hey guys! I'm offering up some tips for handling kids clothes. I've used these tips at different times depending on availability of space and ages of children. The more independent a child becomes the less I care about their clothing organization.  When I had five small boys running around I made things as easy as possible so they could help me with chores! OK! We're off!

• When your children are little, and their clothes are too, consider assigning each child one or two drawers in a shared dresser. The child will know exactly where their clothes belong this way.  Bonus? You're not running around the house to put clothes away.... OK, who am I kidding? You will be! But it will be LESS running around!
• Hang church clothes up in a coat closet with everything they will need, down to socks and undies! Read other church tips here.
• Consider having a laundry day! I will write more about this later, but it is basically an assigned day to really push through all of your laundry. You of course do laundry every other day, but this day is more focused. 
• When changing clothes over for a new season or size change make a list of what each child needs. An example? It would look like this:

Eliza

2 play dresses 4t

2 winter church dresses 4t

Winter boots size 8

1 pair of snow pants 3t

Winter coat 3t

 When you're looking through packed clothing you'll  know what you're looking for, then I cross it all off the list and purchase only what I need. I also get rid of anything I DON'T need. Sometimes I am fooled by seasonal bins! I look at 10 pairs of snow pants and assume we're good....and we're not.  Additionally remember to only pack AWAY items that aren't trashed. Do yourself a favor and just throw out unusable items. I know this seems obvious.

• When you have lots of littles, keep it simple when buying clothing. I used to buy either tops or bottoms with patterns and keep the other solid. For instance, I found about ten, like new, solid Gap polo shirts at a yard sale. I grabbed them up and happily found cute plaid shorts. I've also done the opposite.
  
• Color code children! We had five boys before having our two girls. We color coded the first three, who were born in four years. One was red, one blue and the last green.  This made it very easy to tell right away whose toothbrush, t-shirt or rain boots were whose. Obviously once clothes started to get handed down it wasn't as easy, but we had a good two years of color coding and it really helped with independence! 
• Don't match socks. I'm not a freak, I match my own socks and my husband's (well...usually. ) I have a HUGE bin by the front door, next to our shoes, filled with socks. Younger kids never care about matching socks, no one can see them anyway and it means I don't need to constantly replace missing socks.  Don't judge me. Now, older children? They just grab two matching socks out of the bin or match their own and toss them in their dresser. 
  

Hope these tips help! I've got a few more so look for a part two!