Baby clothing size is confusing enough, and if you have a steady stash of growing sizes coming your way from a generous neighbor or relative*, those adorable onesies are never going to stop coming. You might as well get some organization now before you and your well-dressed baby are overcome.
If you’re reading this while your baby is still cooking, I congratulate you on your luck, because now is the best time to get the closet ready. After the baby arrives is still fine, of course, but you’ll be in “New Baby Mode”, and at that point you’ll probably be ready to trade your best nursing bra for 30 minutes of sleep.
After all of the baby showers and well-wishing, I plopped my 8 months pregnant bottom in my son’s nursery and got organized. Here’s the plan that I still use to this day:
1. Separate those 0-3 month cutie-patootie outfits and hang them first in a convenient location in the closet.
2. Put up a closet divider tab and then hang the 3-6 month sizes, and if you have enough room, do the same with the 6-9 month sizes. Bonus points if you have adorable hangers and custom closet tab dividers.
3. KEEP ALL SIZES SORTED AND IN THEIR PLACE!
4. Place an empty storage bin at the bottom of Baby’s closet. When you find an outfit is too small, just toss it into the empty bin.
5. When most of one size is in the bin, it’s time to take that entire size out of Baby’s closet and move on to the next size. I know that some outfits are almost too unbearably cute and filled with such wonderful memories that it’ll be emotionally distressing to put them away. BE STRONG! J You’ll be thankful for the closet space.
6. Decide if you’re going to keep or pass on the outgrown clothes. If you’re keeping them, remove the stained, torn, or just plain tired garments and get rid of them so you don’t have to sort them out later. If you’re letting them go, I know many moms who are into the whole consignment scene. I just put them in a box and give them to ARC. No muss, no fuss, nice write-off. (Of course I keep the outfits I can’t part with. I’m not insane…)
7. If you have bigger clothes in storage, grab the next biggest size, give them a gentle wash, and hang those in the closet. If you come across an outfit that you don’t think your baby will wear, just get rid of it and don’t feel guilty about it. In my experience, it’s better to let another family enjoy it instead of it sitting in your closet unused, sad and lonely.
8. Repeat the process as Baby grows, or in my case, every 2 weeks.
*Thanks to my sisters, Lara and Jill for all of the wonderful hand-me-downs. Just because I jest doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate being drowned in baby socks, bibs, and an unreasonable amount of CU and CSU baby outfits. J
