The Joyful Sort How To: Declutter and Organize Children's Hand-Me-Downs

I’m all for hand-me downs - better for the environment, better on the wallet, and when your kids are growing like weeds (or destroying a pair of pants every other week like mine are currently) it’s really nice to be able to easily tap into a supply of go-to items.

And yet.

Between emotional attachment and the dreaded Someday Syndrome (“…but what if I need it, maybe someday?”) a lot of people end up with bins and bins of clothes that they’re not sure how to store and ultimately don’t use like they should because it’s too much of a chore to find what they need when they need it. Keeping volume in check and having a simple system in place are key to make your hand-me-downs work for you and not the other way around. Read on for Team TJS’ top tips!

Sort.

Clear out some floor and/or bed space and gather any outgrown clothing and shoes into one spot. Start sorting by specific size, then season. If this seems overwhelming, you can always break this down into two parts with older and younger children’s sizes.

Edit.

Be picky about what you keep and ask yourself whether each item deserves to take up space in your home. Toss anything that’s stained or torn, donate anything that’s a bit past its prime, but still in decent shape, and consign any great pieces if (and only if) you feel like the return will be worth your effort. Remember to take both quantity and quality into account as well. Does your active little girl really need 10 frilly special occasion dresses, or would one or two be enough? Classic pieces from durable brands like Hanna Andersson and even Gap are made for that hand-me-down life. Gerber onesies and Target socks? Not so much.

Organize.

Once you’ve got an idea of what you’d like to keep, pick up some uniform bins (sticking with the same size and brand makes them easy to stack and store in any space) and divvy up your Keep items depending on how many you have in each size. This is an area where container limits (giving yourself a cap on how much you can save per category and then sticking to it) are a must. Depending on the number of children in your family, one or two bins per size max is a good rule of thumb. Team TJS recommends using our favorite weathertight totes for anything that you’ll be storing longer term, with these basic lidded bins are as a great shorter-term option, and pouch labels to make it easy to see which sizes are in which bin.

Maintain.

The easiest way to make sure that you’ll actually use your hand-me-downs is to keep the system as simple as possible. Pencil in some calendar time (seriously, book it like you would a doctor’s appointment) to review your inventory seasonally, before doing any shopping for new items. Another of our kid’s closet go-tos is keeping an Outgrown bin (and even a Grown Into bin if there’s room) handy so that off-sized items have an easy drop spot. Also consider holding a seasonal clothing swap with some fellow parents to help share the love.

What’s been your biggest hand-me down struggle? Any great tips of your own to share? Chime in below!