137 | How to Keep Up with Outgrown Clothing from Babies and Toddlers when Sorting and Purging Regularly is Not an Option - Intentional Edit

Kids grow out of clothing quickly and it can feel like you are constantly trying to sort what doesn’t fit, what needs to be donated, what to keep, and what to toss. You can do a few things to solve these issues and they only take seconds to implement but will save you hours in the future.

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Full Episode Transcription (not edited):

Babies, toddlers and children grow out of their clothing quickly and it can really feel like you are constantly trying to figure out what to keep and what to donate. Spending your time sorting what doesn’t fit, what they’ve outgrown, what needs to be donated, what you should keep and what you should toss. You can do a few things to solve these issues and they only take a few seconds to implement, but they will save you hours upon hours in the future. Hey friends, quick tips that make a big impact in your daily life are my favorite ways to implement systems around the house. I’ve been sharing easy strategies and my go-to organizing products for Tip Tuesday on the intentional edit Instagram feed for a few years now. I’m excited to bring it to the podcast with sure episodes, answering your questions every Tuesday. If you want me to answer your questions, go to the podcast page on intentional edit.com and submit your questions there.

(00:53):

Let’s get started on this Tip Tuesday episode of the Intentional Edit Podcast. We are coming off of a big week and I’m happy that you are joining me for this Tick Tuesday episode. Today. Last week was the Purge, like a pro bootcamp and I was also offering huge, huge, the biggest sales ever on the Simplified Home Masterclass. Those ended on Sunday night and I got a couple emails and messages on Monday like, oh my gosh, I missed it. What can I do? You know, I still wanna get it. I am going to do one thing and that is I will offer 20% off the Simplified Home Masterclass for those of you that missed all of the bonus offers and the big hundred dollars off, but you can still get 20% off, which is still a significant savings that will go through the day on February 10th.

(01:46):

So once February 11th comes, it’s back to full price and I don’t know when the next sale or discount or any type of promotion will be. Definitely not for a couple of months though, so if you are wanting to get organized, then purchase it with the 20% off cuz that’s still a great deal. Discounts and savings on this program do not happen very often because it sells at the regular price. So I like to do this every once in a while to give you guys a boost and really help you out because organization is game changing for your life. Getting organized, doing the decluttering first and implementing the systems in routine, it’s, it’s a big package deal that simplifies your life and significantly makes it easier and the more people I can help do that, the more people that I want to serve. Today we are going to answer a question, a Tip Tuesday question, and this question came in as a comment on something that was going on in the Facebook world.

(02:51):

The, the comment was, my kids’ clothes are totally stressing her out, so she said, my kids’ clothes, my son turned two this month and daughter turned one this month. As soon as I’m done sorting clothes and donating what they have outgrown, it’s time to do it again. So many people can relate to this and it doesn’t just have to be kids’ clothes or babies. I mean with these age we’re really talking in babies and toddlers. Kids grow out of clothes and shoes and change what they like in their interests and so you have the toys and all that stuff to manage as well with adults. Well, with teenagers and with adults, we change our styles, we change our sizes, we change what we like, we change what feels good. So even with people of all ages, you have to have a great system in place to make it easier so you don’t have to do these giant closet clean out sessions all the time.

(03:47):

So one thing that I like to suggest, I’ve talked about this on other episodes in the past, but one thing that literally takes you seconds to do is get a shopping bag, like a disposable shopping bag that you have gotten from a store like a big one that has handles on it or like a brown grocery bag, a paper grocery bag that maybe like we get those at Trader Joe’s sometimes. I know a lot of states are getting rid of those disposable bags, so you might not have as many as you once did, but get a bag like that and if it has to be one of the reusable shopping ones because you don’t have anything else, that’s fine too. Put it in the closet, put it somewhere in the closet where it’s out of the way, but it’s still easy enough to get to that you don’t have to get out a step ladder or a step stool or something like that.

(04:40):

Maybe tuck back in a corner. I have mine in the corner of my closet down on the ground under some short hanging things and it just sits there. It’s the only thing that sits down on that bottom shelf and if I put something on that I don’t like anymore, that doesn’t fit right anymore, I don’t like the way that it looks. It’s a style that is not appealing to me, whatever it is. If I know I am not going to wear that again, the clothing item does not go back on the hangar. It does not get folded up again, it does not get put back in the closet, it goes directly into that bag. You can do this with kids clothing too. If there is something with your kids that they, when you try to have them wear it, they get whiny and uncomfortable and squirm around because it itches.

(05:31):

It’s not a texture that they like. There’s something about it that bothers them immediately. Put it in the bag, it’s going out the door, it’s not worth the fight anymore. If they wear something and it’s too small, they, you try to put it on too small, put it in the bag when they, you know they have outgrown something, you know that the season is are changing and it was almost too small and they’re not gonna have a chance to wear this big full winter coat again because it’s warm outside now and by next year it will be too small. It goes in the back. Now you can take this a step further and you can have two bags if you want to, or a bag and a bin if you are keeping some clothes for hand me downs. You can have a bag for items to be donated and want a bin for the hand me downs.

(06:22):

And then when that bin gets full, then you know that is from size six to nine months or size four T to five T what you know, whatever this that is in that bin and then put a label on it, put the lid on it and put it up out of reach until you need those hand-me-downs for the next child. You can also use two paper bags or two bags, one for donations and if you have a specific person that you give certain things to, they can have a designated bag in the closet too, one for them, one for the general donations. Make it work for the space that you have available to you. If you have a couple kids sharing a room or sharing a closet, you, you don’t have to have bags for all of them. One bag can go for everybody. If you are really short on space, you can have a bag in a hall closet where a coat closet or somewhere else.

(07:19):

Just make sure that you take the time to put the stuff in there. Just like I said, you won’t be just tossing it in in the closet. You might have to step a few feet down the hall, put it in the bag like that. Get in the habit of doing this. This is something that when you realize there’s a problem, you realize that these things are outdated, outgrown, not liked anymore. You just put it in the bag and you’ve solved the problem. What you are doing here is making it so your, when your bag is full, you take it to the person you’re donating it to, you take it to the store where you donate it and you have eliminated the step of a really big closet clean out or a significant time where you have to go through absolutely everything. The another key to this is having the closet organized from the very beginning, and if it’s not like this now, then spend the time organizing it.

(08:12):

Organize the things by style. You can color code if you want to, but put them by size and style for little kids so you’re not having to go through things that do not fit them yet, that are still in the too big category, but get the closet organized so you can see what you have. So the things are easily accessible. You can identify what is there and what you might need, and then those donations can collect in the bag and you take them out when that bag is full and then you replace it with another bag. So just get in the habit with this. If you have the room, put one in every closet. If you don’t, you can have a more central location. Both of those options work. When you get get in this habit, you eliminate that need for frequent closet cleanouts and the sorting that you’re talking about takes up so much time and then you feel like you have to do it again.

(09:05):

Of course, you are still going to have to do some of those sorting sessions from time to time, but this will cut down on that drastically because at a quick glance when your closet is organized by sizes and and styles or types of clothing, then once you have passed, you know, three months, four months where a baby has grown from one size to the next, you can see the things that were never worn, that you never touched that are automatically thing is that are too small now that need to be donated. And this will really help you save time. I hope that answered your question As always, I’d love to answer questions on these Tip Tuesday episodes. Feel free to submit them to me on Instagram Messenger or go to the intentional edit website. There’s a little button that pops up that says record now.

(09:57):

You can click on that button and then you can actually ask the question with your voice just like you were leaving a voice message for a friend. It’s super easy and I would love to answer your questions on a upcoming Tip Tuesday episode. Don’t forget, the Simplified Home Masterclass is on sale. The coupon code is in the podcast description and that will expire on at the end of the day on February 10th. Thank you so much for listening. I’ll meet you back here on Friday for the next Intentional Edit podcast episode. That wraps up another quick episode of a Tip Tuesday. If you want to be featured on intentional edits, tip Tuesday, go to intentional edit.com, click on the podcast page in the menu bar and then scroll all the way down to the bottom. You’ll find a button that says Record tap on that and record your question or share what is currently overwhelming to you. What is going on that you need help with. I want to know, I need to know your struggle so I can share actionable solutions to help you create simplicity in your home. If you are having this issue, I know other people are having it too, and we wanna help as many people as possible. Head over to the podcast page of intentional edit.com and record your question for me there.

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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!

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