Tips for Organizing a Baby or Child’s Closet

Babies and children seem to grow out of clothing so quickly that keeping their closets and clothing organized used to be quite a chore.  Plus, they have specialized supplies and different needs, as well as all those toys and instruction manuals.  Here’s a few tricks I learned to tame the kids’ closet beast!

How to Organize a Baby’s Nursery Closet:

Bee’s closet is a cinch to keep organized, mostly because he hasn’t learned to tear everything out of it yet.  That day is coming ever closer, just wait.  Until then, I’m relishing the calm and organized space in his closet; it saves so much time when things are in the right place!

1.  Have a bin handy for outgrown clothing.  Any time I discover something out of season or too small, it goes in the bin.  When the bin gets full the contents enter the “outgrown clothing” section of the basement, but that’s another post altogether.  😉

2.  Keep specialty cleaning products in a bin high up in the closet.  It’s so, so handy to have extra paper towels, Mrs. Meyers baby room spray, Lysol wipes, trash bags for the Diaper Genie, and– due to my daughter’s constant battle with reflux– Febreze and carpet spray.

3.  Use a hanging sweater shelf to store diapers and wipes.  It’s a major bummer to be in the middle of a diaper change and run out of either one!  Aside from the stash we keep in the changing table/dresser, I also have diapers out of the bag and ready to go on a shelf in his closet.  An extra pack sits on the floor.  Yes, I am paranoid– but during busy weeks this is a lifesaver.

4.  A cardboard drawer set is the perfect spot for sheets, blankets, and odds and ends.  That way I can save the space in the dresser for clothing.  It’s inexpensive to boot.

5.  It’s nice to have the hamper “hidden” in the closet, easy to reach after changing him but easy to hide when it’s playtime.

6.  Have a ‘next size up’ bin.  I don’t organize the closet by size, but rather by article of clothing.  I keep future sizes in a bin in the closet so I can easily grab the next size up or change seasons as needed.

7.  Keep baby shoe boxes (we stash them in that ‘Supplies’ bin on the top shelf) so you have the complete set to hand down or consign when you are done with them.

How to Organize A Toddler/ Preschooler’s Closet:

1.  Keeping a first aid/ medicine bin just for the kids has been wonderful.  Makes it so easy to find anything you might need, from the thermometer to bandaids to Little Noses spray.  Even some stickers hide out in here, should the infirmed need a pick-me-up.  Best yet, it’s way out of reach of little hands.  {this was essential when Noodle was very sick as a baby and needed a feeding pump and other specialized medical equipment}

2.  Each time I take something off a hanger, I move it to the left.  That way, all my empty hangers are in one spot.  Like the baby’s closet, I keep a bin on the floor of “next size up” clothes.  Since she switches sizes so slowly, I stow any hand-me-downs or gifts that don’t yet fit in here.  The beach bag on the floor keeps our swim diapers and kids’ beach towels.  We’re ready for the pool or beach in minutes!

3.  Hooks add even more space for hanging bags and other items.  Metal toned Command hooks start at $5 each.  Instead, I got some plastic ones and hit them with some spray paint.  I saved about $12 total and gained storage space for hats, bags, and other “essentials” {like the kitty in the pink purse, ha!}

The next three organizing tips can be seen in the following photo:

4.  One of the best organizational strategies to date has been storing all baby item manuals together in a plastic bin.  Car seats, gates, toys, etc.– any time we need to reference them, we know exactly where to go.  When it comes time to hand down items or sell them at consignment sales we’ll have the added bonus of being able to attach the original manual.  Woot.

5.  Bag of bags.  I’ve scoured IKEA for one of their famous bag holders but couldn’t find one on my last trip.  It’s also a handy place to keep extra large bags to use in the diaper genie.  Reduce, reuse, recycle!

6.  Store paper book jackets on a shelf.  The teacher in me knows how damaging little hands can be to book jackets.  Since books are treasures that are meant to be enjoyed, I took the jackets off and put them far, far away from those curious demolition experts Bee and Noodle.  Now we can enjoy hardcover books {relatively} stress free.