Unused clothing storage?

How do you organize and store clothing that you aren't using at the time, but plan on using in the future (maternity, pre preg, in between, baby clothes, seasonal, etc.). Our basement is a disaster and clothes are the biggest culprit right now. I mostly have them in bags that are just piling up  and we need to get things cleaned up b/c evidently bugs have found the area to be a very nice home  so we need to spray. Mentally it's a drain anyway (it's supposed to be a good hang out area for us with designated hobby areas, and the kids' HS area). Right now it's a dump. We've cleared out most of the trash, the unused cardboard (which makes it even more fun b/c now we don't have boxes to put things in ) so now we need to sort, purge, and organize! DH is supposed to be picking up some tubs but that's only part of the equation. Now I need to figure out how to sort them and then store them. Totally overwhelming to me at this point! The boy stuff will be lent out to a lady at church (they keep getting passed around... some items originated with her 14 year old son, went through his two brothers, two of their cousins, and then DS ). Eventually I'll need to find a place for it again b/c it's coming back to our house at least for a little while (I'm hoping longer term ).

BrittanyM wrote: We have shelves in our shop and keep most of them out there, though I do have a few boxes inside our closets. I sort by size and gender and try to fit as much as I can in a box and then label the outside (we use plastic totes since they don't stain the clothes like cardboard and keep most things out) and stick it on the stack. It never ceases to amaze me how much space storing clothes takes up!

DH bought some plastic shelves, but they've kind of been taken over by other random stuff like my canning jars and equip . Upstairs closets aren't an option, I don't think a tub would fit in them. I guess I'll start by cleaning off the racks and going from there? At least then we'll have somewhere to put them once we do get them organized. I get so easily overwhelmed it's pitiful. Growing up the only way I could get past the mental hurdle of "stuff" was to pile it up in the middle of the room and go one item at a time (I still do that actually ). I can't go back and forth but there's no way to get around it in the basement!

I bought a bulk package of space bags for all kids's clothes and my mountain of pre-pregnancy #1 clothes, maternity clothes, postpartum clothes, etc. I do not reccomend them, most of them have holes and don't suck down. We hope to move one day and will have limited moving space, or else I would do tubs in the garage or something.

yeah, I was going to say big plastic storage bins, too.  I wait for them to go on sale at Target or wherever and buy a handful.

We are fortunate that our basement, though unfinished, does not have problems with bugs or water so I am able to store in cardboard boxes (I get the nice moving boxes so that the sizes are the same)

I sort by size, season and gendar and label on the box. It works great because everything is sorted clean and organized and when YDS arrived selling and donating all the boxes was super easy because it was already sorted and gathered.

My sister does not have a good weather tight/bug free area so she uses plastic bins, but doesn't get the super huge ones, that was she can sort by size/season. They are more of the 14x14x14 not the super huge ones.

That's all you have, Renee??? After 3??  LOL.  I have a big tote for each size:  Nb-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, 12mo, 18mo, 2T, 3T, 4, 5, 6, and one for boys (jic).  I think the 12 and 18 month ones at least have 2 -1 winter, 1 summer.  My MO is really "It is cheaper to store than to replace" in my huge house. I know we're not done having kids so I'm always loathe to get rid of anything even if I didn't love it.  I do plan to go thru this summer and purge, since it's getting a little excessive & I need to do some yardsaling in case this one is a boy.

Oh and we also have 2-3 totes of clothes that don't fit DH (but he wishes he could lose enough weight that they would) and 3-4 totes for me in fat/skinny/maternity/postpartum sizes.

I think it gets harder as they get older because the sizes last longer then. Like DS1 can still wear last years summer shorts, but not the shirts, and DS2 can wear some of the shirts from DS1 last summer. It's getting chaotic! LOL  But - I had everything sorted by size and in tubs. 1 big plastic tub per size. I got rid of stuff I didn't love or that was stained or that wouldn't make it for another kid. But now that newbie is a girl I had sooooo much to go through to get rid of! Yipes. I had NO idea that there was so much stored. But at least I knew where it all was! Now that there's only 1 size between the boys I don't have much to store (like, I have size 3 stuff all in one huge tub and size 4 winter stuff started in another). If I were you I'd just get the plastic totes and store them stacked in the basement. You can even get the totally flat top ones and cover it w/ something and use it as a table/desk!

We live in a townhouse and use the garage for storage only. I have plastic tubs (dollar store!) for each size of clothing, maternity, toys, etc. We have them stacked up to the ceiling with bungee cords around them and attached to the wall with hooks. I buy a new one once the last one is full and keep it in DS's closet so I can just throw clothes in as they get too small. That seems to be pretty effective for us. The only bad part is that the dollar store changed the brand they carry so now the tubs don't stack right. 

Oops double post

Edited by MamaKikow - 24 Apr 2012 at 10:08am

We use flat clear plastic bins with lids.  I label each side with an index card.  They're very versatile - fitting under beds or up on high closet shelves. :)