How to Keep Children’s Clothes Organized (and off the floor)

Do your kids hang their clothes on the floor? Here’s how to keep them organized and put away.

Welcome to Day 8 of the 30 Day Decluttering Challenge.

This week I am sharing ways that I’ve applied the principles of decluttering in my own house. So far, we’ve seen my closet, the playroom, and how we handle electronic devices. Today I am going to show you how we solved a “clothing on the floor” problem in my youngest daughter’s room. 

I have written before about the whirlwind that is my youngest child. Her room is often quite messy due to her whirlwind nature. Then she gets really distracted while trying to clean it up.

Here is a photo from this past January:

Scary, huh?

I will say that her room has not gotten that messy since. Mostly because I introduced the Mommy Clean Checklist and because I remind her to use it almost every day. It has made a huge difference.

Organizing the playroom has also helped. The toys live in there now, and don’t get brought out to other parts of the house as often because the girls are happy to play in the clean and organized playroom. It’s truly amazing.

But I have noticed that there is another problem that happens in my youngest daughter’s room.

When she gets ready in the morning, she goes through her drawers and closet true to her whirlwind nature. She flings shirts and pants all around in search for the one thing that she wants to wear, and she doesn’t think to put them back into her drawers when she finds her favorite outfit.

It’s frustrating to send her off to school and then to go upstairs to find her entire wardrobe on the floor. And when she comes home from school and I ask her to clean it up, she is too tired and cranky and complains loudly about having to do it (afternoon is not her best time of day). She will make a small effort, but usually she gives up after a bit and either I do it, or it is left for the next day.

I really try hard not to clean up my children’s messes for them. But sometimes it feels like there is no other choice!

Before I show you what I made to help my daughter with this problem, here are some things that will help.

How to keep kids’ clothes organized

1. Sort through clothing often. Retire anything that doesn’t fit. I like to do this while I’m folding laundry. There is almost always something that they have outgrown in every load.
2. Immediately throw away socks with holes in them or that are missing mates.
3. Carefully assess needs. Before buying your child new things, make sure you are aware of what they already have and whether they really need that new shirt or pair of shoes.
4. Be picky about hand-me-downs. Take only what your child needs and donate the rest.
5. Make sure the hamper is easy to use. Place it somewhere your child can get to easily and empty it often. Avoid hampers with lids, even though they look nice because kids won’t open them! This hamper is a great one for kids’ rooms.

Make a hanging organizer to help kids choose outfits

While I was at the store buying an over-the-door shoe organizer, I saw this other hanging shoe organizer and a lightbulb went on in my head.

I bought it, and we now use it to hold all of my daughter’s outfits for the entire week (with the exception of Saturday). Every Sunday night, she picks out her outfits for each day, including socks and underwear.

She absolutely loves to do this. A nice side effect of the exercise, is that she actually spends time planning her outfits and looks a little nicer at school these days.

Each day is labeled.

It has lessened the clothing explosion on her floor considerably.

There are still dirty clothes to contend with, but she is getting better and better at putting them in the hamper instead of on the floor.

What has helped you keep your kids’ clothes off the floor?

Find all of the posts in this 31 Day Challenge here: A Place for Everything: 31 Days to Less Clutter and More Peace.