Gathering Clothes for Storage

September is here, cooler weather is on its way! If you're like me-blessed with a house with itty bitty closets-this means it's almost time for the bi-annual clothing swap in which last season's clothes get packed and stored, and next season's lugged out and put away.

This is a chore I always dread, it's just not fun. My usually modus operandi included packing up every piece of clothing imaginable, only to find stray clothing that should have been packed up with every new load of laundry.

Well, even though the chore isn't fun, I've found a way to make it a lot easier that Works for Me. Like most things, it's all about organization and preparedness. Designate a collection area! Establish an area to place items that no longer work for the season. You can organize this by family, person and/or closet.

For my closet, as the season changes and articles become too hot or cold to wear I simply hang them up together on the far right of my closet. Then, when it's time for the seasonal switch all I have to do is take them down and put them in a space bag or storage bin.

For my big boys, they have a plastic bin in the back of their closet into which they toss any CLEAN undesirable items.

And for my little one, I designated an entire drawer for him. This was especially helpful when he was an infant and he seemed to outgrow clothing on a daily basis. If it was too small, it was automatically placed in the bottom drawer.

The added bonus of this method is clothes are automatically organized by size. This method also works well for donatable (is that a word?) clothes. When it's not time for the seasonal switch, our bins, drawers and closet areas are designated for items we wish to donate to Good Will.

That's what Works for Me, what works for you?

Do you need more help in the clothing department? Then check out these other fabulous clothing tips:

• Raising Arrows (a mom of many) shares her method of storing hand-me-downs.


• A Slob Comes Clean talks about managing clothing clutter.


• Feels Like Home offers the first in a series of posts about making keepsake quilts from baby clothes.


• Mama's Laundry Talk shares how to store children's clothes for future use.


• Many Little Blessings talks about closet clean out and wardrobe organization.