Doubling the space in your kids’ itsy bitsy wardrobe

You counted your blessings when that huge pile of hand-me-downs from your brother/ sister/ cousin/ in-laws/ grand-aunt landed at the doorstep.  Now the trouble is in finding a way to manage and make sense of the stash.

Looks familiar?

After polling a few moms (with more than two kids), we learnt a thing or two about baby clothing:

1. Any item must be retrievable at lighting speed without disturbing the rest.  Dressing the baby isn’t like window shopping – you just ain’t got a whole lotta time when junior’s attempting to kamikaze off your arms.
2. Most items come in sets.  When it comes to baby fashion, coordination is in.
3. Babies grow like beansprouts, so the next size up better be handy.

So here are three quick tips to keep the baby’s clothes drawers in order.  Three for now, and then more for later.

Tip #1:  First things first – get a modular closet that grows with your child*

(*Unless you have deep pockets, that is)

As a child grows, his/her closet needs also changes.  For example, baby clothes are teeny and short, so you can easily hang two rails in the space of one rail for adult clothes.  Also, since most baby clothes do not require hanging, drawers are a must.  On the other hand, toddlers should have a rail of clothes and several drawers within their reach – so they can dress themselves or help mom to put away freshly-laundered clothes.

Gotta start ‘em young on them household chores, if you want to retire early – I’m referring both to sleeping early as well as relinquishing your “chore champion” title eventually. 

We’re not plugging IKEA, but we have to say that they have awesome modular wardrobe systems that is light on the wallet AND comes with a 10-year guarantee for frames and interior fittings.  We know, it sounds absurd for a toddler to have an adult wardrobe, plus kids wardrobes are significantly cuter, but IKEA’s wardrobe is so adjustable and adaptable that you’ll never have to buy another one for at least the next 10 years.  You’ll thank us when you realize that the functional and adaptable wardrobe still works when junior heads to primary school and expenses skyrocket.  After all, a penny saved is a penny earned.  What’s more, unlike custom fittings, should any of the wardrobe fittings breaks down after the first 10 years, you won’t be left with a gaping hole where a drawer or shelf used to be.

Tip #2:  Fold’em & line’em up, not stack’em

We’re talking about bite-sized baby clothing, not Lady Gaga’s songs or Texas Hold’em.  Most baby clothing can be stored in drawers – onesies, mittens, leggings, bibs, socks, hats, t-shirts, pajamas, etc..  You can maximize drawer space and store clothes more neatly if they are lined up.  Then you won’t have to fumble through toppling stacks of clothes (that you need to re-fold and re-stack) during a midnight change.  It’ll eliminate a lot of extra work, for sure.

For items that comes in pair, instead of folding them, roll one of them into the other.  That way, you’ll never have a miniature mitten that has lost its mate.  Also, fold matching sets together and you won’t have to search for the matching bottom when you need it.

Tip #3:  Divide and conquer inside the drawers

Simply chucking clothing in the drawer will turn it into a big black hole.  You would know that by now if you’ve read our Kitchen articles (part one and two).  Use drawer dividers ($2.30 from Japan Home) to divvy up the cavernous drawer space and create dedicated niches for each type of clothing.  If you have some cash to splash, try the fancy “partition cases” from Muji.  We love them, period.  The only downside – they are not as configurable and flexible as the drawer dividers from Japan Home.

The trick to keeping things tidy – make sure each divider section holds one type of clothing.  Do not mix up bibs with socks.  It may seem trivial, but it’ll extremely useful when you’re dressing up baby in a rush.

 

So, there you have it, an organized clothes drawer to oooh and aaah over.  Finally, one last eye-candy for our readers before we go…

Stayed tuned for the next installment, gorgeous mommies/daddies!!

Meanwhile, try out our tips and let us know what you think.  We love comments and feedback.