Anyone who’s ever had more than one child of the same gender or received hand-me-downs from friends and relatives knows that all those clothes can be a huge blessing, but they can also be overwhelming as well! Especially when your child grows so much in the first year, and especially when you have to consider how the seasons align with your child’s age.

I knew six years ago, when we had our first child and figured he wouldn’t be the last, that I needed a plan. A master, fool-proof plan to keep his clothes organized and readily available should we ever have any more boys in the future. Now that I’m prepping the closet for our third son, I am so glad my system is in place!

So, because this is my life right now, and because even if you don’t have hand-me-downs to store, I’m sure you have something you need to store, I’m revealing my five tips to keep hand-me-downs (and lots of other things) organized. If you want to skip down to the ultimate organizing secret, go straight to don’t-miss-#5!

1. Purge daily AND seasonally.
Most people just purge seasonally. They realize that fall is coming and their child has outgrown all of his summer clothes anyway, so they spend a day clearing out everything and boxing it up for the next child. This is good. You should have days like this! BUT, you should also have a designated place to put items that you know your child has outgrown AS YOU DISCOVER THEM! After all, not all 2T pants are created equal.

In my boys’ closet, I have two boxes on the top shelf (Gideon’s on the left; Canaan’s on the right):

Any time I discover a shirt that’s too tight or pants that are too short, rather than put them back in circulation, I just throw them in the box where they can wait until my next seasonal clean-out day.

2.  Keep your storage boxes small, simple and specific.
* Small – I used to buy the big, clear storage boxes for clothing storage. This might be good if you’re storing your own clothes, but for kids’ clothes, you don’t want boxes that are too big. You can fit a whole lot of clothes in a small box. The perfect size will hold one size and one season only.
* Simple – I use old diaper boxes to store most of my kids’ clothes for obvious reasons – they’re readily available. But you can use any old box you have that’s not too large. Don’t try to keep them uniform. Don’t try to make it fancy. Just make it simple!
* Specific – Keep your boxes as specific as possible, labeling the size and the season. For example, you don’t want all 12 mo. clothes in one box. That’s way too overwhelming to sort through when it comes time to pull clothes out for the next child. Instead, you want small, specialized boxes that you can easily choose from as a specific need arises. For example: 12 mo. jeans; 18 mo. long-sleeved shirts; 2T shorts and short-sleeved shirts; etc.

3. Have a designated place to store your boxes.
I keep all of our boxes stored in our attic, but you can choose any place of convenience. The key is to have a plan because, depending your personal situation, you could potentially have a LOT of clothes stored at once. I probably have close to 20 boxes of boy clothes, sizes NB-5T, just waiting for the right time for Son #2 and Son #3 to grow into them.

4. Use big and reliable labels.
Most cutesy labels seem to fall off. So I just started using computer paper with heavy-duty packing tape to secure simple labels that I write on with a big, fat, black marker. No frills. No fluff. Just easy identification in the end.

Now, are you ready for the ultimate organizing secret?! Here it goes!

5. Create a log for your boxes.
The whole point in storing things is to use them at a later date, right? And you can’t use them if you either 1) forget about them or 2) can’t find them. So, the ultimate key to storing anything (hand-me-downs, Christmas gifts, books, heirlooms, photos, whatever!) is to LOG IT BEFORE YOU STORE IT!

This is my “attic storage log” for clothing, but you could make your own log depending on your own situation. I learned this little trick when I worked at my father’s engineering and construction company. Any time a job ended, we’d have to box up the files and send them to the warehouse for storage. Sometimes, we’d need information that was several years old and buried in one of those random boxes. Instead of going to the warehouse and searching aimlessly for information, you just consulted the log, located the correct box, and you were done.

Your attic log should list any and all information needed to easily find and retrieve exactly what you want with as little effort as possible. I never have to spend much time or wonder if there’s some mysterious box I’m missing when it comes time to pull the next size clothes out. I just consult my log, determine which boxes I need, and spend all of five minutes getting them from the attic. When I pull a box, I mark through it so I know it’s no longer there (genius, right?)

(How many of you have found Christmas gifts buried in your closet in January because you forgot they were there or couldn’t find them when Christmas came? See! A “Christmas Gift Log” would come in really handy, wouldn’t it?)

Be sure to keep your log somewhere easily accessible. Mine is on a hook in my laundry room, which is right by my attic, so nothing can go into or out of the attic without first passing the log!

So, there you have it! After six years, four kids, lots of boxes, and hundreds of items of clothing, I can tell you that it may not be a perfect system, but it still works really well! Hope this helps someone today!

Q: Have you ever used a log to keep your storage items organized? Do you have any other tips for keeping your attic boxes organized? I’d love to hear them!