How to organize a kids closet they can keep up with

Start with what fits right now

Take everything out and sort it into three groups: fits now, too small, and too big. Seeing the groups side by side makes the next steps quick, and it keeps the closet holding only what your child can wear today.

Give outgrown and too-big clothes their own home

Box clothes that are too small or too big by size, and label each box on the end so you can read it on a shelf. Store them up high or in another closet. When your child moves up a size, you swap one box instead of searching the whole house.

Store by reach

Put everyday clothes where your child can reach them on their own: low rods, open bins, bottom drawers. Keep special-occasion clothes and off-season items higher up, where a grown-up handles them.

• Lower the rod, or add a second rod below the first, for little ones
• Use open bins rather than lidded ones for socks, pajamas and play clothes
• Add a hook at their height for tomorrow's outfit or a favorite jacket

Label for their age

Pre-readers do well with picture labels: a sock on the sock bin, a shirt on the shirt drawer. Early readers can have a picture and a word. The goal is that putting laundry away never needs a grown-up to explain where things go.

Use what you already have

Shoe boxes, baskets and spare bins work beautifully as drawer dividers and shelf bins. New products are optional, not the place to start.

Keep it going

A quick check at each change of season, when you swap clothes in and out, keeps the closet working for the size your child is now. Involving your child in that check makes it a routine rather than a chore.