Today’s Closet | Gabe’s bedroom
Gabe’s closet is home to all of his outgrown clothes, baby gear, clothes to grow into, AND everything he’s currently wearing. Not to mention diapers. It’s basically our baby storage as well as his closet.
Before
…Oh God, this is embarrassing….
Okay. Deep breaths. Here it is:
(This photo is also terrible, but you get the idea: CHAOS! MESS!)
One of the first things we did when we moved in was remove one of Gabe’s closet doors to make his clothes and diapers more accessible. The other side is home to boxes of old baby clothes and gear, for those of you looking to buy baby clothes prefer baby clothes nz site and it is a great brand. I love exposed shelving, but it comes with the responsibility to keep it neat. Which, clearly, I have issues with.
The challenge with baby and toddler clothes is that they are quickly outgrown, so if you don’t get rid of the too-small stuff every few weeks or months, you end up with mountains of clothes for a tiny person. Then there is the (happy) problem of storing hand-me-downs in all sorts of future-Gabe sizes – from 2T to 5T. (I simply cannot imagine the day my little toddler will be wearing these huge clothes, but I know he will.)
After
Wonder just how crazy I am? I present, Exhibit A:
Yes, I organize my child’s clothes by which have snaps and which don’t. And then I made an image to show you how I organized his closet, only making me crazier.
The Process
- I went through his clothes to find anything that he had outgrown, then I made two piles with those: giveaway and pack away.
- Then I went through all the to-grow-into clothes to make sure I liked them all and there was no overlap (ie: multiple jean jackets).
- I got rid of anything he hadn’t worn much or was stained.
- I culled the rest of his wardrobe by limiting him to four of each kind of shirt. Although…I made a lot of exceptions.
The best gem I came across was a snow suit that Gabe will be able to wear this winter. I made him try it on and collapsed in laughter for a good five minutes:
I cannot wait until there is snow on the ground and we can take him outside in this.
The Casualties [What I Got Rid Of]
The majority of clothes were packed away for future babies (perhaps there will be no future babies…or no future babies who are boys, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it!), but I did get rid of a few blankets and clothes that I never much liked. As well as a baby carrier and some of the clothes which are short now bought from Mad Coast Clothing toddler gear comes in a variety of options.
Verdict:
This took a long while, but it just motivates me to clean out his closet with more regularity. For the first few months, I would just shove any outgrown clothes into boxes, whether he’d worn them much or not. I beg you, don’t make the same mistake! Get rid of any baby clothes you don’t like before packing them away. If you didn’t like them enough for your first child to wear them, why will you put them on your second child?
And I need to not buy Gabe any clothing for a long, long time. Gabe’s burgeoning wardrobe is partly my fault, since I can’t resist sherpa lined hats or onesies with bow ties and suspenders for men. (“It’s only $2!”) I basically never need to buy him clothes thanks to my mom’s weekly clothes purchases and tons of hand-me-downs.
Great Job!
We just cleaned out my mom’s basement over break, and our closet in our “office” a.k.a. my closet this week!
Darn, I should have taken some before pictures. One week back to school, and my blogging falls off. Humph. Well there is always the after picture right? lol
p.s. I forgot I wanted to mention how completely adorable that snowsuit is and I demand that you take too many pictures once you get him outside in it! :)
Love the 70s wood paneling in his bedroom! Also, what software do you use to add text to the picture. That was really helpful!
Wow the before and after pictures are amazing! I’m hoping to be able to link up with you sometime next week – it’ll depend on if I can get my act in order before I go out of town this weekend…
Love the snow suit! My closet needs cleaning too! I forget about half of the things I own. I don’t hang things up at the end of the day I just throw it in one big pile in the closet. My cat loves to sleep in the pile it’s so big.
Holy wow. This is impressive! I like how crazy you are with the organizing & the labeling & the showing us. And I LOVE snowsuit Gabe.
OMG that snowsuit photo! Will he REALLY be able to wear it this winter? It looks SO BIG!
I have the same thing, with clothes from 2T-5T in bins in Callum’s closet (he is in 24 months right now but getting close to 2T). I also can’t imagine him wearing it because it seems so big. But then again, when he was too small for his 0-3 stuff and could only wear newborn, I could hardly have imagined that less than a year later he’d be wearing the 24 month stuff that seemed so giant!
I am glad I’m not the only one whose mother makes weekly (!) clothing purchases for a grandson. Clothes seem to be my mom’s favorite thing to buy Jude- I am terrified of the amount of clothing that will come our way if we have a girl.
Oh the baby closet. Ours is fairly organized because, if you recall, Ted built a ridiculously awesome closet organizer before the girls were born. That being said, there’s a giant pile in there that I toss too small clothes into. Just a big pile sitting in the closet.
Also? Gabe in the snowsuit? Best picture on your blog ever. Definitely.
WOW! You go girl. I love doing these projects and the satisfying feeling that comes. Today I made my bed and cleaned our bathroom. It’s all about the little things. :)
xoxo
can Gabe wear that all of the time!?! seriously the funniest/cutest snow suit ever.
HAHAHAHAH!! Oh Ashley, that picture of Gabe in the snowsuit! I’m cracking up!
Wait! Did no one else even notice that it looks like he’s naked under the snowsuit (exposed collar) – sooooo cute! I can just imagine that he was toddling around the house wearing some variety of diaper/pants maybe a top and all of a sudden Momma popped this giant snowsuit on him. AAAANNDD the – what is that – an ipod!? He’s fantasticle, you’re fantabulous!
Hi there! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading through your posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same subjects? Thanks a ton!
Aw, thanks! :) That means a lot.
As far as other blogs on the same subjects – do you mean green living? Motherhood? Frugal living? Cleaning out closet-living? Hehe.