Mornings can be hectic during the school year. Everyone is in a rush to get dressed, breakfast, and out the door, never mind finding homework or backpacks. The last thing you need is the extra hassle of trying to get your kids dressed. Sure, older kids and teenagers are pretty adept at getting themselves dressed, but elementary school, and even middle school aged kids may have trouble picking out clothes in the morning and getting dressed on time.
The first step in organizing kid’s school clothes begins in the store. A great tip for buying school clothes is buying bottoms in all solid colors and then, tops that can go with every pant. This way, every shirt matches every pair of pants. You can get a wide variety of colors, patterns, and styles in kids’ shirts, but stick with jeans, khakis, or jean skirts, solid neutral-colored pants or skirts. This cuts down on so much confusion in the morning. This way you child can go in their dresser or closet and choose any shirt and any bottom and they will match.
There are a few ways you can set up your kids’ school clothes organization. One way is to have a dresser for each child with underwear, socks and tights in the top drawer, tops in the next drawer, bottoms in the next drawer. For smaller children, you can place a picture of each item on the front of each drawer so they know which drawer contains what item. Then, they can pick out their school clothing by themselves.
If you choose to organize school clothes in a closet, a good idea is to separate tops and bottoms by different-colored hangers so small children will know to choose one from each. Similarly, you can hang outfits together in special hangers that hold both a shirt and pant to organize school clothes.
Another easy organizing tip for kids’ clothes, is to purchase large Ziplock plastic bags (one gallon bags work well) to place entire outfits in. This is an especially great tip to organize school clothes for younger kids. Also, you can assemble the Ziplock bags over the weekend, and not have to worry about dressing your children for school for the whole week. Simply place underwear, socks, pants, and shirt in the bag and either place them in a dresser drawer, or hang them on pant hangers in the closet.
For older kids and tweens, you can organize school clothes similarly, except older children and tweens don’t like their outfits picked out for them. Explain to them that while you are choosing outfits with pieces that all work together, that they can have fun individualizing school clothes with fun accessories like belts, bracelets, pins, shoes, cardigans, and other accessories. Store accessories in one place for easy access and fast dressing.
Remember to separate your kid’s school clothes from their pajamas, lounge clothes, and play clothes. Keep those in a separate drawer or area, so your child (especially younger children) don’t wind up getting school clothes dirty or choosing lounge or play clothes for school.
Using these tips for organizing your kid’s school clothes can shave minutes off your weekday morning routines. That is just enough time to enjoy a cup of coffee before having to be out the door!
