Thursday, July 29, 2010

A House of Order: Daily Clothes Bags!

Less IS More!
I'm sure we've all hear that a million times and it's not
always right . . . more time with family or a little more money
might be nice, but when it comes to clothes,
LESS truly is MORE!
Less IS . . . More Time
We have a responsibility to care for each of the things we
bring into our home.  It's easy to get sucked into a sale and
before we know it . . . we have WAY MORE than we need.
If we knew in that moment how much time we would actually have
to commit to the things we bring into our home, I have a feeling
we would become a lot more selective and thoughtful in our choices.
Having fewer clothes to wash will save time!
Less IS . . . More Space
Having fewer items takes up a lot less space!
It's a simple statement that obviously makes sense.
Can you imagine actually knowing what you have stored, and even
more important, being able to find it when you need it without
having to search for hours?
Less IS More space to store and properly care for the items
that are important to you.
Less IS . . . More Organized
Having more time, more space, and less to take care of
makes it easier to be organized.
A closet that is jam packed with clothes and shoes is a lot to
take in, and that's how we start our day . . .
EVERY MORNING!
What are we thinking? 
No wonder we're stressed out and over-whelmed!
You're Challenge for the Day . . .
Go through your closet and get rid of everything that doesn't fit.
It's time to donate that shirt or pair of pants you
try on all the time . . . but never wear.
Sometimes when we spend money on something, we feel
obligated to keep it, EVEN if we know we'll NEVER use it.
And then we have . . .
Clothes from the GLORY DAYS!
They take up a lot of space in our closets.
I admit it . . . I still have a pair of size 2 pants and
a cheerleading skirt from my high school years,
hidden in my closet. 
The waist band of the skirt fits perfectly! 
(On one thigh!)
I guess I could wear it as a guarder or something!?! 
The zipper on the pants is 12-inches long,
so hoping to get skinny enough to fit back into them, is just plain
SCARY!
I'm thinkin' it's time . . . for the pants to be on there way.
The cheerleading skirt will be added to my Halloween costumes!
You can't think about the money when you are trying to clear the space.
You have to be protective of your time and space. 
JUST LET GO,
and don't feel bad . . . leg warmers don't look good on everybody!
This is a photo of my boys
Daily Clothes Bags:
Clothes Bags are a great way to simplify! 
 When my family lived in Illinois, we had no closet space.
I had to be very creative in finding ways to store my
families clothes and make it so they would still be able to get to them.
That's when I came up with the Daily Clothes Bags.
I was able to fit 2 boys in a very small coat closet.
Each day's outfit fits on a hanger.
Here's what that looks like:
Here's what goes in the bag:
Undershirts
Socks
Underwear
Belts
and
Accessories
Here's a link for the bags:
You can also get them at Hobby Lobby and they are usually on sale.
OR
You can make your own.
The pattern is 8 1/2" x 11".
I also use these bags for Scouts and Soccer.
They work well for Dance Costumes and Gymnastics.
Everything you need for the specific activity . . .
is in the bag!
I'm not very good at sewing my boys scout badges on,
I told them to just hang the bag around their neck
if they want to show anyone their awards!
(I seriously need to work on that!)
Here's How They Work:
I had my boys choose 8 of their favorite outfits
for cold weather and hot weather.
(Remember . . . Less IS More!)
The clothes go on the hanger and the extras go in the bag,
along with a Days of the Week Tag that has been laminated,
attached to the hanger.
The tags are a great way to remind them what they
need for the day.
You could also use the tags to make an inventory list
for dance and sports accessories . . . etc.
I write on the tags with a wet-erase marker.
Here's the PDF for the Tags:
I included all the colors in the PDF!
I use hangers, but there are several options.
Days of the Week Clothing Organizers:
You can actually fit clothes for two small children
in one of these clothing organizers. 
This one has pockets on the side for library books
and homework folders!
I put 4 boys into 1 coat closet . . . just to see if it would fit
AND IT DID!
They are a great option when you have limited space.
Sweater Boxes:
I actually ended up using sweater boxes in Illinois.
(So that I could use the boys closet for Food Storage.)
I used one box for each day of the week.
Toddlers clothing can fit into a shoe box tote.
I stored their Days of the Week Clothes Boxes
under their beds.
Mornings are so much better, and
having all of the Scouts and Sports
Equipment in one place
is Pure Heaven!!!
One more thing . . .
The bags are a perfect place to store
gloves, scarves and hats.
Just hang the bag with their winter coat
and you're good to go!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tricia, I know you have boys that are various ages, but do your boys that do their own laundry use the hanger & bag method? I ask because I'm in the midst of teaching my two how to do their own laundry. Also just in case I move to a smaller place, when you were in Illinois, you wrote that you used sweater boxes. Please help me see if I got this right. You put an outfit in each sweater box for each boy. Thus your coat closet held 28 sweater boxes in it. Is that correct? I'm a military wife so I'm always on the move and trying to figure out storage, etc.
from California

Tara M said...

Grandma buys too many clothes for us to be able to do this, but I thought it would be great to pick out all the outfits for the week and hang them together with a tag. It would make the morning go way faster, and then I would only need to supervise once instead of every morning.

Prepared Not Scared said...

In answer to the first comment:
My boys do their own laundry. When they were small, they used the shoe sized totes for their clothes and I kept their 8 boxes under their beds. Each shoe box had a day of the week label on the front. As they got to be a little older and were just learning how to wash their own clothes and fold their own laundry, I used the Days of the Week Clothes Organizer. (I put two outfits in each day of the week, 1 outfit for each of my boys . . . I only had 2 at the time.) Now that my boys are between the ages of 19-10, they use the hanger method. They actually love it! They each have their day to do laundry so things go pretty fast. They put their first load in before school and I switch it so that it's ready to fold when they get home. They put their last load in after school.
When my boys were young, I could fit all of their seasonal clothes into 1 tote. (The older they get, the bigger their clothes got so I would have to use a seperate tote for each of the boys.)
I hope that makes sense. You're welcome to call if you have anymore questions.
Thanks for the great questions!
Trish

Altered by Jenn said...

What a wonderful idea! Thank you for sharing your method with the rest of us :)

Gin Gin said...

Hi... This is my first time reading your blog and I love this idea! I have 6 children and some of them are old enough to do their own laundry. How do you do have them separate their clothes into two loads? Do you have a post on laundry? Thanks for your help!

Gin

The David and Tricia Smith Family said...

Gin,
They actually have 3 loads per week (I forgot to mention the second load in the earlier comment). They bring their wash up in the morning before school and get it started. It's their responsibility to divide the laundry into darks, mediums, and whites. I switch the wash once while they are at school. They fold their laundry and start the third load when they get home.
Check the Preparedness Project on Laundry Bags. The laundry bags will hold 3 loads.
I wash the bedding and towels for the whole family on a seperate day during the week.
Hope that helps.
Trish

Kelly, Carrie, Kylie and Zachary said...

This is such a great idea. Thank you for sharing. I am going to try this with my 8 year old daughter as we are heading back to school soon. She is so hard to get moving in the morning.
Now off to look for bags.

East Meets West said...

I saw a link from SugarDoodle to your blog - thank you for sharing your idea and template for the cards. I was just talking - THIS MORNING - with my 3rd grader on things we can do to help her get ready in the morning when school begins. I think this will really help us get ready on time and with more peace - thanks!

Gail said...

Your comments re space = organization, not spending $ on dream clothes (or whatever is on a big sale but is redundant or unnecessary to what we already ), everything you wrote is truth we Americans need to tattoo on our forearms to read and learn from daily.

Debi Clark said...

Here's a link to the tags

http://www.mediafire.com/?3gne68v45ywe9oc

Debi Clark said...

Here's the link to these tags!

http://www.mediafire.com/?3gne68v45ywe9oc

Robin said...

Hi. I am not sure if you still see comments on posts that are so old but I am wondering if you have a bag per hanger? My kids have their clothes in under the bed drawers that are meant for toys, but my oldest (7) has clothes that are getting to big for the little bins. I am thinking that I may start hanging them all up but I struggle because my 4 year old can put his folded clothing away, but has a really hard time with the hangers (heck my 7 year old is terrible with hangers!) thoughts?

Prepared Not Scared said...

Robin, I showed my boys how to use the hangers by laying the clothes on the floor. Pants first then shirt on top in the middle of the pants. They can just slide the hanger under the pants (while they are still on the floor) until they get to the middle...when they pick up the hanger, it will be just right! I do have bags and tags for each of their hangers. Oriental Trading is a great place to purchase the bags.
Hope that helps!
Trish