Storage solution: kids closets, managing the clothes

I picked up these awesome plastic, square buckets at Hobby Lobby last year that match the color scheme in my girls’ room. They fit perfectly on the closet shelf above the hanging bar and I am using them to manage clothes and bedding. The best part is that I can just toss items up into the buckets instead of having to pull down a box with a lid to out an item inside.  I just used a 3×5 card taped to the buckets to label them.

• As we transition into summer, I use one bucket to store all the winter clothes (long sleeves, sweaters, etc) to get them out of  the closet. It also helps my girls dress appropriately for the season and eliminates any fights over wearing their favorite heavy sweater on the hottest day of the year. When it’s out away, they don’t see it and don’t even think about it. Of course, we do the same thing as we transition to winter.
• All the clothes that don’t fit and are being saved for hand me downs get stored in diaper boxes that are labeled by size and stacked on the other side of the closet shelf. But, before they fully grow out of a size, they’ll grow out of an item or two at a time.  When they are wearing something that I notice is looking too small, after it is washed and dried, I don’t give it back to them to put away. Instead, I toss it in the “too small” bucket. Again, it gets it out of their sight, so they don’t even think to try to wear it again.
• The last bucket is for an extra set of bedding. I like to have it right in their room so if someone has an accident or throws up in bed in the middle of the night, we can just go to the bucket and grab a new set of bedding.

I just checked Hobby Lobby for these buckets and they don’t seem to have them this year.  But there are plenty of other cute, open top storage boxes/buckets that you can pick up that would work just as well.

If you decide to use this idea, I’d love to hear about it. And if anyone has a fabulous idea for storing tons of hand me down clothes that are waiting for kids to grow into them – my biggest problem of all! – please share!