Five kids and my clothes were DONE! Working full time and tending to seven kids, it was a few days later before I was able to tackle tidying up KonMari Style with the toddler clothes. I had no idea they had so much clothes!
When they first came to us in November 2017, we had nothing. I was not planning to have any more children and had gotten rid of all of my baby clothes in storage. The social workers bought a few things from Walmart for baby before bringing her to us, straight from the hospital. Her 14 month old brother had some of his own clothes he came with.
I did not have extra money to buy things for a new baby or a toddler so I gratefully received a lot of second hand baby stuff and clothing from church friends. I think fear of not having enough for children that were not my own, kept me keeping EVERYTHING that people gave to me.
Almost two years later I see how much clothes I had collected up for them. It was overwhelming and shocking. A toddler does NOT need this much clothes! Most of the time they prefer to run around in their diapers anyways!
This table is full of my 2 year old toddler boy’s clothes. We received more hand me downs for him than his sister! His parents also love giving him clothes because they had already bonded with him and felt more responsible to provide for him. He had so much clothes!!!
This is my year and a half toddler girl’s clothes. She has less than her brother but it was still a lot for such a small person!
Going through toddler and baby clothes is different with the KonMari method because you can’t really ask the toddler or baby, “Does this shirt bring you joy?” Just thinking about chasing them around to ask that question for every item of clothing they have makes me laugh!
So I had to go through their clothes a little differently.
First I went through all the clothes by size. All the clothes that were too small got put in the give away bag very quickly. That was easy!
Then I sorted the clothes by types of clothes. Shorts, long pants, pajama tops, pajama bottoms, short sleeves, long sleeves, dress shirts, jackets, swim clothes, socks, and underwear. It became obvious which type he had the most of. The pile of shorts and pajama bottoms was HUGE!
Yes, toddlers often go through more than one outfit a day but it would take a while before he could wear ALL of this clothes!
So then I went through each type of clothes and got rid of things that didn’t match, that looked worn, or looked like duplicates. My little guy LOVES cars and trucks so I kept anything with a vehicle on it and things that brought me joy seeing him in.
By the end of sorting through all his clothes I had filled up a bag and half to give away and still had a nice amount of clothes left!
His drawers look super empty after we got rid of so much clothes! It was a wonderful I was able to reduce his clothes to two drawers because I was able to give his sister the other two drawers when we got rid of her crib with drawers.
It may not “look” like they have much clothes any more but with the KonMari style of folding, there is more room in the end. Plus because they grow so fast at this age, more clothes is expected to come.
I went through the same process for baby girl but since she still doesn’t have any preferences to what she likes and doesn’t like yet, it was a little different from her brother’s clothes. So, after getting rid of anything too small, I kept the clothes that brought me joy as I dressed and held her.
One problem I ran into was folding her tiny fluffy little toddler skirts and putting them on a hanger was not working either. But with more room in the drawers, I was able to nicely lay out baby girl’s skirts.
ALL clothes in our home is done!!! Tidying up KonMari Style with toddler clothes was not too bad. Next, is the rest of the items in Mari Kondo’s clothing catagory: belts, shoes, and bags!
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So true toddlers prefer to run around in a diaper. I have always found sometimes less is more with clothes and most things. Looks good and I bet feels so good to.
Yes! It does feel like less is more. 😊
Love the before and after shots!
Me too! Thanks!
Good job! I’m sure others appreciated the extra clothes too.
Thank you!
It looks like you got so much accomplished! Great tips! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
Wow! That’s a lot of clothes and kids! That is amazing what it looked like after!
Lol yah it was a lot!
Great idea! I’ve slowly been purging my apartment room by room since I’ve had a couple roommates leave stuff behind and I finally decided to just go through everything. It really does feel good to get rid of unneeded stuff and to open up space.
I love the KonMari method because she teachers to purge by items rather than rooms. It’s amazing how much of one thing we collect when it’s spread out through the house! Keep up the great work on your own home!
Great post! You did an awesome job! I love you pictures they really show how much you did!
Thank you! It was such a BIG job! 🤪
I’m going to try this method with my husband! He has 10 times more clothes than I do and he doesn’t get rid of ANYTHING! I’m a minimalist and it drives me crazy. Thanks for the tips!
Yes, this method of deciding what to keep based on if it brings you joy or not is wonderful. We tend to wear the same things anyways. Good luck with your husband! Maybe seeing it all in a pile will SHOCK him. Lol
Great job! Keep it up – I have had my drawers like this for almost a year! It can be done!
Thank you!
I love that feeling of getting organized and feeling good!
Yes it’s a very freeing feeling!
I loved the idea of chasing a toddler around the room asking if the shirt gave him joy. I never heard of KonMari Style of organization but it looks effective.
If done right you’ll never go back to a cluttered environment again! 😊
Oh my goodness! I bet it felt SO good to get organized like that. I desperately have to go through both of my daughter’s clothing – I just have yet to find the energy. Well done!
You are right! You need to be ready as a parent to tackle your kids stuff! Good luck.
Super, great organizational ideas! Thanks!
Thank you!
We have been folding our kids clothes like this for about 6 months. It’s pretty easy and looks so much nicer! Not to mention keeps the kids from “digging” for their favorite shirt. It’s so crazy how much clothes they have!
I love it too! You are absolutely right! No digging in the drawers and messing it up!
It’s amazing how quickly kids’ clothes multiply, isn’t it? My kids wear the same things over and over again and I’ve finally given up the fight and have let them just take everything out of their closets that they won’t wear.
It’s funny how I had more attachments to their clothes than they did. The kids are way happier when they are surrounded by all the things they love. 😊
Great job, it always feels so great when you have de-cluttered.
What a difference!
I definitely need to have my daughter do this with hers and her toddler’s clothing. It’s out of control.
I know the feeling. Good luck! It feels great when done.
I love using the KonMari method of organizing. It keeps my drawers neat and tidy and I got rid of so many clothes I don’t wear anymore. Great job with the toddlers’ clothes!
I’ve still got a lot more of my house to do and anxious to be done. 😆
This is the best! I love it! I did this with my own clothes in January!!
Feels so freeing doesn’t it?! 😊
Oh my goodness! I am very impressed with how well you tidied up. It must have seemed overwhelming at first. This gives me inspiration to start tidying up my basement!
Yes! It did feel overwhelming at first but sooo good when done. I still got lots more to do!