How to Store Baby Clothes for Next Baby

Hi C.,
When my first son was born after he grew out of the clothes I stored them in the plastic storage bins and labeled the out side by the sizes (0-3,3-6) etc. After 7 1/2 yrs I had my second son and started pulling the bins out of the attic, the clothes were fine. Another storage idea is buying the space bags you see on tv, Walmart carries these, they have storage cubes that they have recently come out with that work well for storing clothes. They are waterproof, and you can store a lot in one cube. Hope this has helped.

A.

What I did is stored my oldest daughters clothes in plastic container that had an airtight lid. I also placed bay leaves(buy @ dollar tree) in there to keep out creepy crawlers and moths. When my 16 month daughter was born, they were ready to wear after washing with Dreft.

Dear C.,
this really worked well for me: I bought the diapers at Costo and they came in Cardboard boxes. After using up the diapers I put the clothes in as they didn't fit anymore... That kept them in growing/chronicle order and I just marked the age (4 - 6 mts for example) on the outside of the box. They stack reasonably well and if you don't need them anymore you can just pass them on to the next person, without wanting the box back. If you are worried about water leaking into the box, put a garbage bag on the bottom and the top of the box. I also liked the fact that I already had the box in the correct room. Hope this helps, take care, A.

Hi! We've had a fairly good system with baby clothes that might work for you. We have a 2-and-a-half year-old boy and a 2 year old nephew, so we've shared clothes with my brother and his wife for their son and now we're getting them back for our next baby (a gir, due in October).
We used 14- and 18-gallon blue Rubbermaid bins from Target. We always wash the items before using them again, but the bins have kept them odor-free, dry and clean. They are also good as they are opaque and keep things from fading. I do recommend them as they are easy to stack and cardboard boxes are a pest magnet and vulnerable to moisture (I do think that is a concern, even in the Bay Area). Clear bins leave you open to fading if they're exposed to light at all. The other thing we did was wrap the edge of the bin lid with some moving plastic (you can get that at any U-Haul, it looks like green saran-wrap on a roll). We simply labeled them with slips of paper (i.e. "0-3 months") covered with a piece of clear packing tape.
As for sorting, we sorted them by 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, 18-24 months, and so on. We also did separate bins of bibs, hats, shoes (like Robeez, etc) and sorted those where neccessary (like, for hats, socks and shoes, but not bibs) by 0-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months. Another bin for receiving blankets, etc. When sorting, we stored only clean clothes that we liked and found useful and nothing stained if we could help it. We also sorted not only what the label said, but how we remembered the item fitting (we have tall boys). Also, we each kept our own special bins of keepsake items we didn't share (like what the boys wore home from the hospital, etc.)
It really helps to have a buddy help you sort and weed out items. Good luck to you!

We use space bags. You can fit a lot of clothes in the bags plus it is sealed tight. If you are keeping them in the garage, I would suggest, using the storage bags and then putting them in the tubs. You can get them at Walmart. They have all kinds of sizes. As far as sorting, I just sort ours by size depending on how many I have (1-3 months, 6-9 months and so on)then I write on the bag with a permanent marker so it is easy to find later. Hope this helps.

First, you want to make sure you've washed them well - my mom saved some clean baby clothes but stains later appeared over time anyway. Maybe today's detergents are better and is all you need? Just make sure they've been well-washed and are dry before storing.

Store by size! If you can, try to put the clothes/items that were used over a longer period of time than some that could only be used for about 3 months, then put that back with the early size (am I making sense?)

I too saved clothes from my son for my next that never materialized. After 3 years I gave up and passed them on to others with little ones because after 2-3 years, the styles change & improve and after 4-5 years, the elastic is no longer stretchy anyway. So best to let them get their wear before they're officially "OLD" smile.

With the outfits that are absolute favorites - take pictures of them! Lay them out and take pictures (or with your little cutie in them!) You can always get a small print made of them and then cut them out and if you scrapbook, make a 'clothesline' with your little boy's outfits displayed across the page.

I used those space saver bags.

Plastic bins are a gift from heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unless your garage is unusually damp, I wouldn't worry about moisture. Just put them in the bin and try to remember them when your other kid's that age. I'd remember them 2 years later.

Get the suction bags and a package of labels. This way you can sort them by size, zipper them, suction the air out so they take lsee space and then label them so you dont have to go through them. Also Do not keep everything. Choose the things that are still in good shape, not stained, not in need of any repair and store them. You are going to want to get some new things for the second anyway.

K.

Separate and store according to size. That way, when you are ready for that size, you can just pull that box out. We are using her old diaper boxes when they are empty. Just take a sharpie and mark on there the size and in genaral what's in there. Bins may be a good idea, but can be costly in the end. You will wash the clothes when you are ready to use them anyway.

Hey,

I would store by stages...0-3 mo., 3-6 mo., etc.
Have you tried the plastic space saver bags? I just put a piece of paper with size info in front and it's easily seen when you suck the air out...they don't take much room and keeps moisture, bugs etc. out. Don't use cardboard boxes in the garage.

Hi C.,

My house keeper doubles as a flea market diva and told us that storing any type of cloth is best in the plastic tubs. It will keep out the moisture and dust, thereby eliminating mold from growing in a dark warm garage. We had ours in cardboad and she scolded us! Very thankful she did because the last thing I would want to put on a newborn is a moldy piece of clothing. So go to target and get a bunch of plastic tubs with lids that seal shut and make sure the clothes are clean and dry before you put them in, lastly if you really want to seal it up, surround the outside edge of the lid with duct tape. That ought to work well. Good luck!

HI. I stored everything in plastic containers. I had containers that were done in months, newborn-3, 3-6, 6-9 and so forth. I did not save anything that was stained. I would not use a cardboard box, it will absorb moisture and ruin your clothes. I also placed a dryer fluff in the container for freshness. When it came time to use the clothes again, I pulled out the box based on age and washed them. It worked well for us.

My sister saved all her baby clothes for me in strong moving cardboard boxes, taped them shut and stored them in the attic. The clothes were in boxes for a about 5 years before I had my little miracle. I had no problems with moisture ruining the clothes. She labled all the boxes by size and I just go thu and wash everything before I put in his room for him to wear. As long as you store the boxes in a dry place it should be fine.
I still have boxes in my garage. Well good luck.

We decided to store our 1st son's clothes in big plastic bins from Target. They were stored in the garage and I just sorted them according to size- 3M, 6M, 12M, 18M, etc. Now our 2nd son was just born and I have recently taken some of the bins out from the garage, the clothes are perfectly fine, in the condition I left them in!
Good luck! :)

Hi C.,

I have had three babies in the past five years and I saved all the clothes using transparent plastic bins with lids bought at Target. The bins were kept in the garage. If you are in the Bay area, you do not have to worry about high humidity and large temperature changes, so the bins are more than adequate to keep the clothes in good shape. I found the key was to use large bins that you can see into, bins you can stack, and for finding the bins you want later you should label the bins with the sex and age range of the clothes (boy 12-18 months, girl 2T, etc). Change the label if necessary as you fill the bins with clothes. I also found it practical to not save clothes that were heavily soiled or you found you did not like using. I saved shoes in a separate container. I am now currently using the clothes from my first son for my second son (3rd child) that I have stored for 4+ years and they are in great shape. This method has worked for me and since I use large bins, I do not worry about folding the clothes neatly, but doing so does allow you to fit more clothes in the same amount of space, so it really depends on how much room in the garage you have. Just make sure to put the lids back on the bins after you add clothes and you should be fine.

R. (full-time working mother of three, 5yr boy, 3 yr girl, and 10mth boy)

I used the vacuum plastic bags that suck the air out and squash down great and then put those bags into a plastic container by size organized by size. It worked great and only one plastic container was needed for a ton of clothes, burp cloths, etc for over a 2 1/2 year period.

I have 1 yr old and 2yr old boys. I store the clothes in plastic bins that I label with the size (18mon-2T, etc). I love being able to walk into my garage and look for the size that will soon fit my younger child.

Space bags!!!!!! There 50% off at jcpenny

I bought a bunch of those space bags from Bed Bath and Beyond. You insert your clothes, blankets, etc inside and vacuum out all the air. Then the bag is flat and I can store them in my closet. Plus it protects from water, dust, bugs, etc.

Hope that helps.

Jen

Hi. I've stored all of my baby's clothes in clear plastic bins by size. I also put all of the holiday clothes together and marked that bin that way. It seems to be pretty organized. Who really knows what I will think when we have baby #2 though! Good luck!

You might try buying these space bags that they sell at places like Bed Bath and Beyond. They come in various sizes and after you've filled them up with clothes (or whatever you're storing), you vacuum out out the air until the bag is flat and air tight. They're pretty cool and they are supposed to protect against moisture and air and they also reduce the amount of storage space needed.

J. F.

Hi C.! Whenever I've stored clothes I've just sorted them out by size (or season if they are my clothes!) and put them in garbage bags and then into boxes or rubbermaid bins. Boxes are just fine and you can clearly mark them with a Sharpie. I still wash everything later (obviously) when I take them out of the bag, but I find the bag helps with dust, smell and bugs, and moisture! Good luck!!!!

another rec for space bags - you can get a set of assorted sizes from Costco, group items roughly by size, then put the bags into cardboard boxes and label the boxes

I use the XL or XXL Zip Loc Bags that you can label on the outside AND also put them into storage bins just for extra security. i like the bags b/c you can see through them, & they're easy to keep just one in the closet to continue to fill up as you need to. i also label the outside of the bins. For toys b/c so many are bulky i just use regular bins, also see through.

I know a lot of people recommend the space bags, but I think they aren't worth the money. Basically a big ziploc bag. In the beginning they work just fine, but after a couple of opens and closes they no longer hold the suction and they puff right back up again. Now I just use plastic bins or cedar lined trunks. (I had some left from college) One hint though, if you use any type of cedar lined trunk line it in an old sheet first. The cedar is great for repelling bugs etc, but depending on how long the clothes sit there, they can get stained. (only happened once to my mom - but why take chances) Good luck.

I used spacebags, great concept, but not all of them keep the air out over time, which frustrates me a little, because the are a little expensive. But the ones that work, work great! I separated them by size as well and also by clothes that could be unisex. We didn't find out what we were having with our first, so we had many neutral things. I separated them out so in the event my next child was the opposit sex, I knew exactly which bags to grab. And that is exactly what happened.

For the special items, I purchased more decorative cardboard boxes from Ikea that coordinated with their rooms, they were just the right size to lay the little clothes perfectly flat, so no folding necessary. Those I have stored in their closets, but could be left out if you don't have room, because they are nice enough to look at.

I have had a problem with space bags eventually leaking and turning into a basic ziplock bag over time. Maybe my garage gets too hot? Anyway, we use the plastic boxes that you can buy and label the outside of the box with the size and gender. I save almost everything (even if it has a stain). Those stained clothes make for great camping clothes! Good luck!
D.

Hi C.,

Keep the most precious ones and then have a sale or donate the rest. If you are a homeowner, there will be a tax write off. Think of the fun new things you can buy or will you be presented as gifts?

There are so many girls/women in need...baby cloths have no business sitting in a bag,bin,box (starting to smell and get moldy).

Blessings...

I wash, fold, and put her clothing away into large, long, flat plastic bins and store them in the bottom of her closet - I add to the bin on the top as she grows out of her clothing, then label it with sharpie with the sizes in it. I don't, however, save any terribly stained, holey, or really worn out clothing though - I toss those first. Since its in her closet, I dont have to worry about moisture, bugs, or anything else that comes along with storing things in garages/sheds and such.

Throw a dryer sheet in there on top for freshness - who knows how long it might be stored there.

I put mine in tubs according to the actual size. If I put my daughter in an 18 month pair of pants and they are too small, I put them in the garage with the 12 month stuff. I also label mine on all sides because I'm not sure where they will end up in the garage, even though I try to keep them in one space.
The space bag idea is great too. However, be sure to put them in tubs or something solid. Last winter we had a rat in our garage that ended up eating through our Christmas ornament container, I would hate to hear about a rat nesting in your babies baby clothes.
I do agree with the woman who said you should donate them, but I know I wouldn't be able to afford new clothes for a new baby when the time comes. I plan to donate mine after our next one.

My boys are two years apart and I saved everything. I put clean clothes in trash bags by size. When they came back out, I washed everything again. I just made sure the bags were tightly knotted (we have a cat in our garage and there's fur everywhere). The clothes were fine.