How to organize baby clothes by size, without drowning in them

The short answer. A baby goes through several sizes in the first year, and the clothes for all of them usually arrive at once. The drawers overflow because they are holding three sizes, not because they are too small. Read the label on every garment, keep this size in reach, the next size in one bin, and everything smaller on its way out.

Why baby clothes get out of hand

Baby clothes are small, plentiful and almost all gifts. Showers, grandparents and hand-me-down bags bring months of sizes in a few weeks, long before your baby fits most of them. So every drawer ends up holding a mix: newborn sleepers your baby left behind last month, bodysuits that fit today, and a jacket for next winter.

A mixed drawer fails twice. At 3 a.m. you dig past three sizes to find one that fits. And outgrown clothes never leave, because a sleeper that is too small looks exactly like one that fits until you try it on a wriggling baby. That is the same root cause as most clutter: no assigned home for each size, so everything shares one.

The fix is not a bigger dresser. It is giving each size its own place, and giving outgrown clothes a way out of the house that happens without a decision. When a drawer is still too small for one size, that is a capacity problem, covered in what to do when a zone is too small for what it holds.

First, sort every piece by the size on the label

Gather the clothes from every drawer, bin, closet and gift bag into one place. Then sort by the size printed on the label, not by how big the garment looks, because sizes vary by brand and your eye will be wrong half the time. Make one pile per size: newborn, 0 to 3 months, 3 to 6 months, 6 to 9 months, and so on.

Now check each pile against your baby, not the age on the label. A baby who is four months old may fit 6 to 9 months already. The rule that settles it is the one on the baby clothing zone: the moment a snap will not close over the diaper, that size is done.

As you go, make three more piles inside the current size:

• Worn and loved. These go in the drawers.
• Never chosen. The scratchy outfit, the one with forty snaps, the one too nice to risk. If it has not been worn in a month, it will not be. It leaves.
• Keepsake. The going-home outfit and one or two others. These go in one keepsake box, not the drawers. Choosing which ones is easier with a simple way to decide about sentimental items.

How many baby clothes you actually need

Count by how often you do laundry, not by what the shop suggests. For the everyday pieces, bodysuits, sleepers and pants, keep enough to last from one wash to the next, plus two or three spares for the days when a diaper leaks or the milk comes back up. If you wash every three days and your baby gets through three outfits a day, that is about a dozen of each, not thirty.

Keep the rest to a few of each: a couple of warm layers, a hat, socks you can find, and one outfit for going somewhere. Anything over that in the current size goes in the outgoing bag, even with the tags on, while it still fits another baby.

How to organize baby clothes in a dresser

Give each drawer one job and write it on the front. A small label or a strip of masking tape that says Bodysuits, 3 to 6 m means anyone putting laundry away, a partner, a grandparent, a sitter, puts it back in the same place without asking.

• Top drawer: what you reach for at the changing table. Bodysuits, sleepers and socks, the things you need with one hand while the other is on the baby.
• Middle drawer: daytime clothes. Pants, tops, and the warm layers.
• Bottom drawer: the rest. Bibs, swaddles, hats, and spare blankets for the car.

Then file the clothes upright instead of stacking them. Fold each piece into a small rectangle that stands on its edge, and line them up front to back, like files in a drawer, so you can read every collar from above. A stack shows you only the top piece, and the one you want is always at the bottom. Small fabric bins or shoebox lids inside the drawer stop the rows falling over and keep socks in one place.

If you need more than one size within reach for a few weeks, while your baby is between sizes, give the larger size its own drawer or its own labeled divider. Do not mix them in one row.

How to organize baby clothes in a closet or wardrobe

Hang what wrinkles or what you want to see: dresses, jackets, and the outfits for going out. Short hangers in a child size keep tiny clothes from sliding off. Hanging closet dividers, the round tabs labeled with sizes, let you hang two sizes in one row without mixing them: this size nearest the door, the next size behind it.

Use the closet shelf for the bins, one per size, labeled on the end that faces you. The current size never goes up there. Only what you will not need this week.

Without a dresser, a closet, or much room

A baby does not need a full-size dresser. What works instead is any set of shallow open containers at changing-table height, one per category, with the size written on the front:

• Cube storage. A cube shelf with fabric bins gives you one bin per category, at a height you can reach standing. Label the front of each bin, not the lid.
• Baskets under the changing table. Most changing tables have one or two shelves. One basket of bodysuits and one of sleepers is often enough for the current size.
• A hanging closet organizer. The fabric shelves that hang from a rail turn one section of any closet, including yours, into a small dresser.
• Under the crib, not in it. Flat bins under the crib can hold the next size. Nothing goes in the crib itself.

In a shared bedroom or a small apartment, the size system matters more than the furniture. One bin per size, labeled, and only the current size in reach, fits almost anywhere.

The next-size bin

Everything bigger than today goes in one bin, labeled with the size, on the closet shelf or under the crib. One bin per size if you have a lot of gifts; one bin for "next size up" if you do not. When the snap stops closing, the swap takes five minutes: the outgrown drawer empties into the outgoing bag, and the next-size bin empties into the drawer.

Look inside the next-size bin before you shop. It is the most common place to find you already own three of the thing you were about to buy, the same pattern as buying things you already own anywhere else in the house.

What to do with outgrown baby clothes

Hang a bag on the nursery door hook, or keep one open bin by the dresser, and put every outgrown piece straight into it. Once a month, or when it is full, it leaves the house. The bag only works if leaving is the default, so decide the destination once, now:

• Pass on. A friend, a family member, or a local parents' group. Bundle by size in a bag with the size written on the outside, so the next family can use it straight away.
• Sell. For a garage sale or a resale shop, sort into bundles by size and season and price each bundle, not each piece. Bundles sell faster and take far less time to set up.
• Donate. Clean clothes in good condition. Check what your local donation center accepts before you drive there.
• Keep for another baby. Only if you are actually planning one, and only the pieces you would buy again. Store them as below.
• Let go. Stained, stretched or torn pieces are not worth storing. Some areas collect textiles for recycling.

How to store baby clothes for the next baby

Wash everything first and let it dry completely, because a little damp or an old milk stain in a closed bin turns into mildew or a smell that will not come out. Then pack by size into clear plastic bins with lids, one size per bin, and label the end with the size and the season, for example 6 to 9 m, winter. A short list of what is inside, taped to the lid, saves opening every bin later.

Store the bins somewhere dry and not too hot: a closet shelf or under a bed is better than a damp basement or a hot attic. If the basement or attic is the only space, the guides on organizing a basement and organizing an attic cover keeping things off the floor and away from heat. Skip mothballs, which are a poison risk for small children; a clean, dry, closed bin is enough.

When the next baby arrives, take out only one size at a time, and check each piece for loose buttons and drawstrings before it goes in a drawer.

Safety in the nursery

• Anchor the dresser to the wall. A chest of drawers can tip forward when a child climbs it or pulls out several drawers at once. Anchor it, and close one drawer before you open the next.
• Check hand-me-downs before they go in a drawer. Pull off loose buttons, beads and bows, and remove drawstrings at the hood and neck, because they can come off in a mouth or catch around a neck.
• Keep the crib clear. Store nothing inside the crib, including spare clothes and blankets. The safe-sleep guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics is a firm, flat surface with nothing else in it.
• Keep supplies out of reach. Diaper creams, laundry pods and cleaning products go above or away from the changing table and the dresser top, not in a basket a crawling baby can reach.

Keeping it organized

Two habits keep the system working through every size change:

• When a snap will not close, swap the size. Five minutes: the outgrown drawer into the outgoing bag, the next-size bin into the drawer, and a new label on the front.
• When the outgoing bag is full, it leaves. Put it in the car that day, not by the front door.

Most families find the system lasts if it is easy for whoever puts the laundry away, which is the reason for writing the size on every drawer. It is the same lesson as why a shared zone never stays reset: a standard only one person can read is a standard only one person keeps.

Common questions

What is the best way to organize baby clothes?

Organize by size, not by type. Keep only the size your baby wears today in the drawers, one size per drawer or divider with the size written on the front. Put the next size up in one labeled bin on the closet shelf, and outgrown clothes in an outgoing bag that leaves the house every month.

How do I organize baby clothes in drawers?

Give each drawer one job and label it: bodysuits, sleepers and socks in the top drawer by the changing table, daytime clothes in the middle, and bibs, swaddles and hats at the bottom. Fold each piece into a small rectangle and file it upright, front to back, so you can read every collar from above instead of digging through a stack.

How do I organize baby clothes by size?

Sort every piece by the size printed on the label, not by how big it looks, because sizes vary by brand. Make one pile per size, keep the size that fits now in the drawers, put the next size in a labeled bin, and move anything smaller to an outgoing bag. The moment a snap will not close over the diaper, swap to the next size.

How do I organize baby clothes without a dresser?

Use any shallow open containers at changing-table height, one per category, with the size written on the front: fabric bins in a cube shelf, baskets on the changing table shelves, or a hanging fabric organizer in a closet. Flat bins under the crib can hold the next size. Nothing is stored inside the crib.

How many baby clothes do I need?

Count by how often you do laundry. Keep enough everyday pieces to last from one wash to the next, plus two or three spares for leaks and spit-up. If you wash every three days and your baby goes through three outfits a day, that is about a dozen of each, not thirty.

How do I store baby clothes for the next baby?

Wash everything and let it dry completely, then pack by size into clear plastic bins with lids, one size per bin, labeled with the size and season. Store them somewhere dry and not too hot, such as a closet shelf or under a bed, and skip mothballs, which are a poison risk for small children.

What should I do with outgrown baby clothes?

Put each outgrown piece straight into one bag on the nursery door, and take the bag out of the house every month. Pass clothes on bundled by size, sell them in size bundles rather than piece by piece, donate clean pieces in good condition, and let go of stained or torn ones.

Keep reading

• The baby clothing zone, the full six-step guide for the nursery drawers and closet
• The kids bedroom dresser drawers, for when your baby moves up to a big-kid room
• How to organize toys, the same idea, fewer things out and labels a child can read, for the toys that arrive with the clothes
• Sentimental items without guilt, for deciding which tiny outfits to keep
• How to organize a linen closet, the same one-bundle, one-label idea for sheets and towels
• All 20 rooms and 114 micro zones, each with its own root-cause diagnosis and standard