Storing Outgrown Children's Clothes

This post is for Ellie, who specifically requested it.

What to do when all those adorable clothes you have lovingly chosen (or been gifted or inherited) is too small?

These are the drawers of our baby girl's dresser. Packed to the gills. And she is already in size 6-12 months.

Luckily, we already had a girl (who is now 4 1/2) when we had our newest addition, so I have every conceivable outfit the new baby might need. I had also thought ahead to the possibility of more children when our oldest was young, and I started space-bagging them. An aside- "space-bagging" is a word in my world, just go with it.

My mother in law introduced me to Space Bags, maybe you've seen them on an infomercial? Or Bed, Bath and Beyond? They are big plastic bags that you seal up then suck all the air out of with a vacuum hose attachment. I *strongly* recommend the "large" or "cube", the "Jumbo" will weigh a ton and you won't be able to move it once you suck all the air out, who knew kid's clothing was so dense?

The clothes keep piling up. Or as in the picture below, the outgrown receiving blankets and burp clothes. Thank goodness we are over the massive spitting-up stage.

Every 6 months or so, I collect (collected, as in past tense, but I'm doing it all over again and it's easier to tell you about it in the present tense) the outgrown clothes, and place them in a space bag. Important- the clothes are CLEAN and STAIN-FREE. Yes, that was worth yelling about. Because really I'm yelling at my past self, who placed clean (1 point for me) but stained clothing in a bag over 4 years ago and now I've paid to move that clothing, I'm excited about getting it out for the baby, only to find that it still has poo/spit up/food stains on it. Believe me, even with our third, I still don't want her in a onesie that has her older sisters poo stains on it. That's just setting the bar a bit too low.

There was a period when our daughter didn't walk yet and she knee-walked. I'm pretty sure we won't have any pants from that phase. And the year our son was spilling food down his shirt? Probably no shirts from 2 entire sizes.

I store the space bags in a pile in a closet under the stairs. I wish I could show you some lovely image of them all lined up on shelves, but I'm keeping it real people. 

I do use my handy label-maker so that I know which is which. 

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Jessica

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