Parents' Guide to Winter Clothing Storage

Finding space for winter clothing can be a challenge; it’s thick, bulky, and takes up a lot of room. At the same time, it needs to be easily accessible for when you and your little one are getting ready to go outside. (We all know that the easier things are to get to, the smoother the morning routine will be!)

Adapting your home to suit the cold winter months can be tricky, but with a few handy storage solutions, you can get your winter clothing storage under control. Below are some recommendations from the Child Craft team to create functional clothing storage in your home:

Beginning of Winter

Here are our tips to optimize your clothing setup for the cold months ahead:

1. Make Sure Clothing Still Fits
   • Your child can grow a lot in a year, so when you take clothes out of storage, check the sizing to see if it still works for your little one. This helps for two reasons: one, you won’t be wasting space on clothes that don’t fit, and two, you can quickly identify gaps in your child’s winter wardrobe.
2. Use Clear Storage Boxes for Winter Accessories
   • With clear storage, it’s easy to see what is in a box when you are looking for something. We recommend using clear boxes for smaller garments like gloves, thick socks, and knitted hats. This way, they’ll all be in one place, and it will be easier to find them when needed. Due to their smaller size, you can pack more of them in a clear box than you could with bigger, bulkier items.
3. Consider a Crib with Room for Storage
   • Opt for a crib with room for storage underneath. Flat storage bins are a great place to put clothing that is both out-of-sight and in arm’s reach whenever you may need them. After the season, this box can easily fit on the top shelf of a closet or storage unit.
4. Use Drawer Dividers for Clear Separation
   • Drawer dividers can help to separate winter clothing options from thinner, everyday options in your child’s dresser. Keeping them in their own sections will make it easier to find thicker clothing when you need it and stay organized. After the winter season is over, you can easily remove the divider (or repurpose it for other organization ideas) and pack the winter clothing away for safekeeping.

End of Winter

Towards the end of winter, use these tips to get your space ready for the next season:

1. Don’t Overfill Storage Containers (leads to misshapenness)
   • Once winter has ended and it is time to put winter clothing back into storage, ensure that you aren’t overstuffing clothes in each box. The more clothing and accessories you pack into one box, the more likely they are to become misshapen and wrinkled. If you want your clothing to last (whether for your family or to pass on), this is something you should try and avoid, especially when these boxes will be stored away until the following year.
2. Clean and Dry Clothes Before Packing
   • Check clothing for stains, discoloration, and odors before putting them away in storage. It’s much easier to launder clothing and fix the problem now than to try again the following year when it may be too late. Plus, if the stain cannot be removed and the clothing is beyond repair, you won’t be wasting precious storage space on clothes that can’t be worn again.
3. Store in a Climate-Controlled Area
   • Protect your clothing from odors, discoloration, and damage by storing them somewhere in your home that is climate controlled. This is an ideal condition for keeping your clothing in optimal condition and ensuring that they will be good to use the following year. This saves you from the high-cost and stress of having to repurchase the same clothing when you need it again next winter. Also consider tossing a dryer sheet into your storage container if you’d like your clothes to have a clean, fresh scent when you pull them out next winter.
4. Label Everything
   • Especially when you have multiple children’s clothing to keep track of, labeling storage containers is a must. We recommend marking which person the clothing belongs to and what articles are in each box (for example, winter hats and gloves). This makes it easy to discern which boxes belong to which person and will make it a smooth process next winter when everything needs to be unpacked again.

We hope our tips will help you stay organized this winter! With festivities and family gatherings to prepare for, keeping your space organized and easy to navigate gives you one less thing to worry about.

For more tips on winter clothing storage solutions, visit these sites:

• 10 Tips for Storing your Winter Clothes | Practical Perfection
• The 11 Best Containers for Storing Clothes | The Spruce
• 10 Sneaky Ways to Store Winter Gear | Bob Vila