Family Closet.

Recently another homeschool asked about family closet.  So, I thought  would try and share about our family closet experience.  We decided to create a family closet a few years ago.  In the house we were living in at that time, there was a small den right next to the laundry room.  We bought some metal shelving and created a family closet in there.  When we moved from that house, we had a large walk in closet in the master bed room, so we used it as the family closet.  Then we moved into our current house.  It has three closets in the main floor mater bedroom.  We don't use the master bedroom, as a bedroom, but instead we use it for a playroom/rec room.  So, the three closets in this room is our current family closet.  Here are some pictures of our closet. 

 
 
These two closets are side by side in the play room.

 

Left side of closet has dad and mom's clothes, and totes holding extra clothes for current season.

 

One tote holds swimsuits and such.  All totes are labeled.

 

 

The shelves are movable in the closet, so when we change seasons we can adjust as needed.

 

 Right side of closet, up high is big kid clothes.One the very top shelf is more seasonal clothes.

 

 
 

 
Right side lower holds all little boy clothes.  We only put out enough clothes for four days on shelves.  In totes are extra seasonal clothes.  In center of closet is little buckets with socks and unders. 

 
This is the other closet in this same room, it is on the opposite wall.  It has seasonal coats, sweaters, or jackets.

 

This is the closet upstairs in my bedroom.  We just finished going through all the totes and sorting the seasonal clothes.  So the totes are not yet even put back in my closet.  We keep all the hang up formal clothes in my closet.  In these totes are off season clothes.

 Normally, they would be stacked back in the back of my closet labels out.

 

This is another closet upstairs and it has extra little boy clothes that have not been grown into yet.

 

 

 Okay, so here is what we have learned.

1.  Less is more. 
We keep only a few outfits out for each person. We keep the rest neatly organized it totes for easy access. 

2.  Don't wear it, don't keep it.
If something hasn't been wore by someone in months it is donated.  Most of our clothes are donated to us.  So, we are grateful, but sometimes there are pieces that just don't work for us.

3.  Keep dirty and clean apart.
It is best not to have the laundry room and the clothes closet too close together.  If they are too close then you get clean and dirty mixed up.

4.  Share it or wear it.
Most of my kids wear each others clothes, once in a while someone will have special outfit or something they bought themselves and then they don't appreciate sharing, but for the most part we just sort by sizes and sex.  Girls clothes in one area, boys in another.  Sizes under 10 low, over 10 higher.

5.  Sort by article.
We sort by pants, shorts, shirts, skirts.  We just stack them up, trying to put smaller sizes on the top of a pile.

We do not keep linens or towels in the family closet.  They have their own closet. 

This system works for us.  My kids do not keep clothes or toys in their bedrooms.  Just beds.  It makes cleaning easy. 

Please feel free to ask questions.