Family Closets are For More Than Just Skeletons

I first heard of the idea of a family closet from watching the Duggars on TV. Then again at LotsofKids.com. Then again when my friend, Lisa, asked for help organizing one in her laundry room.

Now I may not have 17 children but I do have enough kids in a small enough space to appreciate organization. One of my few children also happens to be a 2 1/2 year old girl obsessed with clothes. At least with throwing them all over the floor. So I decided to convert our hall closet into a children's closet. It was previously used to house the kids' coloring books and crayons, rarely used books, our Gazelle, and board games. It was a mess. I even took a before picture, but now I can't find it. (I guess organizing all my computer files will be a near future project.)

Here's how it looks now:

One shelf per child, the plastic shoe boxes hold pajamas, underwear, socks, bloomers, ties, belts, etc. A cloth cube on the floor holds diapers and wipes. Not pictured is an under-bed storage bin without a lid on the floor for all their shoes. All their backpacks go on the floor under the hanging clothes.

As this is the only place we seem to be able to keep "locked" we still keep the board games on top.

Somehow the games still get a little beat up. The organizing junkie in me would love to see uniform stacks of neat and sturdy boxes with labels like this awesome GameSavers box, but $10+/box is just not something I can justify when there are so many more visible flaws (anyone know a good, inexpensive carpet cleaner!!!) to spend my money on. But they ARE a pretty cool idea, no?

A few years ago I assigned each of the children a color. Brandon is orange, Sam is blue, Matthew is green, and Elizabeth is pink. This has been soooo handy. For example, when a towel is left on the floor I know immediately whose it is. It eliminates the "That's MY {fill it the blank}!" confusion because we use this system on everything we can. Towels, cups, folders, toys that come in different colors, etc. AND NOW. . .closet dividers.

I love the children's closet! The children no longer have any clothes in their rooms. No more going back and forth to put away laundry, either. I just take my basket over and unload it all at once. It's really helped me keep up with all the laundry (HALLELUJAH! I no longer find folded items thrown into the hamper!) and it's helped keep their rooms so neat and tidy, too!