Deaf-Fining Life: Frugal Friday: A Family Closet

Today's post is about laundry room organization. I often tell people I was born organizing. As a young child all though my teen years my business-woman mom would hire me and my younger brother to help her organize her sewing shop. I STILL love organizing!!

Now life with 5 kids seems to be completely contrary to organization. The two always seem to be at war with each other. However, large families and organization do not have to be mutually exclusive. There can be a mingling of sorts. Sometimes we're crazy organized and sometimes we just go with the flow. How else would I keep my sanity?

Well as soon as we toured the house that eventually became our home, I saw the potential. Family Closet!! I was in love!

If you've never heard of a Family Closet you look up the Duggars and come back. Seriously it's all the rage with large families. Shoot it's been around since one room cabins in the prairie. Basically it means keeping everyone's clothes, etc in one location in the house- the laundry area/room more times than not.

The simplicity of it is amazing.

First off we had this HUGE upstairs laundry room.... Now I get it- MOST people don't have giant rooms for laundry. We sure didn't till we moved here. BUT with a lot of creativity most homes can have a family closet. Even if a family closet isn't really suitable for your home, the more compact and organized your space, the more time and energy and even money you save in the long run.

So- without further ado- here is our family closet!

Since we knew we would not be moving for a long time if ever again we invested in steel commercial clothing racks to last the ages. When all else fails they work great for gymnastics (insert eye-roll). Honestly the commercial racks were only a tiny bit more in price than the cheapo plastic ones from the big-name store so hey win-win.

On the dyer side we have a rolling rack for easy movement but so far it gets very little use. The washer and dryer are getting up there in age. Someday when we're rich we hope to get 2 sets of stackable washer/dryers and have a mini-laundrymat. With 8 people in the family we could use 2 of each!

Off to the side we have 3 dressers for 7 of us to share (mother-in-law has her own clothes downstairs). We also keep plastic totes for off-season clothes and clothes for the kids to grow into. However rule #1- ONLY keep what you truly will use. If you find you just are not loving that skirt from last season- GIVE IT AWAY!. Too many kids clothes- DOWNSIZE AND DECLUTTER!

Each season I am strict when we pack up leftovers. Do I know this will be worn again? Does it have ANY holes at all (automatic toss)? Stains? Do we, me, kids love it? If not- it's out the door! We are lucky enough that we get blessed with hand-me-downs through out the year and I rarely have to buy clothes. When I do I usually do thrift stores so our clothes have little sentimental value. I like it that way- easier to let it go when it's holey, stained, and no longer being use.

Now a lot of times people will ask that golden question- How many pairs of clothes for each kid?

Honestly this is an answer only you can figure out. Is your child super messy? Older or younger? How often do you change clothes?

For my baby (16 month old) and the 3 yr old we have about 14 outfits (2 per day for a week). For my older girls who are less messy about 8-10 outfits. For my son who has sensory issues and is very very very picky about clothes- about 7 outfits. Me and hubby- I don't count but it's not more than 15 each. His are split between business and casual and mine are whatever skirt/shirt I fancy at the moment.

Shoes are the same way. We keep only what we actively use. I'm not a purse fan so I have 2 that I rotate out. I don't do other accessories. But if you do- just remember....

USE IT OR LOSE IT!

OR......

You end up like us before we organized!