Organize a Small Kid's Closet on a Budget

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An uncluttered, organized closet can foster independence and help your child’s morning routine go a bit more smoothly – even if you still have to ask them 5 more times to put on their shoes! If you’d like some real-life examples on how to organize a small kid’s closet on a budget, then read on my friend!

How can I make my closet kid-friendly?

If you need some ideas on how to organize a small kid’s closet and make it kid-friendly closet, I’ve got a few tips for you! These work especially well for toddlers or preschoolers.

1| Less is more.

Young children need fewer options than adults. Their clothing choices should be simple and easy to put together. This is what makes a kids capsule wardrobe a perfect option for young children. It doesn’t overwhelm them with choices and a kids capsule wardrobe allows for mix and match options, which makes for a happy parent. A capsule wardrobe is also a great way to reduce the laundry load.

2 | Keep it at their height.

Map out a spot in the closet where their clothes can be stored at a level that’s right at their height. As they get older, their items can be stored slightly higher. For preschoolers, their clothes are smaller and don’t take up as much space. Toddlers or preschoolers might not be involved in lots of activities that require several outfits.

3 | Use labels!

When considering how to organize a small kid’s closet, I recommend using pictorial labels on kids’ bins and drawers. This allows them to navigate their closet in a more independent manner. It’s a win-win for both parent and child!

4 | Hang up a Morning & Evening Routine on the wall

Labels help preschoolers find and put away their own clothes, but to foster even more independence, get an inexpensive frame and hang up a Morning and Evening Routine pictorial charts on the wall next to or near their clothes.

How do I organize my daughter’s closet?

I don’t have any boys – not yet anyway – so I have more experience on how to organize a small kid’s closet for girls. I suppose these tactics still work for boys, I just don’t have a picture of a boys’ closet to share with you!

1 | Put things in intuitive places.

Store items they most often reach for in an intuitive place – where would they expect to find it? Items that are accessed daily, like masks and headbands, are on top of the drawers. The storage for Outgrown and Next Size clothing is on the top shelf since it’s rarely accessed. Socks and underwear are in the top drawer since they’re lightweight and what she would reach for first when getting dressed. Consider the flow of getting ready in the morning to streamline the use and function of your daughter’s closet.

2 | Provide a step stool if needed.

If the builder-grade clothes rack is too high for your child to reach, simply pop a step stool into the closet! You can’t see it in the picture below, but there’s a 2-step stool on the inside of the closet to the right of the pink heart laundry hamper. This allows my daughter to have more independence in reaching her clothes.

3 | Keep it simple.

The categories in her drawers are simple. We change out the clothes with the seasons so she doesn’t end up throwing a fit about not being able to wear shorts to school in the winter. The shorts get put into storage or passed on to a friend if they’re outgrown. When it comes to using hangers, some people say they are too much for kids to handle. I think everyone’s child is different and since my daughter is school age she can handle them. In fact, I get her involved in hanging up her own laundry. That said, to keep it simple, we don’t hang everything on hangers. Dresses and swim cover-ups are hung up on hangers.

4 | Keep it affordable.

It’s not like this is her “forever closet” because kids change and grow over time. So, this is a simple and affordable way to organize a small kid’s closet on a budget. I organized my daughter’s closet with the following items:

White Sterilite drawers – Walmart $30
Heart Laundry Hamper – Amazon $13
Baskets for Next Size/Outgrown Clothes – Target $8 each
Mask Bin – Daiso $1.50
Headband Basket – Target Pillowfort Collection – no longer available
Kids Hangers – TJMaxx $7 for a pack

TOTAL = $67.50

5 | Create a spot for tomorrow’s outfit.

Picking out clothes the night before is a surefire way to streamline your child’s morning! There are different ways that you could do this. You can get closet clothing rack dividers and write the days of the week on them. You could get a hanging closet storage where you put the outfits for each day inside each slot. We personally have one hook hung on a narrow wall outside of her closet where she can hang up her clothes for the next day after she picks them out. She does this each night during her bedtime routine.

SMALL SPACE ORGANIZING SOLUTIONS:

How do I organize a small kid’s closet on a budget?

Besides the aforementioned budget-friendly kids closet, you can’t go wrong with a few tried and true options that work in almost any space:

1 | Sterilite Drawers

Sterilite drawers are always an easy and budget-friendly way to organize a small closet on a budget. If a custom built-in closet organization system isn’t an option for you, Sterilite has a great selection of drawers. They have a variety of colors and sizes and they’re available at Wal Mart, Target, and many other stores.

2 | Fabric Bins

These are great for activity-specific clothing for sports or extracurriculars, accessories like hats and gloves, blankets, outgrown clothes, or even next size up clothing storage. The bonus is that they fold flat when not in use in case the number of bins that you need changes over time. You can even organize solely with fabric bins. Just purchase a cubby unit, like the IKEA Kallax, and get some fabric bins from Amazon, Target, or WalMart to put in the cubbies. Then organize the clothes by bin. You can even find some fabric bins with a clear pouch on the front of them to insert kids pictorial clothing labels inside the clear pouch.

3 | Child-sized Hangers

If you’d like to use hangers, I recommend child-sized ones. If you think they’ll be more of a hassle than not, then simply skip the hangers. Instead, focus on drawers and bins to keep it easy. I for one have never understood why hangers are used to hang baby clothes – besides the fact that it makes a Pinterest-perfect picture. Say that 3 times fast!

4 | Dollar Tree Bins

Are you a fan of the Dollar Tree? The items from my daughter’s closet pictured above could easily be substituted with Dollar Tree bins for just $1 a piece! Well…technically Dollar Tree has increased their prices to $1.25 a piece. Instead of $8 bins from Target, grab a few $1.25 laundry hampers from Dollar Tree for next size or outgrown items. Instead of hangers from TJMaxx, the Dollar Tree also carries kid-sized hangers that are $1.25 per pack.