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You have a child and plan to have another, you find a sale and just can’t help yourself, you receive a treasure-trove of hand-me-downs in a variety of sizes too big for your child right now, or maybe you’re just doing some spring cleaning. Now, what do you do with all of those kids clothes that are piling up? Do you store them, sort them, donate them, share them with others?

If you don’t yet have a plan for managing the flow of kids clothes through your home, we offer some tried-and-true tips that will help you avoid clutter and find what you need when you need it in this two-part series.

First and foremost, you’ll want to sort through what you have and get rid of anything you don’t need or want. The first part of our series highlights way you can do this.

Removing the Chaff

• Go through all of the clothes you’ve received or that your first child has outgrown and remove anything that is stained or too well-worn; these can be turned into rags or recycled.
• Pull out overly trendy, wrong-gender, or other items that you are certain you don’t want to dress your child in.
• Remove items that you bought, but your child never wore (and which probably won’t be worn by another child).
• Do your best to estimate when your child will need seasonal items. If you’re pretty sure your child will grow into a winter coat in the heat of July, it might be worth sacrificing it to give you more space for necessities.
• Set your own criteria (condition, closure safety, fit, brands, fabric, etc.) and remove anything else that doesn’t meet these criteria.

Sharing Unneeded Clothing

• Donate unneeded items that are still in good condition to a local charity.
• Offer the clothing for free or trade through Freecycle.
• Give the clothing to an expectant friend or family member.
• Start a clothing sharing circle with friends that have children younger and older than yours (as well as similar tastes) to cycle clothing through to one another.
• Throw a closet-sharing party and invite moms with kids of various ages to attend and bring outgrown clothes – lay everything out by size and “swap shop”; donate the rest.
• Look into consignment shops – there are more and more of these shops that cater to children’s wear and products.
• Sell your kid’s clothing on Ebay or Craig’s List, particularly if it’s in great condition and brand name.
• Save any money you earn from consignment or sale for a day when you need a new outfit for your child.

Now that your closets and cupboards are cleared out (and your floors and counters have piles of what’s left), it’s time to sort through everything and categorize it for easy storage and access. See part 2 for more ideas on how to do this.