Next Year Boxes: how a mom of five swaps kids' clothes each season

As a parent, the changing of the seasons can be a hectic scramble to make sure that our kids have the right clothes, in the right amounts, in the right sizes. Daunting to say the least. Especially if your kids are not fully on board for the myriad reasons that kids are resistant to change.

How Next Year Boxes work for kids' clothes

When my kids were very small, I set out to make this process as painless and, dare I say, fun as possible. We were fortunate enough to have a house with plenty of storage space, so I implemented a system that we called "Next Year Boxes." I used cardboard banker's boxes because that's what fit my space, but this system works with any kind of storage box you have. If you're short on space, under-bed bins or the top shelf of a closet work just as well. For each size range, I typically had two boxes, one for warm weather and one for cold weather, each labeled with the size and season.

When the seasons started to change, we would troop to the storage closet and pull out all the relevant boxes. Then we would pull all the clothes already in use and start sorting! I would locate and set aside all the clothes that were going out of season and/or didn't fit anymore and run them through the wash. The kids would get busy trying the new clothes on and then moving them to their closets and dressers. Once all the retiring clothes were laundered and put back in the boxes, we'd take them back to storage and put them away until "next year."

When kids get attached to their clothes

This process didn't always go smoothly, because things rarely do with kids, and we would take breaks and talk things through as we went. Kids can get attached to their clothes, and it can be tough to have to say goodbye to a special T-shirt or dress that they've really enjoyed wearing. As often as I could, if I saw someone getting attached to an item of clothing, I'd try to track it down in the next size up to give ourselves a little more time with it. As with any part of parenting, the trick is to make sure they know their preferences are being heard and acknowledged as much as possible.

Plan the reward ahead of time

Typically, a reward for all this hard work had already been established. Maybe we'd celebrate with ice cream or cookies or watch a movie together. I tried to make this reward something special that didn't just happen all the time. Knowing that there was something like that waiting for them at the end of the process definitely motivated my kids, along with the excitement of getting a whole whack of new clothes!