How to Organize...Clothing Drawers

There are certain areas of your house that constantly beg for a better way.  Your current system gets the job done but it's insanely inefficient and you just know a better solution is right in front of you.  It wasn't until recently that I figured out what I'd been missing when it came to organizing my clothing drawers.  As usual, it all started with my daughters.

Tiny people create mountains of tiny clothes.  Getting a four year old dressed is like negotiating a peace treaty.  It is a never ending battle and the last thing you need is a messy drawer making it hard to locate the one outfit you finally agree on.  I also noticed that both my girls were wearing the same outfits over and over again because I'd inevitably be in a rush and grab the first thing I saw on the top of the stack of clothes.  Then one magical day I discovered vertical folding.  What is vertical folding?  Vertical folding is when you fold your clothes into rectangles/squares and place each item next to each other instead of on top so that you can view, and have easier access to each item.  It also saves a lot of space in your drawers.  The vertical concept is the same for all types of clothes but t-shirts take a little more finesse.  Let's get started!

Step 1: Lay shirt front side down on flat surface

Step 2: Fold each side of the shirt towards the center so that you have created a long rectangle. The width of the rectangle will depend on the size of the shirt and the depth of the drawer. This example is a toddler's shirt so I didn't need to create as narrow of a fold.

Step 3: Fold bottom of shirt up to where the sleeves meet the body of the shirt

Step 4: Fold top of shirt to meet the bottom fold


Step 5: Check to make sure the folded shirt fit properly in the drawer

Step 6: Repeat steps 1-4 with the rest of your shirts

Step 7: Place the stacked shirts, neck down, in your drawer like a vertical bookshelf.

Step 8:  You can also place dividers between each row of clothes to create a cleaner look to the drawer

Vertical folding allows you see each item in the drawer without digging through the rest of the clothing.  Even better, the way you fold t-shirts lets you see a little of what is on the front of the shirt so it is easier to locate the correct pink shirt out of the eight pink shirts you own.  Which we all know how important this can be to your mini fashionista.