Solving the Clothing Conundrum

My shopping trip in the States before having little C. 
I was able to buy six months worth of clothing because
I knew exactly what I was looking for.

At one point or another, every mother finds herself drowning in clothes.  We've got my clothes, husbands clothes, kids clothes, too small clothes, too big clothes, clothes for last season, clothes for next season...SO MANY CLOTHES!!! 

Being that I get overwhelmed easily, I had to figure out a way to keep the clothes under control.  Seriously, how many pieces do each of us actually NEED??? 

So, this is what I did.  At the beginning of fall and spring I buy each child:

8 Play Outfits

6 PJs

1 Extra Pair of Jeans

2 Church Outfits

1 light weight jacket/fleece

1 winter jacket/hat/gloves

While the play outfits CAN be mix and matched, there are always 8 shirts and 8 bottoms.  Obviously, in the summer you have to add bathing suits, etc. 

By doing this, not only have I made my shopping (sorting through hand-me downs) easier but it also helped with having SO MANY CLOTHES!  When we just pick things up here and there, we end up with hundreds of pieces of clothing that they might wear ones or twice and then we have to find a place to store them when they've outgrown them.  With this plan, at the end of the season, all you have to do is take all of the last seasons wardrobe, put them on a box, label it, and put it away.  As easy as that!

I have used this system for the last 2 years and it has been AMAZING!  I no longer get overwhelmed figuring out what fits who when.  I just know whos clothes belong to who and they fit NOW. 

Do you have any clothes organizing secrets?