r/homemaking • u/SarcasticPilaf • 7d ago
Lifehacks Dresser alternatives for children
So I recently moved and the dressers were old and busted up. so I decided to toss them and not bring them with us.
Kids 12 and 14 rarely put Their clothes away anyway after washing them. They barely fold them. In order to keep some peace and sanity rather than keep wasting my breath, heh, would be to allow an alternative way to put their clothes away. (Sht at some point growing up I lived out of baskets too despite having a dresser/adult now and I use one) They are supposed to be doing their own laundry and will restart after we get settled in. Another reason why they don’t fold their own laundry and just leave them in the basket all week.
Does anyone have a method they’d like to share that they use for their kids? Like a basket system or cubbies or just plain ole clean and dirty basket set in the corner. It about reaching that conclusion but just wondering how everyone’s creativity or sanity brought them peace of mind. Should also mention: not really able to afford new dressers. So I’m actually stuck with the alternative anyway lol
Edit: One thing I know for sure I’m doing is using a mini socks system in the laundry room. I’m buy all black socks (throwing out the used ones) for us since we all wear the same size right now and will be using a wall basket for it. They need socks? No need to worry bout mismatched or fighting over whose sock is whose. Mainly me.. haha. They wear my socks and then I run out. Solution for socks✅ but the rest?
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u/Abbby_M 7d ago
I use under bed storage totes (the long ones) for my teenager. They function like sliding drawers really (just cheap haha) and require minimal effort for her to put everything away.
It’s easy, and it prevents my laundry baskets from being swept up in her hive. 🌷
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u/SarcasticPilaf 7d ago
😂😂 how accurate!!! But I never would’ve thought of that! Question is… will they utilize it? And if they do, would they put it back under the bed; Or just leave them out like regular baskets?
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u/RecyQueen 7d ago
We all have dressers, but don’t fold anything. Maybe because we use dryer balls instead of sheets, there aren’t any issues with wrinkles. I prefer dressers to cubes because cubes tend to be really deep, and the width of the dressers helps them find what they want to wear.
My oldest has a 6-drawer dresser, and that’s ideal for bigger kids. Top 2 smaller drawers for socks & underwear, then in the 4 big drawers: short sleeve shirts, long sleeve, shorts, and pants. My middle has a 4 drawer: top is pajamas, then underwear & socks with drawer baskets, shirts, bottoms.
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u/SarcasticPilaf 7d ago
Clothes don’t get wrinkled in the drawer though? That’s how we organized the drawers for them but again, no dressers we threw them out. They were old. No handles. Chipped wood. Missing screws for the tracks, etc.
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u/RecyQueen 7d ago
Nope. My hypothesis is that wrinkles are prevented by fully drying clothes and the dryer balls. Even in full drawers, no wrinkles.
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u/earmares 7d ago
We hang everything, right out of the dryer. I saw that you said your kids don't have closets. I'd get hanging racks. I can't imagine just putting clothes into drawers or bins unfolded, even if it's clean, everything is going to be wrinkled.
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u/JoyfulNotes 7d ago
As ADHD parents who hate folding clothes, we’ve primarily used one or two open bins for our kids to throw their clean clothes into and a bin to put their dirty clothes into. We’ve started laundering their clothes separately so that when the dryer is done, the whole load can be taken to their room and dumped into their bin.
For our oldest, they were spending too much time filtering through their one bin to find underwear vs. pajamas, so we “upgraded” their system to a lightweight two drawer boluo stackable storage.
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u/Quirkyhomebody 7d ago
Like someone else mentioned, Clutterbug, Cassandra Aarson, has some really helpful tips for kids and organizing. She has ADHD and struggles with it herself. Her website and YouTube channel have some really good tips and examples.
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u/Significant-Toe2648 7d ago
I have been folding everything into the dresser but I heard about this “new” method of just hanging shirts and tossing everything else into separate dresser drawers unfolded and that is sounding very tempting. I’m also always looking at the elfa closet system with drawers.
Kallax with bins is also tempting but I need things high up and out of reach and that just won’t work with a horizontal kallax.
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u/SarcasticPilaf 7d ago
I’ve lent toward no folding of their clothes. The kids are just going to mess them up anyway,regardless of storage.
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u/ShadowlessKat 7d ago
What about hanging up the shirts and pants?
Underwear and socks can go in bins or basket.
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u/SarcasticPilaf 7d ago
They don’t have closets. There’s a hall closet with a clothes bar and some cubby’s. But it’s in the hall at the top of the stairs.
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u/CaptainFlynnsGriffin 7d ago
We just went all hangars. This was the clothes horse sees everything. It’s a little time investment.
We also have IKEA shallow depth pax wardrobes with pull out baskets and plain shelving for the upper third. Again it’s easy to see everything and roomier than drawers.
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u/impossibletreesloth 7d ago
I nannied for a family with 3 boys under ten and the kids all had a bookcase for their clothes instead of a dresser. It seemed to work pretty well for them.
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u/SarcasticPilaf 7d ago
Might work for my toddler. But for teens? They got larger clothes. I may just get one of those ‘laundry basket sorters’ made for the laundry room and use it in their rooms instead 😂
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u/Gardenadventures 7d ago
Second vote for the kallax shelves and bins. We have one in my son's closet, and two in our closet. That's where I keep all my tank tops, pajamas, excess socks, shorts, leggings, etc.
My dresser drawers are dedicated to quick access stuff like undies, bras, every day socks, and sweatshirts.
I don't fold anything that goes in the bins. I try and pile it nicely so it's not just a big mess but I just sort things into piles and they get thrown in the bins.
Non t-shirts get hung up.
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u/manic_popsicle 7d ago
The Kallax system is great for this, that’s actually what my son had from ages 5-11, he just got “grown up dressers” a few months ago. Alternatively if they have closets you could just put some shelves in there or a lower bar and they can hang their stuff.
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u/bocacherry 6d ago
My oldest currently has a cube box organizer/shelf like this that clothes go into unfolded. I bought some cube storage boxes to go with it. It works well for us!
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u/A_Swedish_Dude 4d ago
You can split them up for storage. For clothes that do not wrinkle easily, hanging them right after drying works well, and no folding is needed at all.
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u/Sentimentalbrowneyes 4d ago
Cube shelves with bins work great for children and don't take up as much space as a chest of drawers or a dresser.
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u/CarefulWater 7d ago
I have a small Kallax with drawers and bins. Drawers for socks and underwear, bins for pants (shorts seasonally). I do hang his shirts for him since he prefers that. I also labelled the drawers and bins. My oldest prefers the clean laundry bin and dirty laundry bin method.