Out-of-season clothes storage

How do you store your out-of-season clothes?

In North Carolina, this is tricky, as it is entirely possible to experience all four seasons in one week. For this reason, I make sure I keep a long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans handy in the spring and summer, and a short, lightweight tee or two on hand for fall and winter. The more obvious seasonal apparel, such as tank tops, swimwear and shorts for summer, and wool skirts, bulky sweaters and thermals for winter, can most certainly be stored away in its off-season. We have two ways we store out of season clothes.

In our daughter's room, any clothing for the off-season is put into under-bed storage bags. I affix a label to the box telling what season the clothes are for and what else is needed (for example, a new winter coat).

We also have a hamper (made from a fabric-covered cardboard  box) in which we store outgrown items. Any clothing she outgrows is either donated or sorted by size into 18 gallon totes and stored in the shed for future babies.

In mine and hubby's room, our bed frame is too low to accommodate the under bed boxes, so we use Space Bags. All of the vacuum sealed bags are then zipped into underbed bags and slid under the bed.

Out of season shoes, still in the plastic shoe box, are slipped under the bed as well. I'd never used the Space Bags until we moved last summer. I wasn't sure how they would work, but as long as you don't over fill them, they work well. If you fold the clothes well, they won't be badly wrinkled when you take them out.

Here are two of them hanging in the spare room closet.

You can also buy Space Bags that look like the zip up bags I've used for my daughter's clothes. We have several of those under our bed. We have those tucked into the regular zip bags and then we just slid them under the bed frame.


We are currently refinishing an antique cedar chest that once belonged to my great grandmother. It will sit at the foot of our bed. I am planning to put the Space Bags into the cedar chest. I'll also top the chest with a cushion and it'll be a great place to sit down and put on your shoes.