Savvy Aunties value their closet space and may even dream of The Perfect Closet, complete with the computerized wardrobe software as seen in “Clueless.” With a few tricks, aunties can help their nieces and nephews, especially those sharing a room, create their own dream closets. Plus, it’s a great way to teach them organizational skills at young age--and it helps mom and dad!

Remember Their Size

The goal of any organized closet is accessibility. Everything little hands need to get dressed should be within reach. Items, such as out-of-season clothes and rarely used items, should be out of the way.

When the little one has a smaller closet, there are some tricks to expand the storage space. One is to put hanging clothes on the rod and put in a dresser underneath the hanging clothes. As the baby grows into a toddler and preschooler, decorate the drawers with pictures of what’s inside – socks, underwear, t-shirts, pajamas, etc. If a dresser isn’t available, use plastic drawer organizers for clothes.

As your niece and nephew grows up or if two siblings are sharing a room, use a double hang closet extender to create more space. For those sharing space, the older child can use the top rod, and the youngest can use the bottom.

Babies and children seem to grow overnight. To better organize multiple sizes of clothes, use closet dividers to categorize hanging clothes, such as this set from Leaps and Bounds. Closet dividers come with blank labels to create your own categories. For siblings sharing space, label the dividers with each child’s name, initial or picture. By doing this, kids know which clothes belong to them.

Hanger Time

Don’t have a hang up about hangers. Joan Crawford was right…stay away from wire hangers. They misshapen clothes and are easily tangled on the closet rod. Tubular plastic hangers tend to be bulkier and take up more room. If space is tight, opt for the slim huggable hangers which take up less room.

If space isn’t a serious premium, tubular plastic hangers can be used as a way to categorize clothes in shared space. Since these hangers come in a multitude of different colors, each member of the family can be “assigned” a color. This makes it easier to hang clothes, identify which clothes belong to which family member in a shared space, and teaches your nieces and nephews about colors and categories.

Use Your Space

Don’t forget about the floor or the door – two great places to carve out storage space. Shoes can be rounded up in traditional shoe racks or shelves on the closet floor or in a clear shoe bag on the closet door.

A shoe bag is very versatile and can be used for storing accessories like hair bows and barrettes, belts, socks and hats.

Over-the-door shoe bags can’t be used on bi-fold closet doors of course, but using S-hooks on the slatted kind of door can hold hats, belts, tiny purses or pajamas.

Out-of-season clothes can be stashed in clear plastic containers up on the closet shelf out of the way. Cardboard boxes will attract pests and dust.

For clothes and shoes that no longer fit, keep a small box or laundry basket on the closet floor or in the laundry room. Donate or consign clothes and shoes that are in good condition and do not have stains. Things that are stained or torn should be thrown away.

If a bedroom or closet isn’t large enough for a laundry basket, make sure one is close to the bedrooms and easily accessible. Young children can learn how to pick up and put away their dirty clothes.

With little effort, your nieces and nephews can have a dream closet before they’re even old enough to know they want one.