I put off-season clothes in big bins too. I agree that it's a pain, but I find it less of a pain then trying to cram all my clothes into my limited access space. I also box up my off-season shoes and put them "away" as well.

I usually try to take this time (twice a year), to reevaluate my wardrobe. If I notice that there are things I haven't been wearing, I'll put them in a giveaway pile.

I put on a t.v. program called "How do I look" which deals with some person who looks like Orphan annie or worse and they go through her closet throwing out lots of clothes and take her shopping and to get a new hairdo, etc. Its inspiring, I have thrown out lots of my summer stuff, and that makes room for winter things. I am discarding (actually giving away)stuff from last winter prior to buying new stuff.
I have a series of boxes with plastic front windows that I have stored my sweaters in. and like missjulied I box up the out of season shoes but discard heavily first.

I switch them out. It is a PITA to do twice a year (I just got done doing it yesterday again) but it make it so much easier not to have drawers and closets crammed. Things never get lost and forgotten. Before packing up seasonal clothes for storage I sort out anything I have not worn and discard it. I used to pack away everything thinking I'll wear it again next year and that never happened.

I pack away seasonal shoes too. I don't need huge winter boots taking up floor space in my closet during summer or cluttery thongs littering the space during winter.

In our last home my hubby had the walk in so he could get ready for work without disturbing me so his clothes always stayed in the same place. I had a double sliding door closet, but it went back further on both sides than the doors did. Each season I'd just switch things not used to the hidden area of the closet. In our home now we share a large walk in closet so. We each have our own side with one section of double hung shirts. Long sleeves on the bottom and short on the top. I suppose I could switch them for winter months, but I don't since they are still very visable. We've plenty room for all seasons of shoes too.
Years ago I hung off season clothes in those large wardrobe boxes from U-Haul with our folded clothes on the bottom of it. Worked out great.
~Becky

Thanks everybody, I will keep on putting away off season clothes however less of it. I am being really picky as to what I keep.

I will make sure to only have one big storage bin of off season clothes, that's it for the whole family.

Off season boots and sandals gets put away too.

Joanne

We have a cedar closet out in the garage that we built a couple of years ago. It's not huge but it does store a lot. I now store most of my out of season things there, but I still use my big blue plastic bins, as well. I store my OOS (out of season) shoes and boots, scarves, hats and gloves in open bins at the bottom of my cedar closet. Sweaters are folded on shelves. Purses are lined up on the top shelf. Jackets, coats, dresses and slacks are hung. The rest get folded into the bins. Which reminds me, this being the first official day of Autumn, I need to start pulling out some sweaters and the lighter jackets. We were sitting out in the garden last night and it was really chilly!
Lynn

I'm one of the few who doesn't switch out. I have a long reach-in closet (it would have two sliding doors, but I took them off and hung curtains earlier this year). Everything stays there all year long, no matter the season (I sort by sleeve length for tops) - casual clothing on one side, "work" clothing on the other, sweaters on the top shelf. If my clothes won't all fit in the closet, I have too many, and purge until everything fits. I'm too lazy to box up clothes and put them away twice a year...and the weather is so up and down here, I never know when I'm going to need a sweater in the summer, or whatever.

Since the cooler season is so short here we don"t have very many heavy clothes. I take the long sleeve shirts, and sweatshirts and put them in flat boxes & slide them under the bed. Out of season shoes go in clear shoe boxes on the top shelf of the w/in closet. Jeans are folded up and placed on the lower closet shelves except dh jeans are hung up all year cause he wears them on & off. I'm in shorts & capris most of the time. That about covers it. Oh...and jackets are put in the guest bedrm closet pushed way to the back so they are out of sight.

I'm lucky enough to have enough storage for both seasons in my bureaus and closet. Half the bureau is for lighter stuff, half for bluejeans and long-sleeved and turtleneck tops. My closet is a small walk-in with rods on either side, one for me, one for DH. When the seasons change, I put the summer clothes at the back of the closet, and move the winter clothes up toward the door. Sweaters are folded on the shelf above the rod.

I need to do a better job of seasonal purging, as things are a bit crowded at the moment, especially on DH's side.

We live in New England, and coats are the bane of my existence. With four of us having fall- and spring-weight jackets, rain gear, a variety of sweatshirts, winter coats, and parkas, plus boots, gloves, hats, mittens, etc., my coat closet is bursting at the seams, as are my two hallway coat trees. I need a better place for off-season coat storage.

I've always had to change out summer/winter wear, since it all didn't fit in my closet at the same time. But I always kept a few items of cold weather stuff for summertime, and some shorts and tee shirts (1 or 2) during the winter, for when we would go to a overnight to a Waterslide type hotel in the winter and would need lighter things, and for those cooler spring/autumn nights when I didn't want to pull everything out yet.

I only put truly one season stuff in a big plastic bin. At the end of summer, I put all the bathing suits and beach towels in it. At the end of winter, all the snow pants and ski pants. Other stuff that spans more than one season, I leave out.

I send my heavy winter clothes like coats and suits and wool trousers to the drycleaner in the spring for storage, and get them out in fall. Well worth the trouble and money to have them gone, and safely stored.
The sweaters and simpler things get packed away with herbal moth sachets in zippered storage bags made out of something like Tyvek, which I shove under the guest beds. In fall, I wash/dry all the summer things and switch them into the bags, and then when I unpack them in spring, I run them through the rinse cycle, dry them, and iron them. (The ironing is my excuse to watch old movies or junk TV all day...)

I wish I could have it all out at once because I'm prone to, out of sight, out of mind syndrome. But, I try to have mostly 3-season things. I have to have my at-home fleece in winter, and some short-sleeved things for the worst of summer, but otherwise I wear a lot of the same stuff 9 months of the year. Since work is air-conditioned and I'm kinda cold-natured, I wear wool or wool-blend slacks mostly year round and then wear warm or cool tops depending on the season. I just about have enough drawer space for all foldable casual clothes, but some drawers are "prime" space, and so I shift some things with the seasons to be more accessible.

One thing I hated was taking things off and on hangers to fold and put up. I still have to do that some, but I found that I could use an underbed storage bin that my shortsleeved blouses fit in while still on plastic hangers. So in summer it holds fleece casual wear because that's so bulky it needs the big box;in winter I rotate them into a drawer and put my summer hanging short-sleeved stuff in the underbed box. I have some good winter sweaters for work that I do fold and put up in another box to be moth-proof, and so I take them out and give them the hanging space formerly used for summer blouses. (Sacrilege--I hang my sweaters!)

Kinda weird but it fits which things I want hanging and which in drawers and has been pared down to just about these 4 switcheroo's.