Effective Strategies to Keep Your Child's Room Organized and Clutter-Free
Tips for Organizing Everything in Your Child's Room
Children do not care how messy their rooms get. Parents obsess over messy rooms to the point where we end up cleaning them ourselves. If you want to teach your child to keep his or her room clean, you need to help them get organized. Grandma's old saying was "a place for everything and everything in its place." Keeping a space neat and clean is easier when there are places to put things to keep them organized.Children are naturally curious and energentic and so they tend to make messes and rush off to go on to something else. The way to keep their rooms clean without yelling and screaming is to teach them how to put things away and where to put them so they stay in one place.
Tame the Toy Monster - toy organizers
In many household's the biggest problem is where to keep all the toys. A cluttered room looks messy even when it's not. These toy organizers will keep toys within reach for play but off the floor where they can be stepped on and broken.
Storage bins come in all shapes and sizes, from large to small. Perfect for small toys, clothing items, arts and craft projects, holders for beach towels and small shovels and anything else you can think of. The bins can be filled up and stacked neatly in a corner of the room for toys or on a shelf to organize crafts and accessories. They can also be used to store things that don't get used that often.
Colored cardboard boxes with lids also make good toy organizers as well as rolling carts with plastic drawers. I have one with three drawers that hold my son's toys now. If you need to, try two or three places in different areas of the room. Like one inside the closet, and one or two in the child's room.
Sort the Laundry - dirty laundry got you down......
laundry gets piled up on bedroom floors until you can no longer see the floor, I should know, I have kids. Somehow the dirty laundry always gets mixed in with the clean and the whole pile ends up needing washed again. Well, here is a way to stop this vicious laundry cycle from happening! Laundry sorters or hampers. I put one in my bathroom and one in my bedroom. The kids change clothes in the bathroom after showers so that's where the dirty clothes end up the most.
Organize the Closet
Closets are made small by design but there are many ways to extend the space in a closet. Hanging racks, extra rods and over the door hooks give extra space to put things way and out of sight. Bins and soft-sided baskets can hold seasonal clothing, toys, accessories, throw blankets and more.Stacking closet rods, hanging shoe racks and shelves can make managing closets easier.
Set Clear Boundaries
Establish clear boundaries with your child about what belongs in their room. Encourage them to keep toys, books, and belongings in their designated spaces. Sometimes it's not enough to tell them, "Keep your room clean." It helps to be specific when creating rules and give your kids an explanation of what you want them to do and why.
If the rule is "No toys in the living room" explain that they need to keep their toys in their room to keep other people from falling over them or stepping on them and breaking them. Rules help kids as much as they do parents.
Here is an example:
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One Toy at a Time: Encourage your child to play with one toy or set of toys at a time. When they're done, they must put those toys away before taking out something else.
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Daily Tidy-Up: Make it a daily routine for your child to tidy up their room before bedtime. This includes putting toys, books, and clothes back in their designated places.
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No Food or Drinks: Set a rule that no food or drinks are allowed in the bedroom. This reduces the chances of spills and crumbs, making cleaning easier.
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Donate or Discard: Teach your child the importance of letting go of toys and clothes they no longer use or have outgrown. Regularly go through their belongings together and decide what to donate or discard.
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Lead by Example: Children often learn by observing their parents. Be a role model by keeping your own spaces tidy and organized. Show them that cleanliness is a shared family responsibility.
Closet Organizers Can Help Keep Shoes & Accessories Neat
Create a Daily Routine
Cleaning up doesn't have to take hours, here is a quick checklist of things to do once per day to keep everything neat & tidy.
Morning:
Fold Clothes: If there are any clothes lying around, help your child fold them and place them in the appropriate drawers or hangers. Teach them how to fold clothes neatly.
Clear Surfaces: Check for any books, school supplies, or other items on surfaces like desks or tables. Put these items back in their proper places.
Make the Bed: If your child is old enough, involve them in making their bed. Show them how to straighten the sheets and arrange pillows neatly.
Check Under the Bed: Occasionally, check under the bed for any hidden items. Encourage your child to retrieve and put away anything they find.
Before Bedtime:
Put Away Toys: Start by gathering all the toys that have been played with during the day. Encourage your child to pick up one toy at a time and return it to its designated place. Use bins, shelves, or labeled containers to make it easy for them to organize.
Empty Trash: If there's a small trash bin in the room, empty it into the main household trash bin. Teach your child the importance of keeping the room free of trash.
You can customize this list to your preferences. By following this daily routine, you and your child can maintain a clutter-free and organized room, making it easier to keep the space neat over time.
Have a Yard Sale or Donate Unused Items
One good way to get rid of things your kids don't use or wear anymore is to have a yard sale or donate the items to a local charity. kids are like adults in that we tend to collect items and keep them even if they are no longer used. Clothing and blankets from childhood gather dust in drawers, and furniture & toys take up room in the attic and storage bins.
A very effective way to eliminate the clutter from belongings is to create 3 bins, one for items that are used, one for items that are used seldom, and a 3rd for items that aren't used any longer because they don't fit. It's hard to part with baby clothing our kids wore when they were newborns, but we can't keep these things forever.
Using the bin method, when you clean the house, put things that are used in one bins and put them where they belong. Put things in the seldom-used bin if they do not get used but occasionally. and fill up the bin of things that don't get used at all.
At the end of the year, take the full bin to a local charity thrift store and donate it. take the items from the seldom used bin and put them in the now empty "donate" bin. Repeat the process to declutter the rest of your house a little at a time.
Explain how the bins work to your kids and show them what goes in these bins. they can begin clearing out their closet and unused toy storage, under a watchful eye.
How Do You Keep Your Home Organized?
Do you use organizers or have a system for keeping things neat?
Thank You!
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