How to Control Kid Clutter and Organize Your Child’s Room
Organization:
The first step in taking control of the clutter is to get rid of the old! How many happy meal toys does your child really need? Do you really need to keep a Barbie with one leg around? A good rule of thumb is that if you can’t remember the last time you saw your child play with something, it’s outta here!
When I start cleaning my kid’s room, I make piles and sort everything. All the Star Wars figures in one pile, stray game pieces in another, Polly Pockets in another. Also, I throw broken toys, old crafts and trash away as I go. I make a pile of toys that we can donate or that can be used for the “treasure box” at the school.
Sometimes it is difficult to give away certain toys or books. Some might have sentimental value. If you or your child cannot part with something, think about storage. I have boxes at the top of my children’s closets for toys that we don’t want to get rid of. Think about rotating toys periodically. Store them for a while and in a few weeks get them back out and store something else. Kids often forget what they have and if they haven’t seen it in awhile, it’s like new.
Another tip is to do this while the kids are gone. It might be impossible to make any progress if the kids are “helping”. I wait until my kids are at school and until I can devote an entire day to the chore. Kids are notorious for pulling things out of the “get rid of pile” and keeping them! I also find that if I stop for the day with the intention of going back, I have a hard time getting back to it again.
Organization Tips:
Donate. If your kids have a hard time getting rid of something they don’t use, talk to them about the satisfaction of donating. Take kids to the donation site and explain to them that the toys will be helping someone else. Larger toys in good condition can be donated to church daycares, foster home facilities or to organizations helping the needy. Smaller items, such as those ever-multiplying fast food toys can be used for treat bags or treasure boxes. We keep some and store to use for party prizes and others we give to the school for the treasure box system they use.
Have a garage sale. Let your kids price their own items and keep the money. That is a huge incentive, especially for older kids.
Use a point system. My kids want a new computer and we use a point system for grades and behavior to earn the computer. You could do the same for toys. If there is something your child wants, whether it’s a toy or a trip to an amusement park, award points for each item your child donates or gets rid of.
Storage:
Now that you have sorted your child’s toys in piles, now it’s time to think about storage. Divide your child’s room or play space into “stations”. For a girl’s room, that might be a place for reading, a baby doll area, and a place for dress up. For a boy’s room, try making places for Legos and Lego building, a reading area and one for action figures. If you are organizing a play space for both boys and girls, such as in a playroom, you might have a game area, a crafting area and a space for toys either will play with.
We have bookshelves everywhere. This is easiest way to organize and store items. Our playroom has tall bookshelves for games and the kid’s rooms have shorter, smaller shelves for toys. I like the “Pottery Barn” look, but not the prices. We found similar white shelving at our home improvement stores for much less. The shelves paired with bins or baskets give any room a stylish, but organized look. Also consider what kind of storage containers that your child can work easily and use. Remember that large boxes are too heavy for most kids to carrying after it is full.
Storage Ideas for Girl’s Room:
For a girl’s room, think pretty! You can purchase pretty baskets or bins in their favorite colors to store toys. In my daughter’s room, I purchased white baskets, lined with pink and yellow floral fabric. I found these on clearance for less than $3 a basket. Each basket has a different type of toy. One has baby doll items, another has Leap Pad books and cartridges, and another has Polly Pockets. The baskets make it easy for her to see what is in them and when it’s time to pick up, it’s easy to throw the toys in the correct baskets.
Conquer the hair accessory clutter in a girl’s room by making a system to keep hair bows and ribbons organized. The easiest way is to place everything in a basket or storage container, but that often makes finding what you need difficult. A neat idea that you can make is to take a wooden yardstick and glue ribbon in loops down the length of the yardstick with a hot glue gun. After the glue is dried, hang the yardstick on the wall and clip all of the hair bows and barrettes on the loops.
Get those Barbie dolls in line by hanging a pretty closet shoe organizer (the kind with the pockets) on a door. You can find ones way prettier than the plain plastic ones. I was able to find a pink floral door hanger at Ross for under $10. This is the perfect place to store Barbies, stuffed toys or little toys that don’t really have a home anywhere else. Door hangers like this work great in the bathroom, too. Use it to store bath accessories and toys.
For a Boy’s Room:
I think boys acquire smaller toys than girls. Just think of all the Legos, action figures and weapons, marbles and army men that litter a floor in a boy’s room. I can’t tell you how many of those tiny pieces my vacuum has picked up over time. My son probably has more Lego toys than Legoland. Storage bins and boxes are his best friend. For Lego pieces, we have several plastic stacking drawers. These are perfect for Legos, or really any toys that have many pieces such as Playmobil or GI Joe sets. The drawers hold a lot in a small amount of space and they are easily removed. Kids can pull the drawer out, take it to where they are playing, and when playtime is over, the drawer slides back into place. These can be purchased at any discount retail store for about $10 each. For younger kids, try to label each drawer with a picture of what should go inside. That is an easy way to pick up for kids who can’t read yet.
Another great storage solution that works well in a boy’s room is metal tins with lids. These can be found around the holidays usually with popcorn in them. My son has several of these with Star Wars on them. And you guessed itâÂ?¦all the Star Wars action figures go in those tins. If you can’t locate a tin with a picture that your son likes, buy a plain one and let him decorate it with stickers.
The over the door shoe hangers that I mentioned for a girl’s room also works well for a boy’s room. You can purchase almost any color and the pockets are perfect for GI Joe men or other small items. Another great idea that works well is to hang two or three closet sweater stackers in the closet for bigger toys that your son plays with often. This works great for vehicles and other toys. Each pocket can hold one item and it makes finding just what your son is looking for easy.
It can be both inexpensive and easy to help your child organize their space. After you have cleaned your child’s room think about ways you can personalize their room to make clean up time fast and easy for you and your child.
