How to Help Your Children Keep Their Bedrooms Clutter-Free

Are we as parents to blame if our children have just too much stuff in their bedrooms and playrooms?

It seems that many children have too many toys, making it even more difficult to keep their favorite play areas clutter-free.

We share a few tips on how to help...

Storing items vertically

• The first best way to get clutter out of the way is to go vertical. This is particularly good for vast collections of lightweight toys. For example, hang a net from the ceiling or high on a wall to keep all those soft toys safe and stored.. They're easy to put away and you can even convince your child that the said soft toys "can stand guard to keep monsters at bay"!

• Shelving or tall drawer units can also keep precious treasures off the floor.  A word of warning is to make sure to anchor them to the wall so they don't topple over. Provide a stool if necessary so your child can reach their things without your help.

• Because surfaces are magnets for clutter, consider having fewer tables, dressers and desktops available. Instead, choose bookshelves and furniture with drawers.

Choose the right storage containers

Think about a play school classroom.  This will invariably have a designated home for every item in the room.  You can do the same thing in your house if you invest in a container for every type of toy or possession.

If you give them the proper tools, children can be very good at organizing.  If they are young enough, they might even think it's fun.  Get them into the right habits before they start to consider these as painful chores. 

Containers for toys and other possessions should follow these conventions:

1. They're easy to open and close.
2. They're easy to access and put away.
3. The contents are simple to identify.

For those children who can now read, use a label-maker.  For those who are still too young, draw an image of the relevant item on a piece of masking tape and tape to the front of the container.  Other suggestions include tape a photo or gluing an actual sample on the front of the container. Make it impossible to misunderstand what goes where!

Containers should be the right size for the job

For example, if you have hundreds of lego blocks, choose a box or boxes that will hold them all.  

Again, if the collection of dolls' clothes only fills a quarter of the container, the chances are that lots of other different items will end up in that same container.

Be aware that young children may not understand the concept of cleaning or tidying their rooms.  Be more specific, asking them to put all their books back on the shelves or to store one type of toy in their special box.

It is always the right time to do some decluttering!

And it's never too early to teach children how to let go of their unused stuff.

Regularly ask them to find one thing they no longer want.  And then donate to charity or another child who would welcome the item.   

Set a good example!

As always, make sure that you are being a good model for the behavior you want to see in your child.

Putting your own stuff away when you're done with it will help reinforce the message that life is nicer when you're not tripping over your possessions.

SOURCES:

https://yourlifewellorganized.com/how-to-organize-kids-toys/