Photo by: inhabotots.com
Is your child’s bedroom a cluttered mess?
Often, children’s bedrooms are messy — but it might not be entirely their fault.
Kids can’t keep their rooms organized if they don’t have homes for their toys, clothes, craft supplies, and other treasures. That’s our job as grownups! We need to show them how to be organized, create a space that encourages organization…and then pray that they listen!
Small Spaces:
Even if your child’s room is very small, it’s still important to create a space for everything. You can easily maximize your closet space by installing wire shelving and double rods. You can store items in bins on the floor of the closet and on the shelves. Tall, narrow dressers and over-the-door shoe organizers are also a great space-saving storage device.
Toys:
No matter how hard you try, toys are going to end up in your child’s room. Personally, I think the best storage solution for toys is an old-fashioned toy box. Sure, those colorful fabric cubes look cute, but in all my experience dealing with kid’s rooms, a toy box still works better. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just something with a lid so you can close it if company stops by.
It might also be a nice idea to have a large basket or small book shelf for games, books, puzzles, etc.
Clothes:
When organizing your children’s clothes, keep in mind that your life will be a lot easier if they can reach their clothes without your help. Store out-of-season clothes on upper shelves and keep current clothes at their level.
Keep shoes in a basket or (for older children) store them in pockets on the back of their door.
Put underwear and socks in small bins with pictures so they know what goes where.
Miscellaneous:
- Under-bed storage containers can store treasures, games, and craft supplies.
- Bookcases can not only store books but can be also craft supplies, jewelry boxes, pictures and collections.
- Use twine and clothespins to hang your kid’s artwork and pictures from the wall without lots of nails.
Maintenance:
- Sort through your children’s clothes at the every season.
- Take a “toy inventory” every year before Christmas and their birthday. It’s much easier for children to part with toys they don’t need if they know news ones are lurking around the corner!
- Create a designated storage spot for clothes, toys, books, and games you are saving for younger children.
- If your children get board with their toys and books, consider rotating them every month.
- Practice my favorite rule: One-In-One-Out — Every time they get a new toy or book they get rid of another one.
Once you create homes for all your child’s things they will be more likely to keep their room (somewhat) clean!
What are your tips or suggestions for organizing kid’s spaces?
Ashli says
My boys love to collect ‘stuff’ and I found that it got out of control easily. Each of them have a nightstand with a drawer that is their ‘treasure’ drawer. They can keep anything they want in it as long as the drawer closes. When it gets full we go through and sort through together with them deciding what to keep and what not to keep. It works great for us!
Andrea says
Ashli, that is a great way to control the amount of clutter {I mean treasures} your boys bring into your home. It gives them the power to decide what stays and what goes — but you still have the power to control how much they have!
I use this method with many of my clients too 🙂
Rebecca says
What do you do with those odd size toys like Fischer Price buildings (house, garage, etc)? I feel like only about 3 of them fit in a toy box! Ugh…
Andrea says
Could you put up some type of shelving unit for these larger toys? If you don’t want to see the toys on the shelf you could install some type of curtain or fabric panel. I did something similar in our garage at one point. Everything is still accessible but I didn’t have to look at it!