One of worst nightmares of being a parent with young kids is maintaining an organized kids room and to be on top of de-cluttering!

It’s so easy for the room to look and feel overwhelming especially with all the things that kids love to have; making it even easier for things to pile up as there is so much to keep track of and store. Being organized means you won’t be left with those annoying odd pairs of socks as often!

The following helpful tips should help you to maintain a super clean and tidy room for your child.

1. Turn de-cluttering into a fun interactive activity.

If your child is old enough, then involving them would be a good idea; as it can turn into an activity that you can both do together rather than, it becoming a tedious task.

Start off by finding out what is important to your child, such as their favorite toy or what they currently enjoy playing with. It would be a disaster if you were to end up throwing away the wrong ones, as children can often be extremely possessive of their belongings..

If your child is a baby, then you will have to decide on your own but you will for sure have an idea of what gets picked up the most.

By asking the child what is important to them you will show the child that you value their feelings and it also embeds in them a sense of security that their loved toys are safe and that you will leave it up to them to let you know when they are ready to give up on a certain toy as they are often very attached to their toys.

During any clear out you can then try to teach your child by explaining to them –  that things can be given away rather than just thrown away; for example their old (not broken) toys can be given to charity. Perhaps you can introduce a rule that for every time they get something new they have to give away something old and eventually you will find that most kids will start to collect unwanted toys and give to other kids who don’t have. They might even give everything away! So secretly you may need to put a few toys back as you know they will miss them.

2. Develop a routine for decluttering and organising

 Every month or so try to make it a habit of spending a whole day de-cluttering rather than leaving things last minute and by doing so you will set an example for your kids. if they see you clearing up regularly it will encourage them to do the same and become more organized.

Clothes tend to be the number one problem in kids’ rooms.  When it comes to sorting the clothes, you can either do it in sections- sorting through the drawers first and then the closets or the other way around. By doing it in sections it will be easier and less overwhelming than sorting all the clothes out all at once.

3. Create different piles of clothes

-If you have lots of clothes that you think you might be able to hand down to another child you can separate them in piles of 0-3, 3-6, 6-9 months and so on and store them away.

-You could perhaps separate winter stuff from summer stuff and only keep the current clothes.

Fabric storage bags are very useful for situations like this as you can keep clothes in them for a long period of time, and when not in use you can fold the baskets neatly and store them away. Some of my favorites are from H&M are they come in lots of different shapes and sizes, Great Little Trading Company and my most favorite Scandiborn.

When it comes to sorting out toys – if your child is too young and you are doing it alone, it is easier to always take everything out so you can see it all in front of you in one place; preferably the floor. Create section for the various toys, for example:- blocks together; tools if they have any; things with wheels; puzzles and different musical items; Barbie dolls; action figures and teddy bears. Once you have arranged the various piles of toys you can remove some toys from each category.

As a general advice, keep toys that you can see your children playing with for the next 6 months at least and everything they don’t get any use out of should go.

After having looked at clothes and toys, next focus on things like books, random loose papers that turn out to be homework or random arts and crafts.  Get nice colorful shelves that you can display them on, or you can even frame and display their artwork or paintings.

4. Be more aware of what you buy for your kids.

Search for toys or furniture items that can serve more than one purpose for example rugs that have maps on them or beds with various functionalities, as the items will not only look good but provide benefits.

A recent trend in the toy industry has seen many parents preferring to buy wooden toys rather than plastic because they are better for the environment, more durable and kids can be more creative and use them in different ways. Ultimately by being more aware of what you are buying it will reduce how much clutter you will have.

 These are some of many examples:

5. The correct storage.

We often fall into the mistake that if we buy more storage boxes that would hide and make everything look tidy on the surface as it is a quick solution to make everything disappear but if kids actually had less then we wouldn’t need to buy more storage. Therefore, avoiding clutter to begin with is the key.  Another key thing is to really look at what your child has and buy the correct storage accordingly.

If you feel like there is not storage in the room and you are really not able to use up all the space in a sufficient manner, it is advisable to buy some storage. With so many storage options in the market, it can be confusing as to what type of storage to buy and where to place them. Usually I would encourage air sealed bags, or the boxes that can fit on top of or within wardrobes. I would keep the space beneath the bed free or create one big drawer for storing bedding.

There are many inexpensive options. Here are a couple of toy storage options:

Kids like to rummage through their stuff and mess up the drawers, some clothes may end up on the floor, so in order for them not to mess things up perhaps make storage  more accessible and within their reach  for example by hanging door hooks, closet rods , book shelves lower or buying hanging organizers to go inside wardrobes and behind doors.

A good storage system also makes it easy to put everything back in its’ right place. Organize clothes into categories and place similar items together – for example: pyjamas go together, sock and underwear, bottoms such as leggings, jeans, trousers, shorts and so on. When organized in categories, it is also quicker and easier for children to find specific items- therefore, improving their independence.

It is also a good idea to create some form of storage space in every room whether in the lounge or in the kitchen as toys don’t just tend to stay in the bedrooms or playrooms.

6. Have bin bags ready.

Whilst sorting out the clutter have bin bags ready and aim to create three/Four piles; a bin bag for the items that you will be keeping and putting back, a bin bag for things that will be given to charity or that you might want to sell and the final bag is for the items and clothing that are too worn out to donate and just need to be thrown away.

You can go a step further by creating a pile for clothes that you want to store away, for example for your future children or non-seasonal clothing. A useful tip is to store clothing away according to the season; if it is winter, store summer clothes in vacuumed sealed storage bags until there are needed again and vice versa.

7. Set up a reward system

You will want to do anything to make sure the kids bedroom stays neat and tidy for as long as possible so if your child is old enough to understand then reward your child each time, they do something that helps keep the room clean and de-cluttered.

There you have it. A complete guide to kids’ room organization. Take it in small doses and soon you will be an expert! Check out our very own eo-friendly range of baskets.

We thank you for reading and hope you look forward to our next blog!

Contact us for help de-cluttering and organising your children’s rooms info@mkkidsinteriors.com | 0203 287 3722

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