Do you remember the days when you put something somewhere and it stayed there until you moved it? But then you had kids and nothing stayed in one place for long, most things eventually making their way to the floor. Do you find yourself tiptoeing through your child's bedroom to avoid stepping on strewn objects in search of a goodnight kiss? Do you slowly shuffle across the carpet, clearing a path as you go, to avoid toppling head over heel? Then you need to declutter your child's room. It may seem like a daunting task, but its not. With these 3 simple steps you can declutter your child's bedroom:
Let's begin with your child's clothes. Sort through everything. Start with one big clothing pile or attack things drawer by drawer. My preference is to dump it all in the center of the room and put things away as soon as a pile is folded and complete. Designate a space for 3 piles: outgrown clothing, out of season clothing and currently wearable clothing. Then, simply evaluate an item and place it in the right pile. Put wearable clothing in drawers and closets, place outgrown clothing in a giant bag for donation or hand-me-downs, push out of season clothing to the back of the closet or highest shelves. Moving onto another giant clutter problem - toys. Old fashioned 'catchall' toy boxes may be the answer for your child's stuffed toy collection but for small toys and books think shelves, shallow bins or carts with see-through wire baskets. Group toys together for storing such as putting all action figures in one bin, dolls on one shelf or Legos in a separate plastic container. Label bins and baskets to type of toy that goes inside. You don't need to get fancy with professionally made labels. Simply print some out on your computer and tape on. Put the labels everywhere on the inside and outside of drawers, on shelf edges, on the outside of the plastic bins. Another item that seems to jump out of drawers and plummet off of desks are art supplies: markers, crayons, pens, pencils, erasers, paints, etc. Bedrooms cluttered with these items are not only a big contributor to mess, but can get mashed into carpeting and wood and create permanent stains. We still carefully position throw rugs over an impossible stain made by squished silly putty nearly four years ago! Invest in a bunch of small plastic containers with easy to remove lids. Place similar items in the containers and insert into desk drawers or a specially designated place on a shelf.
Bin Toy Organizer
Making your child part of the clutter control process can lend itself to some great one-on-one-time not to mention it can also be a great learning opportunity for her. It's all well and good to organize your child's room but unless you devise a maintenance plan all your work will be for not. Make sure your child understands that 'cleaning her room' means picking up items from the floor and place then in the right box, bin or container.
If you take the time to complete these 3 steps to de-clutter your child's room, you will have made significant headway towards a clutter-free zone...or at least you may now be able to walk across your child's room without injury!