Of course we all love our kids, but let’s be honest, keeping a well-organized home when you have young children is no mean feat. Kids are anathema to cleanliness, it seems at times. Sometimes you just want to throw up your hands and give up. From markers and art supplies gone rogue, to mud and dirt trailed through the house, to the mess that comes with any meal time, kids are nearly always a maelstrom of destruction. But don’t give up on your dreams of a well-organized and kid-friendly home just yet! Closet and Storage Concepts of Charlotte, North Carolina is here with some excellent tips for how you can prevent kid clutter from cutting away and your clean dreams.
Cut Down on Toy Clutter
One of the key ways that kids keep a home from getting organized is by leaving their toys everywhere. It can seem like there’s no end to the amount of toys they have at times! Luckily there are a number of ways that you can lower the toy count without increasing the drama. Try rotating toys on a monthly basis, keeping some toys at the top of the toy trunk and sticking the others down at the bottom or putting them in the closet. This will keep things fresh for your child so that they are consistently playing with different toys, and it will help prevent you from having to buy new ones. Try to get your kids involved in charity, show them where donated toys go and explain that other children are less fortunate so that they will be interested in donating the toys that they don’t use that much. Have them write a note about the toys they give away to be given to the toy’s new owner. This will help them to feel invested in the charitable process and help to teach them social responsibility, all while getting rid of clutter-causing and little used toys!
Use Labels and Create Individual Zones
One great way to get your kids involved in the cleaning and organization process is to create individual drop zones for each child. This will be the place where their personal toys and art supplies are stored, where they can put their shoes and jackets, and where they can play and create on their own. Label everything so that your kids will know that this box is for legos and that box is for crayons, for example, then make them responsible for helping to clean up their individual zone. Since they will be the only one using the zone there won’t be any hard feelings about having to pick up other peoples’ messes, and since it has been designated as their zone, your child will feel a sense of responsibility and proprietorship over their zone, making them more likely to get involved in the cleaning and organizing process.
Don’t Hang On to Everything
Memory boxes are always fun to have, and there are definitely things that will be important to keep and remember, but sometimes it can get out of hand. Some parents have a tendency to hang on to every piece of memorabilia their child produces, and while this is a nice sentiment, it’s hardly conducive to a clean and streamlined home and organization system. Trust us, when they’re 22, your child will not be interested in perusing that second grade spelling test they got an A- on. It is important to be discerning in what you hang onto. Try keeping a chest at the foot of each kid’s bed that they can fill with their important memories throughout the year. Then during the summer have them go through it and take out anything that they don’t think is important. Do this every year, ensuring that each kid gets only the space in that one trunk. By the time they are ready to leave for college they will have a single memory box filled only with their most important and treasured possessions.
The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by clutter and need some organizational or storage help, call Closet and Storage Concepts of Charlotte, North Carolina. Your peace of mind is our business!