Decluttering Kids’ Areas
As the new school year gets underway, September is the perfect time to get your home organized and recenter your family’s focus on the year ahead. You can help your little ones prepare for the school year by involving them in the process of decluttering their spaces. It’s a great opportunity to bring some order into a busy household, while also teaching your kids valuable organization and time management skills. Keep reading to learn some of my best tips for decluttering kids’ areas!
Remove Duplicate & Unused Items
If your family is anything like mine, your kids have probably accumulated truckloads of toys that have been given to them as birthday and holiday gifts over the years. You may even have multiples of the same item that were gifted to each of your kids, or given by two different relatives who didn’t realize they bought the same toy. I recommend that you start the decluttering process by removing these duplicate items.
Look for any items that are exactly the same or very similar to other toys that your kids own. Do they have 6 jump ropes in their closet? Are there 5 sets of stacking blocks for your toddler’s playroom? Chances are that your kids only play with one of the duplicates at a time, so there is really no need to keep them all.
Consider donating duplicates to a children’s hospital or a charity, and be sure to get your kids involved in the process. You can use it as an opportunity to teach young kids about the importance of sharing and helping those who are less fortunate. It will be much easier for you and your kids to part with items that might be sentimental when you know that they will be going to someone else who will enjoy them.
Suggest Space-Saving Gifts
Keep in mind that even after you remove duplicate items, it is likely that you will still accumulate more items (duplicate or not) when friends and family members give new gifts to your kids. One of the best ways to minimize this is to suggest alternative space-saving gift ideas to these generous loved ones.
Perhaps they can contribute to college funds instead of buying toys, or they can take your kids on a fun adventure that they will remember for the rest of their lives. This is a practical option when your kids already have too many toys. Your loved ones will still get the satisfaction of knowing that they helped your kids, and you will have less stuff to sort in your kids’ rooms. You may find that these types of gifts not only help you stay organized, but they are also much more valuable to your kids over the course of their lifetime.
Rotate Clothes & Toys
Another way to cut clutter in kids’ areas is by rotating their clothes and toys seasonally. For example, there’s no need to store bulky puffer jackets in their primary closet in the middle of summer. They are probably not going to use them for another 3 months. Maybe they also have hula hoops that they don’t play with in the winter because it’s too cold to bring them outside. These kinds of seasonal items can be packed away in plastic bins or bags, and safely stored out of sight in the top of their closet or the garage until they are needed.
Whenever you take out seasonal items, replace them with some of the items that are currently in your kids’ rooms. You can clean and organize as you replace the items, too. If you come across anything that your kids have outgrown, instead of putting them back in storage, donate them. This is a practical way to maximize space in your kids’ areas and keep their belongings from piling up in storage year after year.
Organize What You Keep
Rotating your kids’ belongings for each season will leave you with more space to organize what they are currently using. There are many useful products out there, such as plastic bins in various sizes, over-the-door storage, and toy organizers and chests, to help you keep items neatly contained and encourage good organization habits in your kids.
The goal of getting organized is to make your kids’ belongings more accessible to them, so that they don’t waste time looking for the things they need. This will help them have better concentration, higher productivity, and less stress at home and at school. For example, if your child is working on a set of difficult math problems, it will only add to their frustration if they also have to spend 20 minutes looking for graph paper and a pencil.
An organized kids’ room or play area will make it easier for you to keep track of their belongings, which can help you avoid buying duplicate items. You will also get a sense of how much space is available for new items that they may accumulate. Avoid bringing new items into the space if you know that you don’t have enough space to store them properly. Alternatively, consider asking your kids to give up one item when they add something new to their space. This will help you keep clutter to a minimum.
Reevaluate Regularly
Keep in mind that decluttering and getting organized do require some upkeep to be fully effective, especially when it comes to kids’ areas. Because they are constantly growing, your kids’ spaces should be reevaluated for unused items from time to time. It will be much easier to keep things clean and organized if this is done on a regular basis. Put empty bins in each of your kids’ rooms, and get them into the habit of doing a nightly or weekly cleanup. Ask them to pick up toys, put away clothes, and toss any outgrown, unused, or duplicate items into the empty bin each time they straighten up their space. When the bins are full, donate or give the items in them away. This will help you prevent your kids’ areas from overflowing into chaos, and you can avoid the overwhelm of tackling a huge mess at the end of the year.
For most families, school has been in session for just a few weeks now, which means that there is still time to help your kids have better organization this school year. These tips for decluttering kids’ areas have been a huge help to my family over the years, and I hope that they can do the same for you. But if you do need additional support, remember that I am always here to offer professional solutions. Reach out to schedule a consultation today!