Getting Organized…Kids Rooms
Ok, as I stand in my house looking around, I quickly become overwhelmed with the thought of picking up and organizing all the things. The playroom is a mess, the coat closet is overflowing, and my kitchen cabinets are stuffed to the max. So what do I do…….feel overwhelmed and do nothing! I came to the conclusion I have to break this down into smaller parts to make it feel more manageable. Not to mention I don’t have the time to try to tackle it all at once (I can give you 3 reasons why!!) So I have come up with a plan on how to do a little at a time with a few tips and tricks to try to maintain things once they are clean (and it does not involve boarding school). I'm going to give you a room by room break down to help tackle the mess.
Let's dive in….First off, I like to break it down into smaller, more efficient tasks. This will keep me from running around the house, and I can focus on taking care of "like" items (i.e., toys and kid's clothes all at the same time). When going through my kid's rooms, I bring up two laundry baskets and two trash bags (it's finally time to toss that Mac n cheese box your kid thinks looks like a robot and the piece of paper with one green line that they just had to save). I use one basket for toys that need to be returned with their friends that live elsewhere in the house, such as that one rouge puzzle piece you have been looking for for months, and all of the wooden food pieces makes it back down to the basement where the play kitchen is. The second basket is for clothes that don't fit anymore, and the 2 trash bags are for things to donate and trash. I will go through my kid's toy baskets, closets and drawers slowly one by one. I start with all the toys and books. Looking for things they do not play with or that are broken or ripped. With books, I will also see if it is still relevant to their age group and if they still find interest in it. If the book is in good shape, I will drop it off in one of our neighbored library boxes so the other neighborhood kids can use them. I'm always amazed as I go through the kid's stuff the things I find. Old food, empty packages, and a lot of rocks!!! Once I get a drawer or basket fully cleaned, I will wipe it down and vacuum. If it's big, I will clean around and underneath it before returning the content to its place.
My overall goal in their rooms:
Get all the trash and junk out.
Return all the toys to where they belong, so all the pieces are together.
Remove clothes that don’t fit.
I will also try to clean in these hard-to-reach areas while I’m already down on my hands and knees and have cleaning supplies with me.
When it comes to the kid's clothes, I like to organize in a way that everyone knows where things go. So if my sitter is helping out, the kids, or my husband, everything gets put back where it belongs. I use a label-maker on the drawers to show where everything belongs. My husband also built lower shelves in the kid's closets to hold baskets to make organizing (clothes, shoes, etc...) much easier. It makes a huge difference when trying to put away their clothes. Now, for the most part, the stuff in the basket does not need to be folded (it took A LOT to get over this, but I had to come to terms with it), so tee shirts and pants are just tossed in the basket. We keep shoes, socks, and undies in the basket as well. It makes it so easy for the kids to get dressed and help put their laundry away. I will take that convince any day over a non-wrinkled tee.
When going through their clothes, I see if they can be handed down, donated, or just tossed. Once I’m done in all of their rooms, I will go through the clothes. I keep a Rubbermaid bin in my laundry room for things that need to be saved for a younger sibling to wear. This helps keep me from having random piles everywhere (or at least it helps).
Next, I will take the basket with toys and return all of the toys that did not belong in their rooms, and place them back where they belong. I will do the same process in our playroom and the other places we have toys throughout the house. One-by-one, going through baskets and bins, taking out broken toys, trash, and things that don’t belong until I have been through the whole house. It feels so good for that next hour knowing that all the toys are in their place and organized. So sit down and admire your hard work!
Cheers Babes
XOXO
