Organizing Kids Rooms

With the holidays just around the corner, I need to start making room for the onslaught of toys, clothes and gifts coming our way. You see, my children have four sets of grandparents, a great-grandparent, three sets of Aunts and Uncles, One set of parents and the old man himself, Santa. Needless to say, Christmas is RIDICULOUS. Every year at this time, we start to weed through the outgrown clothes and the seldom-used toys, donating as much as we can and thinking about organization and storage solutions. Here are some ideas:

The first step would be gather about six bins, bags or boxes and label them as follows:

    Garbage

    Give Away or Sell

    Put Away

    Storage

    Last Chance

    Repairs

As you sort through the clothing and toys, place items in their appropriate bins. Work on one area at a time, to sort and purge items.

Consider how you can maximize storage capacity by looking under, over, inside and behind things. If you put a shelf over the closet door or a window, you can make good use of otherwise wasted space to display collectibles. Rolling containers that fit under a bed are ideal for toys or clothes.

Take a look around the house to see what you may already have. Clean jars, shoe boxes and baby-wipe containers are perfect for small toys, and putting them to good use provides a valuable lesson in recycling. Or clear, plastic boxes are an efficient solution to the multitude of little cars, meal toys and other tiny objects that are too small for the large toy chest.

Low, open shelves are a functional addition to every child's room, whether along a wall or inside the closet. This allows easy access to favourite toys and games.

via house to home

Every item in a household should have a place where it belongs. Add a variety of stackable bins in small, medium and large sizes to give everything its own place. Labeling the outside of the bins makes it easier to find what you are looking for. For children who can’t read yet, paste a photo or picture on the bin for easy recognition.

Keep some toys in a plastic bin in a storage room and rotate them monthly with toys currently in use.

Plastic three-drawer units organize art and/or school supplies.

Make bed-making easier by eliminating the top sheet. Instead of being used, it always ended up pushed into the abyss of the end of the bed.

Post those novelty basketball rings above anything you want your kids to slam dunk stuff into rather than the floor: garbage cans, laundry baskets, etc.

crate shelves

Have your child plan their wardrobe one school week at a time. Store outfits within five stacking cubbies or on five combination hangers (hangers with a bar and clips to hold pants as well as a top) to streamline their morning routine.

Try to put things where they make sense and group together related items. Involving your children in the reorganizing of their space will give them a sense of ownership and will hopefully, encourage them to keep their rooms tidy. Fingers crossed;)