Tips for Organizing Kid’s Rooms

A child’s room is a place of discovery, learning, play and sleep. That it is in fact a multi-purpose room often leads to chaos and mess. Many times parents feel overwhelmed by the mess in their kid’s room and aren’t sure where to start to clean it up and get it re-organized. The following are some easy-to-follow tips to help you get your kid’s room organized:

Tip #1: A Place for Everything, Everything in Its Place

Assigning everything to a specific place in your child’s room is essential as you begin to organize it. For example, every book, toy and article of clothing needs a specified place. If you do not have a specific place where you can put an item, get rid of it. This may seem extreme, but the room will never look or be organized if you can’t fit everything in the room in an organized way.

Tip #2: Contain It

While a bookcase or shelf for toys is a good idea, baskets or bins that can then sit in a bookcase or on a shelf are an even better idea for toys. The better contained things are, the more organized they will be, and the less likely they are to get unorganized. Get a shelving system of some kind and then purchase smaller baskets, bins and containers to hold all of the little odds and ends in your kid’s room. Group similar items together. For example, have one basket for stuffed animals, one for balls, one for books, one for school supplies, one for Happy Meal toys and baskets for whatever other toys they have. Then put those all in the dedicated spot. This is different from a toy box; instead, it’s like having several smaller toy boxes. You can do the same thing in a closet, with individual bins for socks, underwear, shirts, and PJ’s, among other thigns. Sorting things, and categorizing them into smaller sections with specific containers, means better organization and longer lasting organization.

Tip #3: Dedicate Sections and Spaces to Specific Activities

In a child’s bedroom, disorganization often occurs when too many activities are happening in the same space. Depending on the size of the room, do your best to create sections for each activity, either physically or metaphorically. Put all of their books in one place, near a chair or place to read. Store all of their toys in another place and house clothes in yet another area, such as the closet. Do your best to avoid mixing and matching items and their storage areas, as this often leads to disorganization. For example, if you’re using a dresser for clothes, do not use the extra drawer to store toys, or your toys will end up in the clothing drawers, and the clothing in the toy drawers.

Tip #4: Use Colors and Themes for Better Organization

Make the organization system in your child’s room fun and colorful so it will engage their interest and attention. Then teach them how to use it as this will increase the likelihood that their room will stay organized. For example, use colors to organize their room so that their books go in the green baskets, their cars go into red baskets and their action figures belong in the blue baskets. Teaching your children a system not only makes it easier for you to organize their room, but it makes it easy and more fun for your child to keep it organized.

Tip 5: Get Your Child’s Input

If you want the room to get and stay organized, it’s important to get input from your child as he or she actually lives in the room. For example, if they think PJs should be in the dresser not the closet because that’s what they prefer, the PJs should go in the dresser. If you don’t take their suggestions into account and show them that you value their opinion, their room won’t stay organized for long.