Young Family&#39s Guide to Home Organization

With young kids, it’s easy for clutter to accumulate. Toys, clothes, and everything else it takes to care for a young family (not to mention time) can leave your home cluttered and unorganized.

But you can keep your home tidy and organized even when you have a young family. The following are some tips for keeping your home organized when you have a young family.

Choose an area at a time.

It can seem overwhelming if you decide to tackle the whole house at once. So instead, focus on one area at a time. You could spend one day or week organizing your entryway, then move on to your bedroom. In larger rooms, spend one day on a particular item; for example, don’t say, “Today I’m going to clean and organize my room.” Instead, spend a day organizing drawers, then another day on the closet, and so forth. This makes it more manageable.

Rotate toys.

If you have children, you know that your family room floor can go from clean to covered in toys in no time flat. If your children have a lot of toys that make their way all over the house, consider boxing them up in plastic or Rubbermaid containers. Each week, rotate them by taking out one box and letting the kids play with just the toys in that box.

There are a number of advantages to this. There will be less mess, first and foremost, and it will be easier to keep the kids more occupied since they won’t get used to the same toys.

In addition, every few months you and your children may want to go through the toys and select some to donate to hospitals, shelters, or Goodwill. Not only will this teach your kids the value of giving, but it will help to eliminate clutter from toys that never get played with or have been outgrown.

Use a calendar.

A calendar is essential for a busy young family with children who each have different schedules and school activities. Instead of using a regular calendar and trying to cram everything in the little squares, get a large dry erase calendar to hang in your kitchen on the fridge or a common area. Be dutiful writing down each of your activities. You may even want to set aside some time on Sunday to write down everything you have coming up that week.

Organize art work.

Young kids in school are always bringing home artwork. If you find these are taking up drawer space but don’t have it in your heart to throw them away, consider organizing them into three-ring binders. Get plastic paper covers that have three holes punched into them, and slip them into the covers and put them in the binder for safe keeping. Make one for each child.

Sort your mail.

Mail tends to accumulate on entryway tables. You can be more organized by sorting your mail right when you get it. If you are getting junk mail, ask to be removed from the mailing list. You might consider sorting mail with envelopes or baskets, for bills, catalogs, cards, and so forth.

Staying organized with a young family can be difficult, especially when you have children and you are busy caring for them. The above tips are just a few ways you can keep your home organized and tidy with a young family.