How to Keep Your Home Organized with Small Children

Any home with small children is a joyous place – it’s probably also a chaotic place as well. You might think it would be almost impossible to organize in the middle of this chaos, but it’s not as nearly as hard as you think. Not only can you make your kitchen much easier to navigate, you can also do the same thing with your bathrooms and the rest of your home – even the laundry room.

The experts in home organization with Art of Drawers have some tips to help you do just that. We also have a wide range of solutions that can keep your home organized for years to come. If you would like to learn more, please contact us online or give us a call at (770) 800 8410.

Declutter Regularly

Any home organization project should probably begin with decluttering your home. If this seems overwhelming, that’s exactly what it will be unless you start small and work your way up. One good place to consider starting will be your kids’ bathrooms. This will probably be the easiest starting point, since there likely won’t be as many sentimental items to throw out. Plus, they’re probably the smallest areas of your home.

Do you see a lot of things your children simply don’t use any longer? There might be some old tubes of toothpaste, or some expired medications. Ask yourself how often – if ever – your kids use the items you think could be cleared out. Get their input as well. Once you’re 100 percent certain those things can go, throw them away.

After you’re finished with the bathrooms, you can move to another room and take the same approach. It won’t be long until you’ve decluttered every room in the house.

Use a Toy Checkout System

Basically, you’ll be asking your kids (or their friends, when they come over) to check out toys and then return them, sort of like checking out a library book.

You can leave a few toys out that are “exempt,” so to speak, from the checkout system. All the rest of them need to be checked out and then returned to where your kids found them. Just tape a piece of paper to a prominent place in the playroom, maybe on a window. Label one column “name,” then label the second one “toy.”

Whichever child checks out the toy will put their name in the proper spot, and then write down the name of the toy they’re playing with. Tie a string around a pen and then attach the string to the window next to the checkout form.

Make it clear that the child can’t play with another toy until returning the first one and putting it in the proper place. Once they do that, they simply cross out the first line and then fill in the second one.

Use Baskets or Bins to Organize Toys, Books, and More

Speaking of toys, they should stay in organized bins when not in use. Group similar types of toys together – put building toys, such as blocks, in one bin, active toys, such as balls, in another, and so on. You can do the same thing with books and anything else they use on a regular basis.

This might mean creating some more storage space in the kids’ bedroom or somewhere else in your home. You could consider adding not only storage boxes, but also clear plastic containers, drawer dividers, etc. Investing in a label maker will also be a great idea so that everyone knows where to put things back when they’re done with them.

Set up a Cleaning Schedule

A daily cleaning routine will be a huge help to keeping your home organized. Try to do a little bit in the morning, and then in the evening as well if possible. You’ll be able to knock things out a lot faster, and a lot easier, than if you tried to devote one day a week to everything.

As your kids get older, they can take over some of the cleaning chores. Just show them what to do and it shouldn’t take long for them to get the hang of it.

Keep Surfaces Clean and Clear

The better job you do of keeping surfaces clear of clutter, the more organized your home will be. Take the kitchen, for example. When’s the last time you actually used that mixer that’s been sitting on your countertop for the last couple of years? How about those serving dishes for parties that you rarely throw, or those candles that you haven’t lit?

If you can find a home for these items and others that you rarely (if ever) use, the easier your life will be. If you don’t have enough storage space in your cabinets, Art of Drawers has a lot of solutions that can create more .

Get Your Kids Involved

Once your children get to a certain age, they can be a huge help – not only cleaning, as mentioned before, but also putting things away.

You’ll also want to make sure your kids are involved when you try to organize their stuff. Imagine what you would think if someone had all of a sudden moved all of your bathroom items around without telling you first. You’d probably be a little irritated, to say the least. Just make sure you get as much input from your children as possible before you start re-arranging their things.

Make Sure Everything Has its Place

Organizing every room is a fantastic first step. Unfortunately, it won’t mean that much if things go back to the way they were in a couple of weeks. Try to incorporate your family’s regular habits into your organization. If you’re installing a coat rack, for instance, keep it close to the front door instead of putting it on the opposite end of the room.

Use Art of Drawers to Create Simple Systems for Your Home

No matter what size your home may be, Art of Drawers can make it far easier to organize than you might have imagined was possible. Learn more by calling (770) 800 8410 or using our online form.