Easy Steps to Declutter Your Child's Bedroom

“You should clean up your room when your mom says you have to”. –Bryceton Berry age 5

Organize A Child’s Bedroom

Beginning to organize a child's bedroom can be difficult and even more difficult to keep it that way. But it is extremely important to teach children the importance of being organized.  Studies have shown that children who grow up in an organized home have a higher chance of completing more schooling and earning a higher salary.

Getting Started:

__Before you begin organizing your child’s room get down to his or her level. Look at storage from the child’s point of view. Are the closet rods too high for him or her? Are the dresser drawers sticky and hard to shut? Do the closet doors easily come off the track? Adult furniture and storage solutions do not always translate well to small children.

__Simplify! Keep only the things your child uses and loves and it will be much easier for the child to keep the room organized. You cannot expect a child to keep his or her room organized with a surplus of outgrown clothes and toys. It’s also difficult for them to manage cramped closets and drawers. The less is more applies beautifully in this situation and makes a child’s life much easier.

__Sort through your child’s room and set up four piles:
A) Toss (trash, broken toys, puzzles with missing pieces, broken boxes)
B) Sell or donate
C) Put back (items that belong in a sibling’s room or another part of the house)
D) Keep

__Designate a “home” for the majority of the child’s stuffed animals. Use plastic chains, hammocks, or shelves. Try to keep these stuffed critters to a minimum.

__Organize and store items according to categories: games, books, dress-up clothes. Use see-through containers so your child can locate his or her toys easily. Always make sure the storage area you use is within reach for the child.

__Label containers or tape a snapshot of what belongs in the container so that your child will know where everything belongs.

__If you want to limit your child’s access to certain objects, store these objects on higher shelves that are out of the child’s reach.

__Clean out under the bed and place things in their proper “home.”

__Set up a file system for your child to store things such as stickers, artwork, birthday cards, and colored paper.

__Make sure your child has a bulletin board to display his or her awards and artwork he or she wants to show off.

__Limit how long your child can leave a toy away from its “home” without playing with it. If your child leaves a toy out past your time limit, place it in a holding spot for a certain number of days before he or she can play with it again. This will teach him or her to pick up after playtime.

Organizing Tips:

• Hang a clear plastic shoe organizer on the back of the closet door. This is a great place to store all of those little tiny items they can’t seem to part with!

• Use shelves whenever possible for storing toys and books. Shelves make these items very accessible.

• Use point systems as an incentive for keeping the room clean. Just be sure you reward your child with actions and activities instead of toys and other objects that will clutter up the room.

• Keep a colorful hamper in the room and teach your child to place dirty laundry in it.

• Make sure to treat your rules seriously so that your child will, too.

• Before bedtime, play “what is out of its home” with younger children. Go around the room and pick up the items that are out of place, then put them where they belong.

• Consider breaking the room up into zones such as reading, play, dressing, and sleeping. Zones may make it easier for your child to clean up and keep the room organized. All books would go in the reading zone, toys in the play zone, etc.

• Make up a daily checklist for the tasks you want the child to do each day in his or her room. Post it at the child’s eye level. If the child cannot read use photos or artwork to describe the duties.