Once kids enter your home, you quickly realize how much “stuff” they accumulate. If you don’t have a game plan from the very beginning to keep your home clutter free, their “stuff” can become overwhelming. Below is a practical guide on how to get rid of unnecessary clutter.
- Constantly Evaluate. Regularly go through the clothes your child doesn’t want or can no longer wear.
- Recycle items. Often their are things around the house, which are in very good sometimes, unused condition that we no longer need. Giveaway, donate, or sell unused clothes or toys, which are in good condition.
- Do laundry regularly. Before I became a parent I didn’t realize how important it was to have a decent size laundry room. Keeping your families clothes clean regularly, helps save time and keeps the air fresher. Dirty laundry should have a designated area, but the clothes should not stay dirty for long. Washing linen and clothes daily or weekly will make the loads more manageable.
- Prioritize. Don’t buy too much ahead of time. Keeping a needed supply of clothes, shoes, and toys for their next stage is important to me so when their growth spurt takes place I don’t have to rush to the store. However at the same time, it is important not to buy too many items in advance because you may forget or no longer be interesting in the item when it is time to use it.
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Make space. If you need more space for necessities in your home try to utilize space under the bed. Pull-out drawers with wheels is a great way to store bed sheets, wash cloths and towels, or small toys.
- Utilize vertical closet space. Organized items often take up less space. We use matching bins for lotions, hair products, and other bottled containers. By doing this we are able to keep their dressers free from clutter.
- Store things creatively. A cute small hammock to keep stuff animals off the floor is a great way to use vertical space. I also like the hanging storage bags that IKEA sells to keep toys in or for shoes and boots. Instead of keeping all of my children’s artwork, we let them pick and keep their 3 favorites and take pictures of the rest. The photos of their artwork can be placed in an album, family calendar, photo book, or on your computer desktop. We also use wall shelves that are tiered to hold our children’s books. When we buy new books we get rid of some of the older ones that no longer interest them.
- No spot, throw it out. Everything you have needs its own place or container, if it doesn’t have an exact spot in your home, it is time for it to leave yours.
Overall, the key component to de-cluttering is to go through things in your home regularly. Place a bin in each bedroom closet to store items you no longer need and get rid of the “stuff” at least once a week. This is a great way to keep a handle on clutter. Also keep in mind, don’t hold on to objects you only “think” you will us. You yourself these questions:
- Is this something I can live without? If you can live with it, chances are you no longer need to keep it around.
- When shopping ask yourself constantly, is this something I need or something I want?
- Do I have something to wear with this? If not, don’t buy it.
- How many times do I plan to use this item? If the answer is only once or twice, it is probably not worth the purchase.
- Will my kids like this toy, or do I want them to play with it? Sometimes, we want our kids to play with toys they have no interest in.
* Reader Response: Do you have any creative de-cluttering solutions or storage ideas you would like to share?
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