Organizing Your Home After Kids
Your home is like the Hotel California for toys: They check in any time they like, but they never seem to leave. Implement an in-and-out rule: Every time a new toy enters your home, an old toy heads to charity.
If you are serious about organizing your home, you've got to be ruthless! Here are some tips for organizing your home:
report abuseIf you are serious about organizing your home, you've got to be ruthless! Here are some tips for organizing your home:
- Provide Storage: Invest in toy storage bags, clear storage bins and baskets. Label them if your kids can read or attach photos of appropriate toys to the containers if they can't. You can't tell your kids to put the toys away if they don't have the first clue where to put them!
- Rent or Swap Toys: It's like Netflix for toys! Instead of purchasing new playthings for your kids all the time, subscribe to Baby Plays or another Toy Rental company and have a new shipment of cool stuff come in (and go out!) each month. Or else, just hold a toy swap in your home—just make sure that you don't end up with more toys than you started with!
- Organize Tiny Toys: If your floors seem to be carpeted with microscopic Legos, use shoe organizers, egg cartons or fishing-tackle boxes for micro-toy storage. Your kids will thank you when they can't find their favorite tiny toy! Not to mention that organizing your home is a lot easier when you there's a place for everything (and everything is in its place!).
- Rotate the Inventory: Change things up around your home and designate a toy of the day (or two) to entertain your kid, and keep the rest of the toys stored out of sight. Change the featured toys every day and you'll have your kids' rapt attention.
- Hang 'Em High: If you find your kid sleeping on the floor of your home because stuffed animals have hijacked her bed, have her choose one favorite stuffed animal to sleep with—and store the rest in a toy hammock.
- Designate a Clutter Bowl: When organizing your home, it's only natural that you'll come across clutter. Some areas of your home are a magnet for clutter, like the kitchen counter or entryway table. Each day, scoop all the accumulated junk into a clutter basket or bowl and whatever your family doesn't remove by your deadline gets dumped.
- Make Cleaning Up a Competition: They compete for everything—first one to the car, first one to get the phone. How about first one to de-clutter her room? Make cleaning up a contest and see if a little competition is healthy...for your sanity!
- Box it Up: Those snowshoes are dusty, and since you live in Phoenix, they're rarely used. But your son insists he needs them. Have him throw them in a one-year box. If they're still there and unused in 12 months, then march them to Goodwill.
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