They enter the world as bundles of joy, small and innocent, yet suddenly your spacious home becomes overrun with STUFF! Kids are amazing and can bring so much enjoyment to your life, but they also seem to require a lot of things, toys, clothes, books, etc. It’s fascinating how such small people can create such BIG clutter. Many of my clients complain how their kids’ stuff has overtaken their home and they don’t know what to do. The mess multiplies faster than they can keep up, and the clean up seems overwhelming. If you’re ready to reclaim your home from the tiny people in your life, these suggestions can help.

Create Homes And Zones – If you want to keep your kids’ stuff organized, you’ll need to keep like items together (zones) and give the items homes. Not just a pile in the corner of the room, but an actual container, shelf, or drawer with a clearly identifiable label as to what goes there. Ensure that the home is kid friendly – they can lift it, they can reach it, and/or they can access it without a lot of adult intervention. For example: Dress up clothes and costumes can be a lot of fun for kids, but oftentimes the container they’re stored in becomes a dumping ground for all kinds of stuff. Separate the clothes, scarves, hats, accessories or as many categories as you need to keep the containers manageable. I recommend clear plastic labeled containers that can be stacked and easily moved.

Let The Container Define The Quantity – Feel like your kids have too much, but don’t know how to control the clutter? Once your items have a defined home, limit the quantity to the amount that can fit in the particular container you’ve identified (this works for adult stuff too:-). Your child can only have as many American Girl Doll accessories as fit in one bin, or art kits that fit on one shelf, or Lego bricks that can fill 2-3 medium sized containers. By limiting the quantity it’s much easier to control the kid clutter.

Change With The Times – As exciting as the light up Disney toy was when your child first got it, the enchantment was likely lost quickly. Your kids’ interest and enthusiasm for their toys can change on a dime. One day they love Build-A-Bear and the next they could care less. If you don’t schedule regular times to sort and purge, you’ll end up with a bigger mess than you truly want to tackle. In addition, the things your kids really do enjoy playing with will be lost and buried in the clutter. Try to do a quick sort and purge once a quarter and then aim for a bigger one just before the holidays or their birthday. You can get out the old and make room for the new.

They CAN Clean Up – Part of parenting is teaching your kids responsibility. They need to know how to clean up after themselves and to put things back where they belong. By creating an easily identifiable home for their items they should be able to do it on their own or with minimal parent participation. You don’t have to be a drill sergeant, but depending on how heavily used an area is, items need to be put away, every day or weekly. A general rule: If the cleaning lady comes to clean once a week, floors and surfaces need to be clutter free for her to do her job well, so that’s how often your kids need to clean up their rooms.

Art & Schoolwork – Besides toys, art and schoolwork can be one of the biggest sources of kid clutter. As parents we’re fascinated with that first masterpiece our child swooshes across the page. However, over the years every finger painting, self portrait, A+ worksheet, and school project can add up. If you keep too much you won’t enjoy any of it as you’ll end up with boxes upon boxes of your kids’ stuff. Instead, keep a small sampling of things they create each year. Try to focus on items that will hold their lasting value, e.g. stories or drawings about your child or family at a particular moment in time, not the social studies report on ancient Greece. A large plastic bin can hold years of art and schoolwork or better yet, take a picture and make a digital scrapbook (Artkive or Keepy) of their work for each year.

Love your kids, but don’t let kid clutter overtake your life. Reclaim your home and you’ll have more space and less stress.