Every January, I have good intentions and set some lofty goals of getting our house in order. One of those goals is to edit, organize and contain all of the kid stuff that somehow is always cluttering up the floor, stairs and hallways.
My kids differ from my husband and me in our housekeeping styles. We are “Tidy Tammies”. “A place for everything and everything in its place.” The kids are “Messy Marvins” or hoarders to be frank and they love displaying their hoardiness all over their rooms, which then seeps out to the rest of the house.
I give you this background into our family’s organizational dysfunction, because before you start organizing, you need to know where each family member is coming from and what their organization or lack of organization style is.
To set up any kind of organizational system, you need buy-in from the people that will be using it. It also has to be somewhat easy and intuitive to use. I hear you, I would rather just do it myself too, but I’ve been there and done that, with not such good results.
The following are tried and true tools we have used in our home to keep us somewhat organized.
Shoe Bags
I have used shoe bags all over the house and can think of almost endless ideas of how to use them. The back of the door in your home is probably one of the most underutilized spaces. We currently use a shoe bag in our coat closet to store hats, gloves and scarves. You can also use them to contain toys, art supplies, snacks, camping gear, baby stuff….anything that fits into the openings.
Tip: Purchase clear shoe bags, they allow you to pinpoint contents quickly.
Boxes and Baskets
I’m not saying to just go out and buy a whole bunch of boxes and baskets. Before you purchase you will need to take inventory of what will be stowed and where the container will be located. If it will be toys stored on a shelf in a kid’s room, a collapsible canvas box may work best; if in the family room, a pretty basket for puzzles and board games may be the top choice; and if its keepsakes going in the closet a good old plastic tub may be the best bet.
Tip: Sorting like items and storing them together makes it easy for kids to get them out and clean up all on their own.
Bins
Separate from boxes and baskets, bins usually can stand on their own and fit into tight spaces. They can hold anything from dirty laundry to toys to sports equipment and can be made out of several different types of materials. We use a canvas bin in our play area to store dress-up clothes and in the garage we use a metal bin to store bats, kid gardening tools and light sabers.
Tip: Bins are particularly good for storing bulky or unusually sized items.
Shelves
Again, we have an assortment of shelves throughout our house. When looking for shelves, don’t just think about aesthetics, also keep safety in mind. If you have a climber, you will want to make sure that you can anchor the shelving unit to the wall. For younger children, you may also want to think about shorter shelves that they can access on their own.
Tip: Find inspiration for arranging shelves and storage containers on our Pinterest Organization 4 Kids Board.
Give us your storage ideas for containing all that kid stuff in the comments below.
