Organizing Your Child’s Bedroom
You know how difficult it can be to work efficiently in a messy, unkempt area. As your child heads back to school this fall, having a disorganized bedroom can keep her from being able to focus on her other tasks, such as getting ready in the morning or doing her homework in the evening. I know that my own daughter’s bedroom gets very chaotic very quickly, and that once the mayhem starts, it’s nearly impossible for her to get it under control herself. My resolution for this school year is to help her find ways to keep herself better organized. Here are a few tips I’ve found on keeping a child’s bedroom neat and tidy:
- Make sure everything is within easy reach. Kids are shorter than we are, and sometimes we forget that. You might need to move a closet rod down, or not keep items that she needs in the top bureau drawer. For a long time, my daughter was telling me every day that she couldn’t find any underwear, and every day I’d get aggravated when I looked in her top drawer and found it full. Finally, it occurred to me that she couldn’t see inside the drawer! We moved her underwear to the bottom drawer, and voila, she’s able to find it now.
- Limit the number of belongings in the bedroom. If you have a playroom or a library in your home, then this creates a natural solution: all toys or books are automatically stored somewhere other than the bedroom. If you don’t have this extra area, though, then you’ll need to rotate items. Invest in some big rubbermaid bins and keep half of the toys in them; every few months, switch the items out and it will be like Christmas in July (or November, or April)! Be diligent about taking out-of-season or outgrown clothing out, as well, and give your child a small bookcase to keep her books on; whatever doesn’t fit gets donated to the library or handed down to a younger sibling.
- Make liberal use of containers. A pile of Barbie clothing on the floor is a mess, but that same pile relocated to a bin is considered neat and clean. This time of year, organizational supplies are often on sale; buy plastic shoe boxes, plastic drawers, under-the-bed boxes or whatever else will work. If you live near an IKEA, not only can you get storage supplies at great prices, but you can also glean great ideas from the children’s bedrooms that they have set up in the showroom. We recently purchased a free standing shelf we put in the closet to help organize their shoes and it made a huge difference.
- Dig out that label maker. Or use index cards and simply permanent markers. Label the various bins and boxes with their contents. If your child can read, she’ll know where everything goes. If she can’t, she’ll learn what the words say (and this will help you when you’re trying to put everything back after playdates or other high-mess days).
- Get your child’s input. It might not make sense to you that your child wants to keep the Playmobil people with the matchbox cars, but as long as everything has a place, allow your child’s logic to take precedence. This lets her “own” her organization system.
- If possible, have her do homework elsewhere. Disorganized work areas can be disastrous to a child trying to get her homework done; working at the table or at a desk in the den might make it easier for her to stay organized. Also, there’s less of a chance that she’ll be distracted by all of her toys, books, music and more!
Have you found any organizational hints, tips or products that have worked well for you?
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Great tips – I find that having specific bins for specific toys is very helpful!
We’re big on the bins that go in Toy racks. My toddler is starting to get the hang og helping with clean up! When he gets bigger, we’ll start him on FlyLady.
i’ve found bins to be a great help in organizing.I have grown kids now and i’m raising my grandson the one thing i’ve always have tried to stick to is “donation time”right before christmas and birthdays we go through thier toys,books and clothes pick out stuff that they’ve outgrown or just don’t play with anymore a bin size bunch and donate to to a child we know or a charity,give your child a choice this keeps things from getting cluttered with to much,also teaches your child differant skills from making decisions,to being generous with others etc..my kids got to where they looked forward to this time and now they do it with thier kids.
Good tips! I think limiting how much they keep in their room is important to reduce clutter!
Great tips. I love IKEA, you can surely find there a great way to storage many stuff.
Great ideas! My kids need to be better organized!
Great tips and information, thank you
I love the idea of moving things down a drawer. I never thought of that. Thanks for the tips.
Great tips, I was lucky and the older my son got the cleaner his room was, toys are clutter, now he like books
great tips my boys room could use some sort of makeoveerr
Great tips, thanks! My kids are teens now. Our problem is too much accumulated stuff! Containers do help, but books and clothes seem to overwhelm my daughters floor. Her dressers and shelves are full!
my kids are grown now, but I have 2 grandchildren, and they seem to think that at grannie’s it’s ok to tear down the house, just messy, pull all their toys out and I guess it’s my fault for letting them do it
hoping i will be able to put some of these tips to good use real soon lol thanks 😉
Thank you for the tips. My kids tear the room apart four to five times a day, so I only clean when they are not in there.
Thanks for the great tips! I need all the help I can get on this subject!!
I do believe not having anything they don’t use in their room helps keep them organized.
These are very helpful tips, thanks!
Very helpful
Can always use more tips for organizing the kids stuff! Thanks for the ideas!
Some great ideas here! I’m going to have to put them to use. LOL! My kids room is so unorganized.
Great tips! I love using Costco containers to store toys!
great tips!!! bins are always a great go to!!!
labeling is key
Good tips. Labeling is key so that everything has a place to go. Kids need concrete/absolute places for things to go or they won’t be able to “put stuff away”.
Great tips, I will be incorporating some of these for sure!
Yes, lots of containers are our friends when it comes to keeping my nephew’s room tidy.
Thanks for these helpful tips. My son has so many toys and stuff everywhere in his room and I think this will help me to keep his room better organized.
I enjoyed reading these helpful tips on organizing your child’s bedroom. I have three grandchildren that come and stay with me often and I want to have extra clothing, shoes, toys, crafts, treats, etc. on hand for them. I have to try and keep their items within their reaching distance and not clutter up my house at the same time. I always ask their opinions on rotating their old toys to others in need while bringing in their new ones. It’s a hard decision at times for them but I tell them got to do it cause life becomes more challenging as we grow up so lets start now.