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4 Simple Ways to Reduce Kid Clutter

I’m happy to introduce you to Alison from Organized Motherhood. She’s sharing some really valuable tips on how to reduce kid clutter today. Let us know in the comments how you keep your kids clutter in check!

4 Simple Ways to Reduce Kid Clutter

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With every child you have, expect clutter… lots of clutter.

As a new mom, I gleefully added everything under the sun to my registry. And then the baby came. As he grew, we received more and more gifts and clothes and toys, until I was ready to move out of my house!

But as I became overwhelmed by the clutter, I realized that many of the decluttering books, such as The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, didn’t address how to deal with kids’ clutter in a realistic way. Instead of the “decluttering magic” that I read about, I found myself constantly battling clutter.

Now that my kids are seven and three, I’ve learned to manage the clutter. It’s much better to take control of the clutter (in other words, get it out of the house) than try to clean and step around it.

If you’ve been struggling with kids’ clutter, try these four steps to organize your kids’ clothes, toys, baby furniture, and photos.

1. Start with outgrown clothes

The thought of organizing kids’ clothes can be overwhelming if you wait to do it all at once. Throughout the year, try going through your kids’ clothes at designated times. I added this chore to my cleaning planner to do quarterly and before holidays such as Christmas and birthdays when I know my kids will get more clothes.

Another way to make organizing simple is to keep small bins under your child’s bed. As your child outgrows clothes, put them in the bins instead of putting them back in the drawer once they’re washed.

Store clothes that your kids have outgrown under the bed in small, labeled bins.

As you’re organizing the clothes, don’t forget to label the bins with your child’s size to make it easier to store (and find) for another child! I love these chalk markers with labels included for my bins..

2. Involve the kids in sorting toys

The trick to getting kids to part with their toys, even broken toys, is to make it fun. In my house, we start by giving the toys “a bath” in the kitchen sink. Everything that doesn’t have batteries or fur gets washed!

Give the toys a bath and clean as you declutter.

As you’re sorting the toys for washing, throw out everything that’s broken. This is also a great time to get rid of any unwanted toys (like those Happy Meal toys that seem to magically accumulate).

Once the toys are washed, put away any toys that are no longer age appropriate. If possible, box them up by age and label the container.

3. Donate or sell old items

Once you’ve organized the kids’ clothes and toys, consider donating or selling any items that you no longer need.

This is also a great time to clean and purge any furniture, like high chairs, potty seats, etc. that your kids have outgrown.

While garage sales are great ways to reduce your clutter, they’re a lot of work and you might not earn top dollar for your items. If your items are organized, you may consider taking them to a mom-to-mom sale or even a consignment store.

If you don’t have a lot of time to invest, donating gently used items is also a great way to reduce your kids’ outgrown clothing, toys, and furniture. Some donation services will even pick up your items on your front porch.

As you declutter your closet, separate the clothes that you can donate.

4. Organize photos and memorabilia before it enters your home

As a mom of an elementary school student and a preschooler, I know all too well how overwhelming paper clutter, kids’ projects, and photos or memorabilia can become. Not only do you want to save every little scrap of paper, but with today’s cameras and phones, it’s easy to wallpaper your entire home in photos.

Before you consider building an addition or renting a storage unit just to house your photos and kids’ artwork, stop the paper trail before it even enters your home.

Reduce paper clutter

One of the easiest ways to manage paper before it enters your home is to create a system. Typically, there are three types of paper that enter your home: paper that should be immediately discarded, paper that needs to be processed, like field trip permission slips, and paper that should be/might be saved.

Try to apply the “touch it once” principle as much as possible when handling your kids’ papers. Before you begin processing the papers, make sure that you have enough time to actually process them, instead of just creating piles to “go through later.”

As you unpack the kids’ backpacks, immediately sign any papers that need to return to school and put them back in their designated place, like a “back to school” folder that stays in your child’s backpack. Note important dates and information from other papers on your calendar and file or discard the paper.

Check papers and send them back to school immediately to reduce kids' paper clutter.

Cut down on the amount of paper/artwork that you save. My kids are also allowed to keep two pieces of artwork at a time on the fridge (everything else gets reviewed and then discarded). Once it’s time to move the artwork off the fridge, store the “save-able” artwork in a bin with file folders for each school year. You could also take photos of the artwork before discarding it to save on space (save the memory but reduce the clutter)!

Organize photos

Because I still love to develop and store my photos in albums, I’ve had to find a way to organize my kids’ photos. As you’re developing pictures, try to review them to minimize duplicates. However, if a duplicate slips through, place it in the same slot as the other photo or give it to a relative.

Another idea is to create photo books from a retailer like Shutterfly. It’s the perfect way to organize photos. You could create books for each year of your child’s life or for special events, like a baptism or family vacation.

Kids’ clutter doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By adding it to your regular cleaning plan (download a copy of my cleaning plan here) and reducing the amount that enters your home, you’ll be able to keep your home organized and clutter-free!

PIN IT FOR LATER:

4 Simple Ways to Reduce Kid Clutter

About Alison:

 

Alison Lange is a farmer’s wife and mom of two. She is the creator of Organized Motherhood, where she shares tips to simplify motherhood and encourages women to find balance in their roles as wives, mothers, and home managers. To follow along with the Organized Motherhood community (and get access to a free resource library), sign up here or follow along on Pinterest or Facebook.

Comments

  1. Hi Angela,
    Thanks for having Alison guest. I really like the idea of giving the toys a bath! I think we’ll try that one! I also try to catch the too small clothes, as I’m folding laundry. If it’s stained, etc, straight into the trash, where the kids can’t see me!!

    • We have so much fun with the baths! And yes, tossing the clothes as soon as you’re done with the laundry (and burying it so the kids don’t see) is perfect. 😉

  2. All great ideas! I have the issue of my 5yr old taking after her father and never wanting to get rid of anything because “she might need it someday” or “but I love it.” I try to include her in the organizing and purging but sometimes I go through her toys and art work when she’s not home. Shhhh!!! 😉

  3. Having an ongoing system is soooo important. We are a family of 4 living in under 1000 sq feet so its critical we purge and purge often!

  5. I don’t think there can be anyone in the world who needed to read this post more than me! Clutter is a huge problem in our house and something I really need to get on top of, as I’m sure it’s just going to grow as our toddler gets older. Some great tips here! #kcacols

    • Yes, very good point! It’s just so hard trying to get family on board at holidays. We’ve been trying to give experience gifts, but it can be hard with littles.

  7. My key to less clutter is Ikea Kallax units? They hide so much! I’m half way to Alison’s idea of putting too small clothes in a box as they’ve been washed but I don’t don’t make the size so then I have to sort the box out ? We have baby 2 on the way, a girl, so I’ve been sorting all our son’s old clothes and sending them to charity to make room for baby girl stuff. #KCACOLS

    • I made the mistake of just throwing everything together with my oldest, so it’s been a challenge to go through it for my daughter. Luckily, she likes wearing “boy clothes” around the house, so I’ve been sorting them as she grows and trying to do a better job of separating them and sorting them into sizes.

      Thanks for suggesting the IKEA units. I’ll have to get some!

  11. I love this post. Kid clutter is always such a problem. Thank you for the fantastic ideas and for sharing on Over the Moon link party. Pinned and shared.

  13. Love these ideas. I’m thinking about limiting the number of toys and old toys have to be given to charity for others before new ones come in. Possibly also from the charity shop. I really want to keep this as minimal as possible ? #dreamteam

    • Yes! I love the idea of limiting toys. We spend a specific amount at Christmas, but by the time the kids get parents from friends and family, it can be overwhelming.

      Have you had luck convincing others to give your kids less?

    • Lol Let her choose what she wants to display, and then let her choose what she wants to keep of the displayed items. I try to limit one a week, if not less, in the keep pile. Try taking pictures of things, too.

  16. I love donating my kids’ old toys, instead of trashing them. I have a toy bin/ottoman and it’s fairly large. I try to keep only the amount of toys that will fit inside. It’s challenging but I find it reduces clutter and stepping on toys which I absolutely hate.

  17. A bunch of great tips, Alison! Going through the house regularly and putting things aside to donate has really helped us with clutter in the past year. Also, our son started nursery in January and we found ourselves inundated with pictures, paintings and crafts… I’ve found that putting two on the fridge, and rotating them when new ones come in helps us to keep the clutter of that down. #DreamTeam

    • Yes. I’ve even started keeping two bags in the bottom of my closet: one for donations and one for dry cleaning. Once they’re full, it’s time to take them in!

  19. I can’t stand clutter or having anything we don’t need or use. I’m a bit OCD with it I think! I sort out every week and keep on top of things weekly. If something is grown out of it gets washed and listed on eBay. When tidying the playroom I’ll sort at the same time and get rid of any excess toys or outgrown ones and take them to the charity shop. I find by staying on top of it all the time it doesn’t build up or become overwhelming.

  20. Some great tips, we also do these and it feels like we do it a lot! Another thing I do (maybe my background in early years education) but the boys have a lever arched file each with plastic wallets and we put all of their creations and artwork in there in date order. They also have a little memory box each where I put their 3D masterpieces in 🙂 It saves having everything everywhere and all over my fridge and I know its all organised nicely! #brillblogposts

    • Good idea with the filing system! I try to just write the date on the papers as I file them, but your system sounds more organized. Thanks for sharing!

  21. Great ideas! I just started de-cluttering and organizing both of my daughter’s rooms. First, we donated and sold their clothes they don’t wear anymore this past Saturday.

    #ProductReviewParty

  22. What fantastic tips. With three kids ages 8 and under, I often feel like we’re drowning in kid clutter! Definitely need to make use of these tips and do a whole-house purge of toys and extra clothes. Thanks so much for sharing at the #happynowlinkup!

  23. Strange thing is that where I’m from it’s very difficult to find any organization that will accept baby items as donations. They don’t want to take the chance that it’s unsafe in some way. Not currently a problem since we’re holding on to all our outgrown baby stuff for now. That’s something I learned while I was pregnant and we were trying to buy baby stuff. It’s almost impossible to find used baby stuff here, other than from family members. Thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time

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