It’s back-to-school season and many families are getting their children ready to return to their fall schedules and routines. This is also a great time to start thinking about cleaning and decluttering kid zones at home. An organized playroom and effective clean-up routines can help children feel prepared to return to their school activities while relieving stress off parents.
To keep a clutter-free kid zone at home, we have put together five tips for you.
Think Twice Before Buying More Items
One of the main reasons why children’s areas become cluttered and messy is an excess of toys and other belongings. To combat and prevent this, make a conscious effort to buy less and encourage creative and recreational activities more. Of course, new toys are always exciting, but too many too often might cause children to lose interest quickly and they might not value their toys as much. Instead, encourage your children to use what they have and use their imagination to come up with different ways of playing with what’s around. Buying less can help children be satisfied and more creative with less, rather than always wanting and expecting the newest and latest toys.
Encourage Good Habits
Make a habit of having a clean-up session every day with your kids. A great and easy goal would be to have them put away their toys every night before bed, or after playtime. Doing this consistently every day will help your kids develop organization habits that they can use at different stages of their lives. Having daily clean-up time also helps to keep clutter under control, rather than letting the clutter build up for weeks until it becomes a stressful factor at home.
Regift And Donate
Getting new toys also provides the perfect opportunity to donate to others. Include your children in this process by getting them excited about donating toys to children who need them, or regifting to someone who can give their toys a second round of love. Besides helping keep their space decluttered, this is a great way to teach kids about generosity and selflessness.
Designate Zones
Whenever possible, divide and assign spaces in children’s rooms for different purposes. They can have a zone to play with costumes, a zone for all building block sets, a zone for arts and crafts supplies and a zone to keep all their sports gear, for example. Having clearly designated zones can help children know where to find their toys when it’s playtime and where to put them away at clean-up time.
Rent A Storage Unit
Sometimes there simply isn’t enough space to store all your children’s belongings. When this happens, you can rent a storage unit. With a storage unit you will get the additional space you need for those extra items while having ease of access whenever you need them. Many storage facilities, such as U-Lock Mini Storage, offer month-to-month rental so you can rent a storage unit for however long you need it!
At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include self storage Victoria, self storage Parksville, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Burnaby, self storage White Rock and Surrey, and self storage Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!