Have you ever found yourself yelling after stepping on one too many Lego bricks, or leaning defeatedly against the doorframe at your child’s inability to put clothing on hangers or in drawers? If this is the case, you’re not alone…and you’re not beyond help! Here’s some tips on how to deal with three categories of frequently-disorganized ‘kid supplies’.

Outdoor Wear

Getting home after work, school, or daycare – or heading out to play – can be chaotic. How do you keep wet and muddy boots, mittens, scarves, coats, and hats tidy and separate? We can work with you to come up with an efficient and effective organizing system. Hooks on the wall or a lower bar in the closet can help the shorter humans to reach high enough to hang up their coats. Labelled bins keep the mess out of sight and each person’s gear separate. Have lots of room? Try a cubby system, with hooks for coats and backpacks, bins for mitts and hats, a shelf for shoes, and a seat for getting ready.

Toys

Whether your kids’ toys live in the living room, rec room, bedroom, or all three at once, you’ve probably stepped on one too many Lego blocks. It can be enough to send you straight to Goodwill! But before you go that far, there’s a happy medium. A major reason kids don’t put toys away is they find it difficult. Bins with labels (or pictures, for the pre-reading crowd) that are easy to pull out can make clean-up time go much more smoothly. Try working with your kids to get their input, too. What toys do they play with at least every day? Store those ones more accessibly. Is it a toy they don’t care about as much or only play with occasionally? Donate it or put it on the higher shelves.

Indoor Clothes

Indoor clothes probably get stored in your child’s bedroom, either in an armoire or closet. Although your children may have an uncanny ability to forget what hangers are for every time you show them, the real problem may in fact be that their closets aren’t designed for them. Everything in their closet should be at a height that is easily reachable. Keeping bins and shelves small means kids don’t have to dig through a stack of shirts to find the one they want. Got kids sharing a closet? Try a symmetrical closet organization system and label each child’s drawers and bins to reduce fighting over space.

Lastly, don’t forget to involve your children in the organization process, and they’ll take a lot more ownership over keeping things looking neat in the long term. They may even have some fun or useful ideas. Feeling inspired? Contact Perfect Fit Closets today at 587-230-8120 for your FREE consultation!