If you have a child, most likely you have added clutter in your home. My son is fairly clean, but my daughter, boy oh boy is her room always a mess! It can quickly become a battle of the wills when it is time to declutter their rooms. You want to pick your battles wisely with your kids, so here are ways to declutter your kid’s room without having a full-on war on your hands.
7 Ways to Declutter Your Kids Room
Help your child make good choices
It is easy to see toys missing parts and pictures that were not finished as something to throw away, but to your child, these things may still have meaning. Allow them to explain, calmly why they want to keep something. If you notice that something still gets a lot of playtime even though it may not be whole, don’t automatically do a toy clear-out and toss it. Perhaps they are creating something with it? A small project of some sort.
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Help those less fortunate
Help your child pick a charity to give outgrown toys to. When kids feel like they are helping others or being generous, they will often get involved in the decluttering process and purge toys with enthusiasm. Allow them to pick a place to donate to and come along with you when you do, so they can feel good about what they are doing.
Offer to replace some things
This may seem like it is just adding back to a clutter, but really it is giving your child the chance to get rid of things that are no longer useful. Don’t replace expensive items, but maybe toss out the 50 broken crayon pieces and dried markers and offer to replace them with a new set.
Set up break times
This can be especially important for younger kids with less of an attention span. Let them know they can take a break after so long so they don’t feel like this is a task that will go on forever. It doesn’t have to be done in one day! If your child gets too overwhelmed, this can be a good indicator of how long you have between breaks. Be willing to be patient with them and their inner clocks, but don’t allow them to “run the show.”
Use it as a teaching opportunity
Make sure to talk to your kids about your reasons for cleaning and decluttering. Let them know that it’s not about you trying to be controlling or take anything away from them, but something that everyone must do in order to keep things organized. Make sure to model this behavior in your own room or in other parts of the house as well.
Start to group things together
Making piles of like items can help you sort through what your child no longer wants, needs, or plays with and when you go to put things away again, you will already be halfway there.
Don’t forget to clean
Make sure to sanitize and clean up stuff as you go around the room. Toys that can get sanitized in the washer or dishwasher should be placed there as soon as you get enough to make a full load. That way, when you are done and as you go, you will be able to put back clean toys in their rightful areas. Here’s a recipe for the spray I use to clean toys.
