kids organizational tips

Kids have personalities just like adults, but even the neatest kids have better things to do than clean up their bedrooms or playrooms. Understanding your child’s personality can be incredibly helpful in managing their environment. 

A great book called Nurture by Nature: Understand Your Child’s Personality Type: And Become a Better Parent by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger can help you determine your kid’s personality type. Knowing whether you have a fastidious Classic Structure or a messy Smart Freedom on your hands will assist you in finding the best way to teach them how to organize.

Essential Kids Organizational Tips For Rooms and Playroom

To keep their spaces organized, consider these essentials:

  • Purge frequently with your kids: Involve them in the process if possible.
  • Set up a large floor-to-ceiling toy storage system: This maximizes space and keeps toys accessible.
  • Get matching or coordinating bins for toys: Uniformity in storage bins can make organizing more appealing and straightforward.
  • Use labels with words and visuals: This helps even the youngest kids understand where things go.
  • Install double hangs in their closets: This optimizes hanging space for their smaller clothes.
  • Use matching hangers: Ensure they are the right size for kids’ clothes to maintain order.
  • Create a storage system for outgrown clothes and keepsakes: Have a plan for items that are no longer in daily use but still hold sentimental value.
  • Place sentimental pieces in deep storage or digitize them: This helps in managing clutter while preserving memories.

Organizational Tips For Kids By Personality Type

Kids’ Rooms and Playroom Priorities for Classics

  • Decide what level of tidiness you can live with, then routinize it.
  • Opaque bins and cabinet doors are best, especially if toys share space in family or living rooms.
  • Schedule a biannual or annual purge.

Kids’ Rooms and Playroom Priorities for Funs

  • Put the “fun” into cleanup.
  • Coordinate your toy storage with bins to hide clutter, especially if it is in your general living space.
  • Use narrow categories.
  • Purge toys and artwork when inspired.

Kids’ Rooms and Playroom Priorities for Organic/Smart Structures

  • Close the door on a playroom and bedrooms when you don’t have the energy to clean.
  • Make sure your bins match your décor if toys need to share space with living areas.
  • Using big bins and big categories to organize the toys will help with maintenance.
  • Put annual or biannual toys, artwork, and schoolwork purges in your calendar.
  • Smart Structures: declutter annually—or have someone else do it.
  • Organic Structures: digitize sentimental items, or farm it out to a service.

Kids’ Rooms and Playroom Priorities for Organic/Smart Freedoms

  • Organize using larger categories than you want—you’ll thank us later.
  • Create order by using transparent bins, except in a formal living area.
  • Purge when you can’t stand the mess, you’re planning a party, or a visit from someone judgmental is scheduled.
  • Make sure bins are big enough for whatever you’re storing in them.
  • Plan kids’ outfits ahead of time.
  • Organic Freedoms: rely on Later Boxes to slowly go through keepsakes.

Kids will learn to clean up if there are labeled homes for all their stuff. After a day of play, the clutter can be overwhelming for them, but even a two-year-old will help if you do it together.

This post is just scratching the surface of what is possible when it comes to helping kids build organizational systems that fit their personalities. For more information, tips, and best practices, check our book.

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