Recently we shared tips for efficient back to school shopping and easing back into the routine of school.  One thing that goes hand in hand with both of these ideas is to take time to clean our your kids’ rooms, including their desk space, closets and drawers.

We recommend choosing a day and time and marking it on your calendar or it may keep getting pushed to the back burner on your to-do list.  Be sure to enlist the help of your child as it is very valuable for them to be part of the organizing process, and it is especially important to teach them habits on how to maintain the organization along the way.

Here is a quick and easy way to tackle each room:

Sort all like items together (ie. books, games, stuffed animals, sunglasses, electronics, etc.)  This way you can see how much you have of one thing and it will help make your decision process easier as far as what to keep and what to let go of.  Try using bins or boxes to sort.

Purge items you no longer use, need or love (have a trash bag, a donation bag, a consignment bag, a recycle bag and a “take to some place else in the house” pile).  Once you have decided what stays and what goes you are ready to…

Assign a home to the items that are staying in your room.  Keep like items together, keep items close to where they are used and keep items used most often, the easiest to get to. Think of creating zones in the room – a dressing area, a relaxation zone, a study zone, etc.

Contain – use containers, bins and drawer dividers where it would be helpful.  Labeling is an especially great idea in kids’ rooms.  If you have younger kids that can’t read yet, try using pictures as labels. Stay tuned for a post next week on my favorite organizing products for kids’ rooms!

Establish habits – help your kids establish habits so they can maintain the organization long-term.  Teach them simple habits like “when you take something out, put it away” and the “new one in, old one out” rule when shopping.  Establish regular family tidy times where each child spends time cleaning and organizing their room.  You can make it fun by setting a timer and turning up the music and making it a race to see who can get their room cleaned up first!

Have fun cleaning out and organizing your kids’ rooms!  It might be best to tackle this project over a few days as some kids get bored or distracted really quickly.  If you need to, just try working on one part of the room at a time.  Our Simply Placed Team of organizers love working with kids on organizing their rooms.  Please let us know if we can help take some of the overwhelm away!