Organize Your Child's Room: An Easy Method for Maintaining a Clean Bedroom

Do you ever confuse your child's bedroom with the latest natural disaster described on the evening news? If you do, then you need to organize your child's room from top to bottom, and yes, they can help!

Find a good starting place. Decide if you should first tackle the pile of toys on the floor, or the stock pile of out grown clothes in the closet. Whatever you decide to sort through first, make the famous three piles. 1) KEEP 2) DONATE 3) SELL. Keep in mind that children's clothes and toys will bring in people from near and far if you decide to have a yard sale.

Explain to your child the benefits of selling their out grown toys and clothes and let them have a part in the decision of what stays and what goes. Also, if you decide to have a yard sell, it would be a great idea to let them have a goal to work for.

After you get the piles of toys and clothes in order, now you must start the organization process. Group your child's toys into "collections". If you have an abundance of beanie babies, race cars or kids meal toys, group them together instead of throwing them into your child's toy box. You should plan to buy small plastic storage containers to store "collections". Take a photo of what is in the box and adhere the photo to the end of the storage container. Teach your child to play with one container at a time and to put toys back into the proper places.

Love to collect books for your child but have no place to store them? Check out the closet organization isle at your local home improvement store. You can purchase a small three shelve bookcase, they are very inexpensive and can fit into narrow places. The best place for a bookcase is in the closet. After you assemble the bookcase, position it on the side wall of the closet. If you have a young child, make a cozy reading place that is just the right size for your child right in the closet. Why the closet? Your small child does not have clothing that reaches all the way to the floor, neither do they have the amount of shoes that older children tend to have, therefore, there should be adequate floor space to sit. Now you have accomplished two things: You have not taken extra floor space from the bedroom by adding a bookcase, and you have given your child a special, quiet place to read.

What do you do with all of those games with their pieces and parts? Either stack them neatly on a closet shelf or purchase an under-bed storage container. Be sure to go through each individual game to make sure that each contains all of the pieces. If a game is not complete, toss it. If a game is broken, toss it. If your child has outgrown the game, sell it or donate it. (Please do not sell or donate an incomplete game)

If your child has a supply of blankets, purchase an understorage container to store them in. If the blankets are stored under the bed, then it is easy for your child to access them in the middle of a chilly night. FIY: two under-bed storage containers can fit under a regular twin size bed.

If you save your child's school papers and art projects, but realize that you must weed through the collection, here's a tip: If the paper or art project holds a special meaning or memory (such as a specific accomplishment) save it. If not, give it to grandma....better stored in her house than yours! If it holds no sentimental attachment for you, it is okay to toss it. Remember, you're tossing the paper, not your child! You can find wide but thin stackable storage boxes to hold a few projects from the school year. Don't forget to label each box with the year, age, grade, school and teacher.

If you follow these simple tips and teach your child to maintain the organization, it will be easier for them to clean up their room, which will ultimately make you a happy parent!