Organizing Clutter

What are your best tips for keeping the clutter at bay with kids in the house? How do you help your kids develop good organizing skills?


I am not sure that I am a good person to answer this question. With too many people in a too small apartment, I feel like there is clutter everywhere. There is constantly a pile of papers and books that need to be gone through. I will do my best though :)


I help my child develop good organizing skills by demonstrating how I do it. I try to keep my clutter minimized and hopefully he will pick up on this as he gets older too. I keep my papers organized in folders in a file cabinet and I throw out anything that I do not need. I give away or donate things that I did not know I had and will not miss. I try to only keep a couple of papers a week that he brings home from school. I am sure that even this is more than necessary, but I think it is a good start. I recycle anything that can be.


I also have his room set up so that everything has a place. Every toy has a place with other toys that are similar. For example, all the play dough is in one basket, while Mr. Potato Head has a separate basket. He has too many toys for the size of his room, though. I have a really hard time deciding on which toys to give away. As he gets older I will involve him more in this process.


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