I mentioned before that I think organizing as you go is one of the keys to making the unpacking process less stressful. Since I just finished getting my nine year old girl's closet all set up I thought I'd share a few organizing tips that work for us. Organizing with a child in mind is a little different from organizing for yourself. Because as any mom knows, any organization system for kids is only helpful if it actually works which means it needs to be a system that a kid is able and willing to actually put it to use.
1. Create a map and explain it to your child.
Once you have decided what will be going in the closet, create a map or if you've ever worked in retail a "schematic". This may seem like a no-brainer, but not having a particular place for everything makes it really hard to find things both for you the parent and the kid. But don't assume that your child will understand just by looking. After you get everything set up give your child a little tour so they know and understand where everything is. The goal is for her to be able to get herself dressed without my help and also to be able to put her clean clothes away with zero assistance. Those two things make my life a whole lot easier, so it's crucial that she knows exactly where everything belongs.
I take it one step further and actually organize each category by color. Mainly because it makes it easier to find things in a hurry, and because I can tell her to put on her yellow tank and she'll know exactly where to find it. The less I have to help the better off everyone is. ;)
2. Keep everyday items within reach for your child.
If the goal is for your child to be as self sufficient as possible they need to be able to reach things. I realize in a closet this can be tough for little kids. Command hooks make it easy to hang over the door shoe holders much lower on the back of a closet door. In addition there are safe and easy to use fold up step stools that make it easier for a child to reach their hanging clothes. You can see the turquoise fold up stool we're using in my girl's closet in the first photo of this post.
Only store items you won't be needing regularly up high, and be sure to label them so you don't forget the contents.
3. Use every inch of space.
Closet doors are great for shoe storage and weekly outfit organization.
Since kids clothes don't typically hang down too low it's great to make use of the sides of a closet for things like calendars, overnight bags, belts, hats, etc. Again command hooks to the rescue as they are easy to remove later on down the road when their clothes actually hang lower.
4. Bring in an organizer with drawers.
If you have the space in your closet try bringing in something with drawers. Concealed storage is always great in my opinion and in a closet bringing in a nightstand or even one of those plastic storage totes with drawers makes it easy to store items you wouldn't typically hang or don't have space to hang in a closet. Plus it's just the right size for a kid. So even if your child is still too short to hang up their own clothes, they can still help out by putting away some things (like shorts, sweaters, jeans, leggings, etc) on their own. And since they are drawers and the contents are concealed it won't matter if your child's clothes folding ability is not quite perfect just yet. A quick spray paint job on an old nightstand gets the job done nicely.
5. Make it pretty.
Last but not least, and I say this with every organization project, but I really do think it helps. Taking the time to make any organized space pretty makes it that much more likely that the space will stay looking neat and tidy. I think maybe it's a mental thing, but it really is true. When your kids see a space looking neat, organized and pretty I think that motivates them to want to keep it that way. At least that's how it seems to work in my house.
If you're not sure where to start in the make-it-pretty department try taking some cues from the decor in your child's room.
Vinyl letters are a fun (easy to remove later) way to add special quotes.
For me the main goal is to make organizing fun and to keep a system in place that makes it easy for my kids to keep their spaces neat and tidy. But mainly I'm just trying to unload as many of my mom responsibilities as I can...........so that one day they will be fully functioning all on their own. When they start doing their own laundry I'll be doing the praise hands. ;)
Do you have any tried and true kids closet organization tips to share? Please share in the comments below!
No comments:
Post a Comment