Managing Kids Clutter

Kids clutter -  whew! It overwhelms me just to bring it up! Lol. How do you manage it? Do you declutter for them? Do you just let them have everything they want and not worry about the mess?

Everyone has their own opinion of how to handle kid clutter - here is how we handle it in our house.

*See video below for a real-life decluttering day at our house.

Let’s start at the beginning. I have 2 kids. My son is 13 and my daughter is 10. When they were around 6 and 3 we lived in a house with a large playroom upstairs. There were toys EVERYWHERE! There were times I would walk up there and there wasn’t one clear space on the floor - like I couldn’t even see the carpet.

(not my image)

We would clean it all up, and by ‘we’ I mean me. I would clean it all up. For storage, we had those shelves/cubes with the fabric drawers … LOTS of them… 4 or 5 of them! and I’d categorize toys and label drawers and everything. I’d get it back in ship-shape and then, in what seemed like 20 minutes, it was chaos again.

And the funny thing was that the kids would only play up there for a few minutes then they’d come down and say how bored they were. WHAT!?!? Bored?! How could they be bored with so much stuff? I’d tell them how thankful they should be and how blessed they were.

I thought this was how life was supposed to go. I was just supposed to repeat this process over and over and over. I had no idea there was any other way to manage it - just do the best you can and keep going.

About 4 years later, I came across a video by The Minimal Mom. I wasn’t looking for any answers or solutions, but boy did I find them… and it changed my life.

Dawn, (The Minimal Mom) explained how having less stuff made life more manageable and less stressful. I first thought, yeah, that sounds great but HOW!? And my kids aren’t going to want to get rid of their toys!

It started with ME. My kids watched me start decluttering the house. I was throwing out stuff left and right. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t easy at first. I was a ‘keeper’ - I had lots of “stuff” - decor pieces I never used, picture frames, comforters and sheets galore … some text books from college and even a few items from elementary school. I had SO MUCH STUFF! (And I’m no spring chicken!) I’d been holding onto THINGS for YEARS!! But once I started and got into it, my children took notice. In fact, they flat out asked me if could they declutter their stuff. #winning

(not my image)

“Things” - I started looking at items as just THINGS. Why were *things* so important to me? I slowly realized the joy of letting go. In doing this, my kids kept watching. They saw how I was less overwhelmed each day and they wanted to be a part of it.

We got started right away. I let them be a part of each and every decision. I would encourage and suggest but ultimately I wanted them to be able to make decisions and choices that they would feel good about. (Obviously, if your kids are still younger - you will need to help more of course).

Did you know that having too many toys can prevent kids from developing their imagination. Kids will naturally use their imaginations to play when you remove excess toys. Have you ever seen a kid with a box and a marker or pair of scissors?!

In this article “Do Your Kids Have Too Many Toys” it was said that "children become overwhelmed and over-stimulated and cannot concentrate on one toy long enough to learn.”

When children have less toys:
- The use of an imagination can become more fully developed
- Attention spans become longer
- Social skills are enhanced as kids interact with each other
- Kids learn to take better care of what they have
- Opens kids up to exploring artistic activities like music and art
- Increased development of problem solving skills
- Less fighting and more sharing between kids
- More opportunities to explore nature
- Less household clutter

My kids and I actually found joy in letting go, giving to others and freeing up space in our home. We all commented often on how nice it was to have less clutter around and how much easier it was to keep things tidy.

Note: This is NOT a once and done process!

 
A mistake I made in the beginning was thinking that once I decluttered, that was it. This is not so. “Things” will continue to find their way into your home so you will need to regularly declutter to keep that ‘ahhh’ feeling of a calm and simple home.

However, you will notice that it is MUCH easier to keep things tidy and clean and MUCH easier to let things go when you need to - now that you’ve built up those “decluttering muscles”!

Get the kids involved. You don’t have to do it all by yourself. Teach them how to declutter and the benefits of decluttering so they can manage all their ‘stuff’ when they are older.

My best and final advice for managing kids clutter I’ve already mentioned once before. Let them see YOU declutter and simplify. They will notice! And they will be much more inclined to join in.

Need help decluttering but short on time? I can help you with that!
Get my 10-Minute Decluttering Guide

Like to keep track of the number of items you declutter?
Decluttering check off one-by-one chart

Until next time -
Happy Decluttering!
Lisa

Life With Less Stuff