Tips to Get your Home Organized, Part 1

Kids = Clutter. With children underfoot, clutter is impossible to avoid. But there are ways to manage their small and big messes - and even do it creatively.

1. Make sorting a family habit.
Don’t just tell the kids to put their stuff away; show them. In your entryway, provide one basket or bin per family member to serve as a catchall for things brought into the house and things to remember to bring on the way out. Encourage this habit of depositing things by placing containers in the most clutter-prone areas of your home. Don’t forget to install height-appropriate bins!

2. Establish play zones.
Are toys all over the house? Take your cue from Regina Lim who has marked official play areas for her daughters Jamie and Jillian. The two play zones in the Lim home are also dedicated to specific types of toys. Regina explains, “The toys that tend to be messier because they have more parts/components to them - puzzles, matchbox cars, plastic fruits, peg boards, cooking sets - are in our game room because that area is contained. If there are small pieces to a toy set, it’s easier to find them when misplaced.”

3. Rotate the play list.
Regina Lim, who is also a former preschool teacher, makes it a point to rotate her daughters’ toys to get more positive and creative results from playtime. “Often, when there are too many toys for kids to choose from, they get overwhelmed,” says Regina, “so we limit the toys that are out for them to play with. By rotating, toys seem new again to them.” Less physical clutter also translates to less mental clutter, so when her girls are playing with plastic building blocks, they are engaged in the activity and not distracted by other surrounding toys.

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4. Have fun with what you have.
On special occasions, toys can double as party props - and get a break from their image as clutter. Cres Yulo, mom of toddler Clara, has found a way to use her daughter’s musical toys for entertainment as well. “For New Year’s Eve Noche Buena,” Cres recalls, “I used Clara’s toys as the centerpiece for the tables. I spread out her musical toys in the middle and that’s what we used as noisemakers to welcome the new year. No torotots - just a few maracas pieces, tambourines, bells, and xylophones. The rest of her toys were strategically positioned as accent decor.”

5. Color-code clothing.
Joy Cabrera, mom of two young sons, organizes their clothing by color for two good reasons. “That way, it’s easier to find the color of the shirt I want, and their cabinets look organized.” The mom is also careful not to overstuff the boys’ closets. “Since we live in a condo,  I avoid buying too much stuff. I try to buy only the things we need the most.” And when they’ve outgrown clothes, shows, and toys, Joy gives the items away or sells them via a garage sale.

6. Sell them to other mommies.
What to do when you find yourself with more infant socks than you will ever need or three of the same dollhouse set? Resell them via online mommy forums, suggests June Tham, mother of baby Thea. “Half of the original price is better than junk in the store.” June is an active member of Singaporemotherhood.com and finds the network very useful. You can visit the Smartparenting.com.ph forums to find fellow parents who may be interested in the toys and clothes you’d like to unload. You can also create your own blog or Flickr album to show the items for sale. Just pass the URL around by e-mail to parent friends. An old-fashioned garage sale works just as effectively.

7. Supply a caddy.
Organize your kids’ art supplies the same way you organize home cleaning tools - round them all up in a handy caddy! Jamie and Jillian Lim each have their own art caddy filled with colored pencils, crayons, and all kinds of art supplies, thanks to their super-organized mom, Regina. Still, she makes sure the caddy is not an excessive pool of resources. “They have a variety of art supplies that are accessible to them,” Regina says, “but in limited quantities to minimize waste. They learn to maximize the use of their supplies. We only replenish the supplies when there is an actual need.”

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8. Sort and recycle.
When it comes to school papers and projects, Regina Lim combs through everything at the end of every quarter. “Whatever can be recycled as scratch paper, we do so. The rest go to the garbage bin,” says the mom.

9. Play the counting game.
Baker and culinary school instructor Pixie Sevilla-Santos has a daughter who also enjoys cooking and baking - well, the play version for now. “Miel has a lot of cooking and baking toys with very small parts,” Pixie says. “They are so hard to track down when they go missing!” This mom’s solution: “I bought big transparent plastic containers like pails. I assigned a pail for every set she has and labeled each, indicating how many pieces the set has. At the end of the day, it is easy for us to do an inventory and we just stack up everything.”

10. Make it personal.
Cherry Chan-Tan’s brood - five-year-old Dave, three-year-old Cady, and one-year-old Caitlin - share one playroom, but they each have their own little territories within. Cherry shares their strategy: “To better manage the toys, we’ve created personal spaces for each of them. They each have a corner with shelves for their own toys and the corners are personalized with their names. To better organize the toys within the shelves, we use color-coded stackable soft boxes that can be easily slid in and out of the shelves.”

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11. Give time, not things.
Have you come to dread birthday parties and holiday get-togethers because of the deluge of toys they usher? It’s not hopeless. Try this tactic shared by Apol Lejano-Massebieu, mom of baby Lilou: “I read a great suggestion from a mom who proposed to let relatives know that instead of toys, they can give your kids cards offering their time - a fixed time in the near future to play together, read together, or just hang out. This way you not only avoid toy clutter, you’re also giving your kid the opportunity to better know a family member.” You can begin the practice in your circle. When the birthdays of godkids, nieces, and nephews roll around, think of a way you can spend time and bond with them. Take them to a park or museum that will fuel one of their interests. Hopefully, their parents will be inspired to offer the same present to your children.

12. Redirect the gifts.
The next time you hold a birthday party, include a note in the invitation indicating what guests can do instead. Mom Regina Lim sees it as a practical move, especially for parents who like to hold annual parties. She suggests inserting a note like this one: “Jamie is now actively contributing to so-and-so institution and would like to invite you to do the same by bringing a gently used toy/clothing in lieu of birthday gifts.” Aside from controlling toy buildup in your home, the practice also teaches children about charitable giving. Regina Lim says, “I think it’s nice to start kids early in social awareness. Help them develop compassion towards the less fortunate. Kids get more than enough gifts from family members anyway.”

13. Use uniform containers.
Good Housekeeping Philippines Editor-in-Chief and homemaker Tisha Angluben says that matching containers give the illusion of less clutter. She takes this approach in her vanity areas. “I have a couple of matching pandan boxes for cosmetics and bathroom stuff that I don’t use often. I have individual, stackable plastic bins for my shoes. They don’t take up too much floor space since they’re stacked, and I can easily see what’s inside since they’re clear. Plus my shoes don’t get dusty.” Tisha is also a fan of creating small containers within a larger container: “My makeup drawer has various trays and small baskets. It’s better than having a massive drawer with a mishmash of stuff rolling around.”

Read also: Tips to Get your Home Organized, Part 2

Photo by nilexuk via flickr creative commons