How do I get a handle on children’s clothing (shorts, school clothes, skirts, pants, capris, short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, sweaters…etc. etc)? I am awash in laundry with little closet space! And I’ve tried to think of it in terms of how many days of clothing (2 weeks) might be ideal yet am still overwhelmed (I’ve two girls who wear the same size!) … HELP!

I recommend starting this process by sorting your daughters’ clothing into warm and cool weather piles. Put all the summer-appropriate things in one pile, and the winter-appropriate things in another. You may also have a third pile for multiple-weather items, like jeans, socks, and underwear.

Assuming that your daughters are under 14, you can now get rid of all of the summer items and, if they’re in good shape, give them to charity. There is no way that your daughters will be wearing the same size next summer, so clear out these items permanently. If your daughters are high school age and have finished their growth spurt, sort the summer clothes into keep and purge piles. Put the keep items into pest-proof storage for the winter and, if they’re in good shape, pass the purge items onto charity.

Once you have the summer clothes out of the way, you will hopefully begin to feel a sense of relief and won’t be too overwhelmed with the rest of this process.

Next, immediately purge any items that are ill-fitting, damaged, or out-of-style. (Your daughters will be able to tell you what’s “not cool” in their closets, even if they’re as young as kindergarten.)

After this, look at what is left and decide if you need to continue. If you need to keep cutting clutter out of their closets, I recommend sorting by purpose — your kids might have school clothes, dress-up clothes, play in the mud clothes, and uniforms for clubs or teams. Once these purpose piles are created, bring each down to a manageable size. As you suggested in your question, two weeks worth of school clothes sounds like a good idea to me. Each girl probably doesn’t need more than three or four dress-up outfits, one or two play-in-the-mud pieces, and, if applicable, just one or two uniforms per club or team. Look at your family’s schedule, though, to get these numbers right for your needs.

Finally, it may be time to have your daughters start to do their own laundry. By fifth or sixth grade, children can be responsible for taking care of their wardrobe. If you can teach them how to take care of their things, you won’t be swimming in laundry any longer. Good luck!

Thank you, Miriam, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

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From the article “Cleaning Children’s Rooms“:

Make a cleaning map for a child’s room, showing where everything is to be stored. Include items such as compact discs, shoes, books, stuffed animals and dirty laundry. Not only is this fun and educational, but the child also has no excuse about not knowing where to put away items.

How do you inspire your children to do chores? Let’s keep the conversation going in the comments.

(Thanks to Parenthacks for the link.)

There is also free for download on the site a beautiful After School Routine Poster. Check out more back-to-school printables from Living Locurto.

(Image from Living Locurto. And, a special thanks to LobotoME for the introducing me to these wonderful free prints.)

Pens and pencils, chapstick, scissors, flash drives, cell phone, iPod, granola bars, random electronics cables, pens, calculators, flashcards, earrings, more pens … etc, etc. And not only do I wind up with all this unwanted stuff, when I do want something I can never find it! I most definitely need some help.

I thought about saving this question for Friday’s Ask Unclutterer column, but with school starting for so many students I thought earlier might be better than later.

The first thing you’ll want to do is assess what you need to carry with you each day. The list you gave is a good starting point, but you probably also carry notebooks, textbooks, paper, folders, keys, and a few other odds and ends with you. Whatever these things are, set them out on a table so that you can see them all at once.

Next, evaluate these things. Are you missing anything you regularly need? Do you have duplicate items? Are the items in good condition? Are the objects durable for constant travel? Get rid of anything you don’t need and get your hands on those things you do need for the school year.

When evaluating durability, you’ll want to be honest with yourself about how hard you are on things. When I was in school, I found that I couldn’t use paper folders. Three or four weeks into the semester they would be torn and tattered. I had to use three-ring binders for all of my notes and an aluminum portfolio for my artwork (I started college as a painting major). This also meant that I carried a small three-hole punch at the front of each binder so that I could immediately store all of the handouts. (I also loaded 100 or so loose-leaf sheets of notebook paper into each binder for taking class-specific notes.)

Be sure to use sturdy containers for food stuffs, like your granola bars. It’s never fun to find smooshed up food at the bottom of your bag. And, don’t forget to regularly clean this container.

You will also want a backpack organizer of some kind to give all of your tools a proper place to live. I prefer the pocket organizers like the one pictured, but you could easily get a pencil case and put all of your supplies into one zipper pouch.

Finally, set up a routine for when you get home to immediately process all of the contents of your backpack. Much like you would sort mail, you will want to recycle, trash, scan, file, wash, and deal with everything from your bag. Within five minutes of arriving home, your bag should be empty except for your tools stored in your backpack organizer.

Lisa, I hope this advice helps to get your backpack organized. Good luck at school!

To solve this dilemma, Kendra repurposed an antique kitchen cupboard to fit her children’s modern toy storage needs. Using smaller boxes for specific types of toys, now the kids can keep all their doll items in one bin and all the LEGO bricks in another.

Kendra also has turned an antique dining room sideboard into a charging station by her front door. She drilled a hole in the back of one of the drawers using a 1/4″ drill bit, ran all of her charging adapters through the hole to a power strip underneath the sideboard, and now has one central drawer to charge her PDA and cell phone.

Using the same drill bit, she converted another antique sideboard into an entertainment center that hides all of the cables for her television, DVR, cable box, and DVD player.

To be organized in your home, you don’t have to purchase the latest piece of furniture from a current designer. Find the piece that suits your needs and work with it.

Organize your routine with fun daily checklists. Amanda Wiss uses checklists to teach her 3-year-old how to get ready for pre-school. For the morning, she includes: brush teeth, take vitamin, eat breakfast, get dressed, put on shoes. “Charlotte is exceedingly proud of herself for doing all the things on ‘her list,’” she says. Older kids can have more advanced checklists that include completing homework, practicing a musical instrument, setting the table, putting out an outfit for the next day–anything you’d like your child to consistently complete. Update lists to incorporate new activities and goals.

Check out the other eight great tips for even more ideas.

1. Remember where you parked
Whether at the mall, an amusement park, or a concert with your kids, the last thing you want to do is delay getting home because you can’t find your car in the enormous parking garage or lot. When you first park, snap a picture of identifying information near your space and save it to Evernote. If you’re in a rental, also add a picture of the license plate of the car you’re driving. Once you’re back, either delete the pictures or add notes about the quality of the spot if it’s somewhere you might want to park again. “Great place for quickly getting onto the highway ramp after a packed concert at Wolf Trap Amphitheater.”

Feel welcome to check it out and come back here and add to the list. Tell us how you use Evernote and other technologies to organize your busy family life.

Sure, you could easily create a digital list or a list on a sheet of paper, but both run the risk of being lost. This way, you can be sure your child makes it wherever he needs to go with everything on his list.

It’s novel, and I like when organizing can be fun.

A round-up of tips from the video:

• No television an hour before bedtime.
• Prepare for the morning rush in the hour before sleep. Backpacks should be packed, clothes need to be chosen for the next day, etc.
• Wake up your child in the morning with a whisper and a kiss, not screams and demands.
• Give children at least an hour to bathe, get dressed, eat breakfast, and brush their teeth before needing to be out the door.
• Get rid of distractions, like toys.
• Give “warning” messages at 10, 5, and 1 minutes before time to leave.

Do you have additional tips to add to this list? Please share them in the comments.

Recently, I spotted on Apartment Therapy’s Ohdeedoh website a perfect, uncluttered solution: A sandbox on wheels

You can roll the sandbox into your garage when not in use (keeping out unwanted cats and pests), wheel it onto a patio or grassy area when in use, and you can roll it over to a neighbor’s house for their children to use when your kids outgrow it. Just be sure to get locking wheels when you’re buying supplies so your child doesn’t roll on out of your yard while playing.

(Image from Ohdeedoh)

You obviously don’t have kids.

I know that these are lighthearted statements meant to let off a little steam about one’s personal experience, but they always rub me the wrong way.

Simply stated: Having children and being uncluttered are not mutually exclusive endeavors. You can have both. Problems occur when people (of any age) have more stuff than they can store and routines do not exist to take care of the things they own.

If a child has so many toys that they are strewn in every room of the house, it’s time to get rid of a large selection of the toys. If the child doesn’t have a toy chest, cabinet, or closet to properly store his toys, then he needs one. Lay out all of your child’s toys on the living room floor for him to review. Next, have him pick which toys will be kept and which ones will be donated to charity (or recycled or thrown away, if necessary). Have your child go with you to make the charitable donation so that he can see the children who are benefitting from his generosity. Then, after returning home, organize the remaining toys in a designated storage area.

A reader on the site recently left a comment that I agree with wholeheartedly:

If a child is old enough to get out a toy to play, she is old enough to put it away.

Yes, it takes diligence to monitor a child’s behavior to know when to encourage her to put away her things after play time, but it’s not impossible. If you’re unable to keep on top of toys being put away at the end of every play time, then have a routine in place where the child walks through the entire house and puts away all errant toys 15 minutes before starting her bedtime routine. Teaching children these life skills at an early age will help them to always live an uncluttered life. Yes, there will be times when your encouragement will be met with resistance, but such are the ways of parenthood.

Be sure to check out our previous posts in the Baby and Children categories to get even more ideas and suggestions about keeping toy clutter under control.

The INCHworm shoe is a decent solution to the ever-growing child’s foot. The shoe is adjustable and extends itself by one whole size, in half-size increments. So a size six can become a six and a half and then eventually a seven. This would surely extend the life of the shoe by several months. From the product description:

Inchworm shoes are design specially for kids, both boys and girls. These shoes grow with your kids as your kids feet grow, one full size in two half size increments. With the 1 fit System you have the possibility to adapt the shoes to your children feet. Inchworm shoes are made in two parts with rubber outsole & PU midsole for the best comfort and support with anatomic insole and latex heel pad. The uppers are made from quality leathers and synthetic mesh. Inchworm shoes will last approximately 3-6 months longer than an ordinary pair of shoes. Simply push the button on the side of the heel and watch in amazement as the shoe grows.

This is a pretty cool idea. What do you guys think? Let your opinions fly in the comments section.

(via CNet’s Crave)

My wife and I recently discovered the website One More Story. It is a great way to supplement your child’s book collection while increasing her reading comprehension and basic computing skills. The site has the equivalent of books on tape with highlighted words. The site also includes illustrations, sound effects, and music with certain stories. A demonstration is available for preview. 

One More Story currently has over 50 children’s books available. A year-long subscription costs $44, which is less than $4 per month. My wife and I didn’t hesitate to subscribe and we have enjoyed using this site with our daughter. Instead of packing up a handful of books when we travel, we simply log on to One More Story and have access to their library from any computer with internet access.

If board game and puzzle organization has you stumped, here are some suggestions for getting your games in order:

• When acquiring new board games, consider purchasing games in “library” or “book” style boxes. They easily fit on a bookshelf and their standardized sizes make cupboard storage convenient, too. Hasbro has numerous classic games in its library series (Risk, Monopoly, Scrabble, Sorry, Yahtzee, Clue, Stratego, Life, Jenga, Memory, Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and Hi, Ho! Cherry-O). And, many of the Rio Grande games also come in bookshelf-friendly boxes, like Carcassonne and Puerto Rico.
• To avoid losing pieces, bundle everything but the game board and box into zip-top bags when the game is not in use. It’s a lot easier to find a bag of men, dice, and cards than it is to find a single piece.
• Use gallon size zip-top bags for puzzle pieces if the puzzle box is damaged. Take a picture of the puzzle box top and put it in with the pieces in the bag. Or, if you’re up for a challenge, just write the name of the puzzle on the bag with a permanent marker and don’t have a picture to follow.
• If your child is a fan of wood puzzles, the Wire Puzzle Rack can hold more than 10 wooden puzzles of varying sizes.
• A puzzle mat is good for storing puzzles when you need to put it away but aren’t yet finished working on it.
• If the box for a game becomes so damaged that it is no longer containing a game, there are plastic board game boxes to hold the pieces and most boards.

How do you store board games and puzzles in your home? Let us know your suggestions in the comments!

My daughter has received some rather gimmicky toys over her first couple years and we have been pretty good at predicting which toys will be the duds. The classics are always reliable and have proven their entertainment value by their staying power. That’s why we purchased our daughter some basic wooden blocks this past Christmas. They are simple, versatile, and provide imaginative play for our daughter. Blocks are among the classic toys mentioned by Simple Mom along with art supplies, dress-up clothes, books, and dolls (among others):

Our general guidelines for toys are that they’re made of quality materials, they appeal to a whole range of kids, and they’re open-ended to make room for all sorts of creative play.

I also encourage you to browse around Simple Mom’s site. It is a great read for those of us who are dealing with being a uncluttered parent.

If you receive new slippers (very exciting I know) you should get rid of your old ones. In all likelihood, your received the new slippers for a reason.

One important area where we make a concerted effort to keep in check is our daughter’s toy collection. When she receives an above-average size gift, like an chalkboard/easel, we will remove a similarly sized older toy. For example, we would remove something like a kitchen play set. Toys are a constant struggle to keep in check. It is also a good idea to have your child take part in choosing what is to be donated and help them understand a toy they no longer play with is going to a less fortunate child.

Munchlers come in four varieties including a dog, panda, tiger, and bunny. These are fun, practical, and, most importantly, reusable lunch bags. Built NY has some great designs while offering very affordable products.

(via ohdeedoh)

She takes part in the nightly ritual of picking up all her toys that are left on the floor in the den before she goes to bed. The task only takes a couple of minutes and it leaves the room less cluttered than it was. She has become quite adept at this task and sometimes she even initiates it.

In an article in the Washington Post, the issue of teaching a young child the importance of pitching in around the home is examined. From the article:

Now that my daughter, at 20 months, is old enough to do things such as put her shirt in a hamper and wipe a spill — or at least some portion of it — I realize that this is my opportunity to strike. The second her masticated Cheerios hit the floor is a teachable moment, a chance to explain that half-chewed food lives in the trash and not under our feet. By showing her how to clean up after herself, child development experts tell me, I am instilling a sense of accomplishment and helping her master the subtle variation in skill required to scoop up squished cereal as opposed to squished peas.

The article covers different aspects of household chores and looks at the amount of time that we spend on chores in general. According to research, the amount of time that we spend on chores has decreased significantly over the last 20 years. The decrease in household chores is due to both parents working, children taking part in more activities, and outsourcing to cleaning services.

If household chores have decreased on average, then there are still many things that your child should learn to help out with around the home. A cleaning service isn’t in your home 24/7, so picking up after themselves is at the top of the list. The younger they are, the easier it is to instill this basic task into their routine.

The hack uses the Ikea Pax wardrobe and Trofast storage boxes, which fit perfectly in the slots. This hack stores an incredible about of toys and is simple to create. I’m not sure if my daughter has enough toys to fill a full Pax wardrobe, but I’m sure we will be able to find use for all of the drawers.

(via ohdeedoh)

1. Egg cartons. They make great caterpillars, they’re good storage containers for little treasures found on walks, and they can even become airline seats for little animal toys. 

5. Dried beans or rice. It’s fun to pour into bowls and cups of different sizes, and it’s a good sensory exercise. Sand works well, too.

7. Washed out empty food containers. My daughter loves to play kitchen, and she’s stocked with some of our empty syrup, ketchup, and dressing bottles. No need to buy a child-size version of the same plastic thing.

We do have the miniature versions of food products. The variety pack of just about every Kraft food imaginable was a gift and those tiny replicas turn up just about everywhere around the house. The regular size hand-me-downs would be easier to clean up and keep in order.

We also use egg cartons as a way to keep the finger paints in a confined space while our daughter creates her next masterpiece. The paint inevitably ends up all over the place, but the egg carton is a great way to bring a bit of organization to the painting chaos.