8 Tips to Declutter With Kids [#020]

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On this show, we talk about how to declutter with your kids. That might sound like the exact opposite of what you would like to do because we all know that it can be incredibly difficult to get your children on board, but listen closely because we are going to offer some great tips on how to get kids to declutter without the battles. If you have kids, you do not want to miss this episode!

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8 tips to get kids to declutter.
I know, I know...you are probably thinking these tips will not help because wow, let’s face it, decluttering with the kids can feel like a battleground! But I promise, decluttering will actually help you end the battles and it is worth some temporary struggles during the decluttering process.

But hopefully, with these tips, you won’t even face any of the struggles. And the beautifully amazing benefit is that with less clutter, your children will actually be able to clean their rooms without feeling overwhelmed!

I remember watching my young child face a huge mess and instantly being hit with the realization that he wasn’t just being difficult by refusing to clean up his toys...he was literally overwhelmed by his toys and the sheer amount he had pulled out. After implementing these tips, our lives changed and we saw a huge difference in his attitude and ability to feel in control of his toys, his room, and also his attitude about cleaning up.

Tip #1
Set a timer, keep it short, and only tackle an area that you know you can get done with during that timer window. This might mean that you need to complete a zone worksheet with your child so you can decide together (if your child is old enough for this) how to divide the room into certain “tackle zones” that can be completed in short bursts of activity. If your child knows that they will only have to declutter for a short period of time, and if they know ahead of time what they will be decluttering, you will have addressed two major battles before even getting started. Hopefully, just by seeing the short amount of time required to declutter and also the small area that they are going to tackle during that time, they will not feel overwhelmed. One of my children has a much easier time with decluttering if he knows in advance that we are going to be addressing that area soon as he can process that things in that toy area will be changing soon. We are giving you our zone worksheet in our Power Plan so you can have that all ready for your decluttering project.

Tip #2 Make it a game and set the rules before you actually get started.

My kids have watched the HGTV show- Love It or List It, so we play this game fairly often with clothes, books, and toys. If you haven’t seen this show- basically a homeowner has a house they want to renovate in one area and HGTV does that while the homeowner looks at a new house to buy. At the end- they get to decide if they will love it--their remodeled home, or list it--and move into the home they found to buy. My kids LOVE doing this with their clothes and room items. It’s amazing how many things they actually part with willingly that I would never have tossed if I had been making the decision.

Tip #3 Get cubes, boxes, bins, baskets or anything--make sure it all has a “home”. If you haven’t already, help them get the area under control by using bins or boxes and help them understand that their toys must fit into that bin or box. Instead of using one bin or toy box, divide the toys into types and have a bin, box, or basket for each of those. Get them to ask themselves easy questions: Do you love this toy and play with it often? Do they have room in their bin to keep this toy or is the bin overflowing? Make sure to sort the toys with either “like items” or with how they play. For example, we have certain castle blocks with their knights because they always play with those together. However, something like stuffed animals always stay in the same bin together.

Tip #4 On the same topic of bins, it is important to have a set space for all of the toy bins and if there is no more room for a bin, something else has to go for the most treasured items to stay. If it is too hard to get rid of some of the toys, you can absolutely rotate toy bins. If you don’t have enough room for the toy bins to stay organized, you can rotate out toys. This means that you will have to store toy bins in the attic, garage, or basement, but it is a good way to entertain the children with “new” toys. Some people do this even if they have room because it often allows kids to get some renewed interest in old toys if they are taken away for awhile.

Tip #5 Pair down the clothes because they can make a room sloppy and impossible to clean. Go through all of the clothes or at least a section of the closet. Have a bag or box for donating or perhaps a garage sale already for the items that no longer fit and can’t be handed down to younger siblings. If your child does not ever wear certain items, now is a great time to simply get rid of them. You can develop a strategy on how many items of clothing that are needed and agree on that with your child. This is also a great zone to play love it or list it.

Tip #6 Prepare for holidays and birthdays by decluttering before any gifts are actually opened. Something like a holiday or birthday where lots of gifts are given can mean a messy room or playroom for weeks while you try to get things under control. You can proactively manage this by decluttering and making at least some space before any of those gifs are actually unwrapped.

Tip #7 help them let go of items by talking about giving to other children in need. Children often have a difficult time parting with items, but that can be mitigated by talking about the needs of other children who might not have as many things. Children can be very empathetic and sometimes they will get rid of more toys simply because they know that they will go to other homes and be well loved.

Tip #8 Model good behavior and have a great attitude about decluttering. If you can have a positive attitude during decluttering, and be able to talk about the benefits in children's’ terms, decluttering will never feel like a negative thing. Some ideas to discuss during the decluttering process include how you will be able to spend less time cleaning and more time as a family now that no one will have to be managing a ton of clutter.

We want to offer you the support of a community that can help you with your decluttering projects. Be sure to join it by clicking the community link in the Power Plan at crunchysupermom.com/blog/020

We hope that this podcast has provided you with a better idea of exactly how you can declutter with your kids. Remember, we do have an entire mission on decluttering on the Super Mom Solution. We would love to hear about your organization projects! Email us or leave us a review if you found this helpful so other Super Moms can find us too. Don’t forget to grab the free the PowerPlan we made for you to quickly reference what we have talked about here today.