by Calista Sprague

Parents refer to the scope of their children’s messes in terms of natural disasters: rooms hit by tornadoes and cyclones, items buried in avalanches of dirty clothes and books and toys cascading from shelves in landslides. Periodically the chaos reaches a level that warrants designation as a federal disaster area. What parent hasn’t pondered applying to FEMA for relief funds?

I will not lie, announcing in grand infomercial style, “In three easy steps you, too, can live clutter-free!” But I will assert that with three regularly employed tactics, you can at least make substantial improvements, no bulldozer required.

1 Identify the main source
No, not your child, that goes without saying. But take inventory. Is the majority of the mess clothing? Teddy bears? Toys with 10,000 parts? Art projects in progress?

Rather than attempting to turn your tiny tornado into a total neatnik all at once, address one set of behaviors at a time, giving the new habits a better chance to take root. Identify the biggest segment of the clutter and devise a system of organization your child can easily follow. Employ your children in the process, so they are integrally involved from the beginning.

2 Make it easy
Convenient access encourages children to put their belongings away. Be sure your child can easily reach every drawer or shelf. Remove lids from plastic bins and avoid stacking containers. These impediments slow down and discourage the process of putting toys away, whereas open bins allow kids to easily toss cars, blocks or crayons into the right spot.

Label each drawer or container with a word, or picture for the youngest ones, so they can easily see where an item should go. You might even glue an actual piece on the front of a bin, so at a glance, your child knows what belongs inside. An open laundry basket in the closet floor works great in lieu of a hamper for dirty clothes. Hampers get used more often when they are open, without lids and easy to access.

Toy boxes seem like a good idea, but quickly become black holes of disorganization. They work best for large, related items, such as sports equipment or stuffed animals.

3 Start a ritual
Most children respond well to routines. In fact, they often remind us parents when we diverge from our routine. Work a tidy-up time into your daily schedule, and your children will more readily adopt the habit. Consider adding clean- up time to the nightly ritual—put on PJs, brush teeth, pick up toys.

Mornings tend to be hectic, but they are a crucial time for clothing. Just getting dirty clothes in the hamper and PJs under the pillow every morning can make a big difference. Another benefit to being organized—your child can get dressed quicker without wasted time spent hunting misplaced items.

Weekends are a great time to wipe the slate clean. Any clutter that manages to accumulate during the week, despite best efforts to the contrary, can be dealt with on Saturday morning. Instate a rule that no one goes out to play with friends or participates in family fun until rooms are clean.

Common Offenders
Now that you’re armed with a few basics, peruse these more specific ideas for dealing with common sources of clutter.

Clothing:
First, donate any clothes that have been outgrown and throw away any stained or damaged pieces. Next, pick a drawer for each type of clothing. Socks and underwear go in the top drawer, PJs in the second, shirts in the third, and so on. Drawer dividers, available in most housewares departments, work great for the top drawer to keep small items separated—white socks in one, colorful socks in another and underwear in a third.

Kids’ clothes are small, so closet space may be wasted. Add shelves or put a chest of drawers in the closet for additional clothing or toy storage. A floor rack or hanging bag for shoes helps avoid the morning wail, “Mommmmmm, I can’t find my other sneaker!”

Stuffed Animals:
Dolls and fuzzy critters spontaneously reproduce at the end of the bed, in corners of the room, in closets— they’re everywhere. Cull the menagerie as best you can, then take advantage of vertical space. Consider hanging a shelf or two along one wall, out of the children’s reach, to display their assortment of inanimate friends. Invite two or three at a time to live on the bed. If the child wants to play with a different one, swap them. Another viable option—relegate Teddy and his buddies to a toy box. Once the box or shelf is full and a new friend arrives, someone else must leave to cheer a needy child at a hospital or charity.

Toys with pieces:
Parental moans and groans can be heard across the country on Christmas morning when children proudly show off 300-piece cooking sets, 1,000 piece Lego kits and 5,000-piece puzzles. Mom’s eyes glaze over, visualizing the trail of odd pieces and parts, littering every surface in the house, and Dad can already feel the sharp edges of a stray Lego brick digging into his unsuspecting bare feet. We parents need to ban together and lobby congress to require companies to package toys in convenient, reusable containers. If the original container is too flimsy or won’t fit on your child’s shelves, look for an inexpensive, clear plastic box or bin and label it. Under-the-bed bins work well for large collections or when divided, can store several smaller sets.

Projects:
Art and science projects exercise children’s creativity and imaginations, but they are also notorious mess makers. Designate a project basket or bin for work in progress, with the understanding that no new project starts until all materials from the last are put away. Your little Monet or Einstein can toss all the supplies into the basket and later, easily pick up where he left off.

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