It’s been a while since I shared an update and our homeschool/playroom has changed quite a bit! We now have more toys, more learning materials and our book collection has quadrupled. It’s definitely more fun but it’s also definitely a lot messier!
Tidying up a playroom or homeschool room can seem daunting (especially when you see all those toys all over the floor) but trust me; keeping your playroom organized is easier than you think! Here are 10 tips to get you started.
1. Begin by decluttering
Be ruthless about decluttering. Get rid of everything you don’t need. Or would it be better to phrase it this way: Keep only what you really need!
Stop holding on to the following:
- Toys your kids hardly use: They won’t look for it, I promise.
- Things that are really poorly made: Better to invest in a few, really high quality things
- Books that don’t add value: Read more about curating your kids’ books here!
- Excess art supplies: Donate all those extra markers. You really don’t need them!
- Craft materials you were saving for next time: When “next time!” comes, you’ll probably use a new one because you forgot you had these to begin with.
Sell them, give them away and if nothing else, throw them out. As Marie Kondo would say, keep only what is essential and what sparks joy. (And don’t say those loose scraps bring you joy!)
2. Assign a place for everything
Divide all things in categories and sub-categories. For example, I placed all our storybooks on one shelf and separated them into categories. Books about the lives of artists go on one bin (we surprisingly have a lot of Van Gogh themed books haha) and books with talking animals go on another. We also made a separate bin for all of Luke’s favorites, so it’s easier for him to access them.
The same goes with toys. Puzzles are all in one bin, play doh accessories in another and so on.
3. Get uniform containers
The bottom line: It will look neater when all your bins look the same!
I used to love different colored boxes. I also loved repurposing whatever box I had at home as a storage bin. Although there’s nothing wrong with those, it definitely did not give off a sleek vibe, even after I’ve sorted the items out. (You can use those repurposed boxes for organizing your drawers instead!)
So I recently sold my colorful boxes and used my earnings from that to purchase these clear plastic magazine files and open white bins. A worthwhile investment for sure! Now our shelves look neat and I feel really happy whenever I see the room.
4. Label it all!
Labelling not only helps you, it also helps your kids easily identify where things go. This makes it easier for them to get what they need and to put things back in their proper place after.
You can easily use a labeller for this but what I do for mine is I print them in card stock paper and I laminate each one. This way, it’s easier to peel and transfer the labels when needed. They also don’t get easily destroyed.
If you have really young kids who haven’t learned how to read yet, I suggest putting images or icons on the labels (similar to what I did with some of our bins; as seen in photo on #3)
5. Display items you want your kids to get
So here’s a neat trick: put toys and books you want your kids to use at a place they can easily see and reach.
When it’s easily accessible, your kids will naturally gravitate towards it. I got an open bookshelf for our playroom where I put books I want my son to read at the moment. Then I regularly rotate the books. It really works! I also put the toys and materials I want him to play with on our open shelves.
As for everything else, I hide them in our closet, which brings me to my next tip:
6. Designate a secondary storage area
Our secondary storage area is our cabinet. Since the items are stuffed inside a closed cabinet, they are out of plain sight.
Because all the things here are items we currently don’t need to use, it lessens the clutter we see in the room on a daily basis AND it keeps my kid from getting distracted with all the extras. He only plays and uses the ones that are on the open shelves and can therefore focus more on those.
Take note though that this is NOT the place to dump everything haphazardly! As much as possible make sure all items are neatly stored and properly labelled so that you know exactly where you can get them when the need arises.
7. Use magazine file cases to hide paper items
I am hoarding these Ikea magazine file cases for this purpose: I hide all our paper items here.
Since I homeschool Luke, we have slowly been amassing a ton of worksheets and a lot of other miscellaneous paper items. These paper items are an eyesore and can easily make a room look messy. If you hide them inside a clean, white magazine file case, they magically disappear! Haha.
To give you an idea, I put finished course books and course books yet-to-be used here.
8. Intentionally leave some spaces empty
This is a lesson I learned just a few months ago: you don’t need to fill up every space available.
I used to put so many things on top of these shelves: our globe, a tray for his nature studies and so on. But whenever we would study or work on crafts, I found myself needing a place where I can dump things temporarily. Since I had no empty spaces, I would put them on top of whatever was on top of the shelf. Of course, this started a whole new mess I had to clean up after.
So don’t be afraid of empty spaces. They are not a “waste” of space. In fact, they make the room look neater.
9. Invest in only a few (but) good things
That cheap toy may seem like a no-brainer purchase since it only costs less than you would pay for a meal. But that cheap toy, believe it or not, comes with a price: it will either break easily (more trash for you to clean up next time) or it will just distract your kids from the really good toys that they have.
Instead, invest in a few good art materials that will last you months (and get rid of the rest!) Invest in a few good toys for pretend play, a few good board games and a few good puzzles. You’ll not only find your kids playing with wonderful, well-designed and well-thought of items, but they would also have a greater appreciation for the few things that they have.
10. Resist the urge to fill the room up
Once you start clearing up the room and keeping your playroom organized, it may seem like you finally have a ton of space for new things. You’ll be tempted to buy a lot of nice new things and I totally get that. I tried convincing myself that the room would look better if I bought more paint cans and displayed them on the shelf even though we had enough paint as it is!
But if you don’t need anything; don’t buy! Some other buying tips:
- Don’t buy 2 or 3 of everything, just in case. If they need a set of crayons, get them just one set. If they need blue paint, buy one tube. You don’t need to buy 3. When you run out, that’s the only time you buy more.
- Don’t buy something you don’t need now but might need for next time. Unless you have a clear plan as to where and how you’re gonna use this next time, do yourself a favor and DON’T BUY IT. It will only serve as clutter in the next few months or worse, years.
- Always ask yourself it will add value to your kids’ life at the present. If that item is just for decorative purposes or will not contribute anything significant (maybe just fun for a short time,) you may want to rethink that purchase.
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I’m currently on the road to minimalism
…and dragging my (reluctant) family with me! So keep an eye out for more ideas on keeping your space neat and living with less (yep, even with kids!) right here on the blog.
Do you have requests for what you’d like me to discuss next? Or maybe you have your own tips you’d like to share? Leave them in the comments below!