10 Tips for Decluttering/Organizing a Child’s Room

1. Clean out your child’s toys at least twice a year. We have decided to do it just before birthdays and Christmas. It is a given that new items will be coming into his room at this times, so donating older toys to charity makes way for the new without having an overflowing toybox.
2. Go through your child’s closet at the end of each season. When they are little, kids run though clothing sizes. Remove all of the clothing that he will not be able to wear the following year and donate, sell, or trade for new clothing for the current season.
3. Purchase a book shelf for your kid’s room. This is a must if your child has a ton of books like mine does. My son currently has over 100 books at just one year old, and they were starting to get piled on his toybox, changing table, and his closet. The small 3-shelf bookcase organized everything neatly, and there is even room for blankets and art supplies on the bottom shelf.
4. Utilize closet space wisely. Our son’s closet has a bar for clothing and a shelf just above it. We hang the majority of his clothing, and fold the rest for storage in the dresser. The top shelf holds his baby book, items that we plan to keep, and other items.
5. Tote boxes are your friend! We currently have two tote boxes in my son’s closet. One is for clothing and shoes that has gotten too little and we plan to get rid of, and the other is for keepsakes, such as his “coming home outfit”. Smaller totes can also be used to organize toys.
6. A toybox is a must for organizing a child’s room! Toys accumulate quickly after the child is born, so be prepared with a box that is suitable for holding the majority of his toys.
7. Get a net for stuffed animals. Many people think it’s cute to buy a stuffed toy every now and then, and these babies can add up quickly! Installing a net in the corner of the room just below the ceiling offered an organized method for displaying and storing all the furry creatures.
8. Avoid leaving things in your child’s room that do not belong there. Clutter collects quickly in areas when items are placed where they shouldn’t be. Teach your child that toys from the playroom, for example, are not to kept in his bedroom.
9. Get the kids involved. If you are the only one organizing and decluttering, plan to continue doing so. As your children get older, they need to learn the importance of putting things away and tossing out trash. Encourage them to keep their room neat to make the job easier for you.
10. Practice a regular cleaning and organization schedule. Vacuum and dust your child’s room at least once a week to avoid a collection of dust. This can be a chore for your child once he is old enough.

Organization and decluttering requires some proactive thinking on the parent’s part. In order to have a clean bedroom for your child, you need to consider all of the items in it and give each one a home. Regular maintenance of the room will promote a tidy space for your kid to play and sleep in.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Hot Wheels® blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Last night, my friend Nichole texted me to let me know my Thirty One stuff had came in. I ordered a tote bag and matching organizer for my couponing supplies. The organizer is small and I can take it into the store with me if I do not want to carry my huge binder (which I still need to talk about and post photos of…when I get time). James, Sawyer, and I are going to go over to her house this afternoon and pick up my stuff. I have to show James her house…they had to built earlier this year, and wow, it’s just amazing. I love it and want it!! It’s so open and spacious, has 4 bedrooms and a bonus room for her husband, and it’s just drool-worthy

Once Sawyer’s party is over this weekend, I am going to start thinking about Christmas. His big gift from Santa is probably going to be a play kitchen. I am hoping I can find some coupons codes that will help easy the price tag for it!

Describe your current place of residence. What do you like and dislike about it? Do you live alone or with someone else? How long do you see you staying at your current residence?

James, Sawyer, our golden retriever, and I currently live in a three bedroom, two bathroom home in a quiet neighborhood. There is also a kitchen, dining area, living room, and garage. I like that we own a home…I have lived in mobile homes my entire life, and it just feels safer and roomier here. I also like that we are so close to town. We are five minutes from everything. We have a decent size yard and the house came with a pool (which we have yet to fix up, so it cannot be used since the last owners really let it go before they left).

I dislike the actual location of our home, as I am not a fan of super close neighbors, especially when they are not too friendly. They speak to us, but we don’t invite/get invited for things. We just aren’t close with anyone here. I would like to live where I have more acreage for myself so that everyone can’t see me when I’m sitting on the deck or playing outside with the puppy and Sawyer. I also don’t like that the house is 11 years old and things are getting to where they need to be repaired or replaced.

I’d like to say I could see us moving in the future, but I really cannot. Our next move will either be to a home we build, or out of this city due to James getting a new job or transferring to a new location with his current job. We hope to be able to build a home within the next 5-6 years, but since we haven’t begun to save and still need to pay off some debts, I don’t know if that will happen.

James then started researching online about electrical wiring and started fooling around with the light switches last weekend. By the time I got home last Saturday night from shopping with my mom and sister, he had the foyer, front porch, and hall closet, and hall lights working. This week, he got the living room light to work. Our bedroom light just stopped working last month, and no one has to deal with it but us, so it wasn’t as big of a priority as the other lights in the house.

He is leaving out tomorrow on a business trip, so he will be working on the bedroom light when he gets home. Until then, my sister, Sawyer, and I are going to enjoy using the overhead lighting rather than the lamps while he is gone!

Show us your dream house! Either draw it, find a picture of it, or compile a picture of it through an editing program. Why is it your dream house?

I don’t have time to draw it all out (though I probably should have already that so I don’t forget what all I want!) because I still have a ton of work (cleaning and freelancing) to finish before going to bed, but I will show a photo of something similar.

I want my house to be made of a neutral grayish colored stucco because of it’s clean and contemporary. I would also want it to be one story (I despise stairs). Inside would be 3-4 bedrooms, a music room, a game room, and an indoor pool.

We thoroughly enjoyed our last day of vacation, leaving the room around 11am and not returning until almost 8pm. We drove down to Destin to do some shopping. I got some great deals on fall and winter clothes for Sawyer. I picked up a brown zippered hoodie from Old Navy for $1.47 and navy pants from there for $3. The Children’s Place had long sleeved t-shirts for $2.99 so I got a couple of those. He also got a polo from The Children’s Place for $3.99. We also went the Old Navy (not an outlet) and got him a pair of jeans for $8 and a polo for $5. Overall, we spent a little over $30 on clothing for him…which wasn’t a bad deal for what we got.

After shopping we went to an early dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. It was just me and James, as mom wanted to give us an afternoon and evening to ourselves. I had the “I’m Stuffed!” Shrimp, and it was SO good!! After eating we headed back to Panama City Beach. We had to return James’ swim trunks that I had bought him from a souvenir shop earlier in the week. He wears a Large in trunks, but these were really big still, so he was able to get a Medium. We also stopped at Alvin’s Island to check out the funny tee shirts and to grab some ice cream, and back by Pier Park to get him a new hat from Aeropostale. His current one is almost 2 years old, so it was time for a replacement!

We got back to the condo and started to pack up our things. I decided to go ahead and do laundry last night so we wouldn’t have as much to do when we got home. After the one load was done, we packed up the suitcase. James decided to load the car with everything he could so it would be less work to get out the door this morning. We left this morning around 8:40am Central time. Three stops later (one for gas and a diaper change, one for lunch, and a final one for a snack and diaper change) we are back to our lovely abode!

James had to run get Charmin from the kennel so we wouldn’t be charged for an extra night. He had about 45 minutes to get there by the time we got home, but luckily the kennel is only about 20 minutes from here. I’ve already gotten 90% of the things unpacked and the remainder of our dirty clothes combined with the clothes that were in the hamper already are in the washer. I plan to get them dried and folded tonight so that tomorrow can be day of the lazies!!

Sawyer had his 9 month appointment yesterday. I know all parents say this, but I just cannot believe he’s already 9 months old. His appointment was short and sweet. He weighs 21 lbs, 3 oz, and is 28 3/4 inches tall. They also checked for anemia, but his iron levels are just fine. We were asked a series of questions about his eating as well as his development, and everything was good. He’s a completely healthy chunky monkey!

He also suffered his first boo boo Monday. I had moved a fan into the living room to keep us from sweating. He was in the floor playing with his activity gym (one of those that are placed over a lying baby so that the toys hang within his/her reach). He was actually sitting beside it playing with the toys. I stood up to adjust the fan so it would blow more in our direction. In the 15 seconds that it took for me to do that, he had grabbed the top of the not at all sturdy activity gym and tried to stand up with it. This caused the gym to topple over, causing him to fall straight onto his back.

Not only did he hit the back of his head on the floor, something on the activity gym hit him in the eye, so now he has a cute little shiner. Everyone has told me this will not be the first boo boo he has, especially with him being a boy, but that doesn’t really make me feel any better! I wish it would hurry up and go away, as it is currently a reminder that I wasn’t doing my job and watching him in the few seconds it took him to get the black eye.

Here is the boo boo in all it’s glory…

In the past 4-5 weeks, we’ve went through everything in this house. We started in the guest bedroom, as that is where most of the stuff from the computer room (which is now the nursery) ended up. We went through the closet and got rid of a ton of stuff we haven’t seen since we moved into the house back in April 2007.

We then moved to the bedroom, cleaning out our closets, dresser drawers, nightstands, and armoire (sp?), getting rid of lots more things. I also managed to find Wal-Mart and Cato’s giftcards that still had a balance on them in the bottom of a nightstand. After that, we cleared out the computer room to get it ready for painting. James’ desk got moved into the living room, and we got rid of my desk. The bookcase and everything else went into the guest room. The only things in there now are baby-related. The room is getting painted next Sunday, so hopefully we can also get the furniture in there that day as well.

Tonight, we tackled the kitchen. The bottom cabinets have been collecting so many plastic Wal-Mart and grocery store bags…we probably had over 100. We are going to take most of them back to the stores to be recycled. The rest of the room was mostly re-organization of things in cabinets. There is now room for baby bottles with the dishes. I even tackled the fridge tonight, cleaning out all out of date food and washing down the shelves and walls. The freezer section is being put off until tomorrow.

I can’t believe I just wrote 300 words on cleaning! It’s becoming an addiction, I swear!