At least Eventually 
Photo Source: Flickr.com/photos/ehavir/
The moment your baby comes home from the hospital, your house and more specifically the nursery starts getting cluttered. If it is not toys, it is clothes and nappies. As the child grows, more toys, books and coloring stuff like crayons and pencils get added. Which parent has not stepped on a crayon and struggled to clean the mess? Or vacuumed a ‘lego part’ and struggled to retrieve it?
Here are some tips to keep that room clean and tidy and it should not take you more than an hour to do it.
Get yourself some bins or just some used cartons. Throw the trash in one and the toys and clothes your child has grown out of in another. Children sometimes go back to old playthings. So if you know the favorites, store them. You can bring them out for that rainy day when your child is whining for something different.
Tip: If you have a younger child or planning for one more then you could put away the good stuff in another carton. Be sure to label them to save you the trouble later.
Clear the closet of all clothes and give them a quick once-over to make sure there is no dirty laundry mixed with clean stuff. Fold up the clothes in orderly piles. T-shirts, jeans, play clothes all in their own separate piles. The child is less likely to mess up the closet if (s)he can find the needed one easily.
Tip: Try and use the vertical space. Put up some hooks or hanging organizers for that belt or hat or even that bag your daughter loves to use.
If your child is old enough to help you, enroll her/him in your cleaning program. The kid will learn that there is a place for everything and will learn to take care of her/his needs. If you have a younger child it helps to label the drawers in the chest so the child knows what goes where.
- Use pictures if your child can’t read yet. Make it a fun project and get your child to draw them. Involving young children in small tasks gives them a sense of achievement.
- Put up a book shelf and arrange those few favorites on it for night-time reading. You may like to have storage bins or even under the bed storage for toys.
You should keep in mind that fewer items the child has to strew, the less clutter you have to clear. So identify the toy(s) of the moment and put away the rest in a bin in the playroom or living area.
Tip: Just remember to rotate the toys so that you don’t hear complaints about being bored.
The same goes while decorating your child’s room. It is a challenge for any parent to go past the kids’ section in the departmental stores without buying something for the room or the child. But a simple décor and some sturdy child-safe furniture would be a winner over those lacy, delicate bedclothes in pastels which are tough to maintain.
All that remains is to dust and vacuum the room and change the bed linen. Make sure to do this chore at least once a week and you will find it takes less time to do it as time goes by. Teach your child some simple rules of organization:
- Put away her/his toys everyday before going to bed.
- Throw dirty clothes in the laundry basket.
- Arrange clean laundry in the closet.
Soon you may find that you will be going in there only to vacuum the room.
Tess Mathews is a freelance writer and a self-made home improvement expert. Apart from writing Tess likes to travel, read fictions, decorate and take a weekend mid-day nap. She bought herself a memory foam mattress recently for her cozy napping.
{ 2 comments }
