I’ve been teaching my children to pack their own toys away, put things away before they take out new toys, and so on since they were about 12 – 13 months.

Well, I thought it was time to teach them decluttering.

Who would ever have thought I’d say something like they have too many books but they really did.

They had foam books, thick board books and even plastic bath books and material books. Lots of the books have been chewed on and are not looking great at the moment.

So I told them to go through their books and take away the ones they don’t read so I could give it to other kids who don’t have books

They decluttered these four plus two of their absolute favourites, Daniel and David.

I will admit that I was heartbroken when they tossed Daniel and David into the mix. Quite honestly I didn’t think they’d thought it through properly so the books have been in my study.

The next night Kendra asked Dion to read David. They looked through the pile and he said, “did you not give David to the other kids?”

Her little lip started to quiver and this is where I encountered a totally new experience – I have never before had a client cry for things they tossed out.

Then again, this little one is my daughter and I did have the book.

You should have seen the joy on her face when I produced David.

Of course a day or two later Connor asked for Daniel and I whipped it out straight away because I certainly don’t want to hear all that screaming.

These four books will now go because it’s been about 3 – 4 weeks and they haven’t even asked for any of them.

Poor Poppy Cat. This was one of their favourite books when they first started “reading” but I think I miss her more than they do LOL

I think holding onto the books for just a little while may be a good thing to do for kids who may not be fully aware that donate = gone for good.

Do you teach your kids to declutter?

What do you do when you want to hang onto something but they want to toss it?

Organise your home will help you declutter and get your home organised for the new year.

Melody says:
My biggest organizng question is how to keep my kid’s rooms organized? I have closet shelves, hanging organizers, baskets, totes, etc. However, still their rooms are a mess75% of the time. I give away toys regularly, but it seems that there is always still too much left behind. The rest of my house stays neat and tidy most of time. I have family members who hoard so I am very aware of too much clutter and actively try to remove and control clutter.

And then a friend, Julia, also emailed me a similar question. She has a hard time getting her 11-year-old son to keep his room clean and asked if I had any ideas.

These are my suggestions:

Agree on what a clean room means
Yours might be vastly different from his definition but come up with a list of about 5 things (clean carpets, dirty clothes in laundry basket, clean clothes folded and in cupboard, books on shelf, toys away, etc)

Make a checklist
You can reprint it if you like but I hate paper (yes, really!) so I’d prefer to laminate it and re-use the same list

Print a monthly calendar to mark off progress
There are tons of cute, free calendars on the internet otherwise don’t get caught in perfectionism – the blank option in Outlook works just as well.

Once you’ve done your daily inspection, tick in the daily block.

Agree on a reward according to the child’s love language
Determine your child’s love language or currency, as Dr Phil calls it and choose an appropriate reward.

Julia’s son’s love language is quality time so I suggested that after every 2 weeks, they have a “date with Mommy” and after the next two weeks, a “date with Daddy”.

Keep decluttering
Please remember to always declutter before birthdays and Christmas.

I sound like a broken record but if you live a simplified life, there is not that much to mess up a room

Those are my suggestions.

What are your tips to keep your kids’ rooms organised?

Our kids don’t have a lot of toys by most people’s standards but there was still too much by our standards.

We noticed that they weren’t playing with a lot of their things, I think because they couldn’t even see them.

We used to have some things in the sunroom and others in the lounge but I reclaimed my lounge and moved all their stuff to the sunroom, so it is now decorated in primary colour craziness.

Dion and I got a bee in our bonnets and took away almost all their toys on Sunday.

It got better but like with any organising, the first round is just to warm up.

Once you see how good it looks and feels, you get inspired to do more.

I did a bit more last night after seeing untidiness in the toy area one too many times and cleared out everything except:

• blocks (they love the blocks)
• balls (regular and ones that come apart into about 6 rings)
• tools
• a wooden drum set
• paper and crayons
• books
• trailers
• motorbikes
• Connor’s lawnmower (he loves that thing and so does every kid who visits )

Let’s see if this makes even more of a difference.

If it does, we’ll rotate some toys after a month to keep things fresh.

How do you handle toys at your house? Do you keep them all out or rotate them?

Do your kids play with everything or only the things they can see?

I’m going to be doing a talk later this month on organising for children.

What are your biggest challenges in this area?

I’ll also be hosting a free teleseminar and I’ll share the 5 most common areas, so have at it – let loose with your frustrations, concerns, challenges or where you’d just like some ideas.

P.S. I thought I’d show you my minimalist children. When we get to them in the mornings, their beds have nothing but the sheet and maybe a book.

Connor started this trend and I see he’s taught his sister well

Congratulations on having the twins. I have twins also and they are so special. its fun!

I’m trying to organise toys.. what’s the best method to use??

Chandelle, Qld Australia..

Here are my 7 top tips for organising (and keeping) children’s toys organised

1. Keep toys to a minimum by decluttering regularly. Schedule decluttering sessions before birthdays and Christmas.
2. After birthdays and Christmas, hide some toys and reveal a new one every couple of weeks.
3. Rotate favourite toys so that the children actually play with the ones that are out.
4. Keep a toy basket in each room of the house so that it’s easy to put things away instead of having to constantly return to another room.
5. Use appropriate kid-friendly containers. Don’t buy storage containers with difficult lids to open but do buy square, clear-lidded containers. Labels are your friend!
6. Store things you don’t mind being “messed with” at the children’s height. And things you want to control at adult height.
7. Train your children to put toys away after playtime… and allow for clean-up time….or they get taken away, permanently if you’re very strict or otherwise for a certain period. Yes, there will be crying but think of the long-term gain and the life lessons you’ teaching your children.

What are your favourite tips for keeping toys organised?

I could use strategies for how to get an overwhelmingly disorganized house under control with two small kids.

I often comment that when I got into one room and get some things organized, I come out to find they’ve trashed a different room. I have fantasies of ordering a dumpster, parking it in the driveway, and just tossing everything but the furniture out the window to be carted away by my friendly garbage man.

Shannon from Ohio, USA.

Shannon, believe it or not, before I got organised, I used to feel the same way. Especially about my wardrobe. I’d hope that we’d get burgled so it would all go and I could just start afresh.

I still feel like that in small areas of my life – like before I did a major wardrobe declutter last year and when I see all the babies’ clothes!

But here are my suggestions for you and the kids:

Have a toy basket in each room
Even if there are things that technically don’t belong, they’ll be contained.

Enlist the children
They made the mess, they can tidy up. Start getting tough with them and make sure they understand that when we’re done playing, we tidy up.

Even though my babies are so small, I already make them tidy up. Joking! But I do drape one baby over my one arm and tidy up with the other hand. While I’m doing this I tell them, “now we’re putting your toys away and we’re taking the glasses back to the kitchen” because the minute they can start doing it themselves, they’re going to do so (children as young as 1 can throw toys into a basket).

Have consequences for not tidying up
They “lose” the toys for a certain period of time if you find them where they don’t belong.

As for the whole house being disorganised, start with a master plan by using a master to-do list or a mind map.

With the Organise your Home ecourse, we do just that – tackle one room at a time until your whole home is organised and we set up routines so that you won’t have to ever completely organise everything.

Usually people see big results even after week 1.

Just one of your ideas has been worth the price of the e-course alone! Everyone in the family is so excited by it.

Thank you so much – this has really been money well spent, and I really look forward to the rest of your emails every week!

Fran Kerrigan Hartford, WI

How do you keep your house organised if you have small children?