We all know that kids can be like little indoor tornados, leaving havoc in their wake. But you don’t have to resign yourself to constant clutter. With a few little home hacks, it’s quite possible to keep everything organized, and maybe teach the little ones about putting things away too!
Make Use of Free Space
If you look hard enough, you’ll start to notice all sorts of blank spaces in your home that can be modified for storage and organization. Remember to think outside the box here!
One great option is under bed storage, especially for the kids’ rooms! The space underneath a bed isn’t being used for anything anyway, so why not turn it into a handy organizational tool? These can be as simple as plastic drawers on wheels, or if you’re feeling DIY savvy, you could try making wooden storage units.
Remember that empty wall space has potential too. Wall organization can take the form of all sorts of neat ideas: from milk crates to shoe storage bags for lego organization! Your imagination can really be the limit here. FInd empty space and fill it.
Create New Spaces
Here’s a really cool project that my friends did. They have a two car garage, but no mudroom. They wanted extra storage space, plus somewhere to put the kitty litter trays where they don’t stink up the house, pee-yew! So they used shelves and plywood to block off an area around the interior door of the garage to create their own mudroom. To keep everyone safe, they made a sliding door between two shelving units out of plywood, small casters and a metal track.
There are tons of other ways to make use of empty space and claim it for organization. If you have a mudroom, or you’re looking to turn a small corner of your home into one, look into cubbies or storage lockers. Lockers are perfect for mudrooms because they give your kids a lot of space to organize their outdoors apparel. It’s also nice for them to have their own special spot, which might encourage them to actually use the space rather than track mud and water everywhere.
Organizing For Emergencies
I came across the sick bucket idea a little while ago and fell in love with it. The basic idea is: fill a bucket full of all the essentials to take care of a sick kid. Included in the suggestions provided by the kids activities blog are tummy friendly snacks, drinks with electrolytes, carpet cleaners, vinyl to protect the carpet, and of course the bucket! For a middle of the night emergency, this thing is a lifesaver. Everything you need is on hand, you won’t have to search the house for supplies while messes seep into the carpet, and the little one gets everything they need much faster.
This got me thinking about other types of emergency kits you could dot around the house. For example, if an illness escalated and you needed to rush out in the middle of the night, it might be handy to have an emergency kit on hand close to the door that contains everything you might need for a night at emergency care. Spare keys, insurance information, a phone charger, and anything else you might need in a hurry but won’t want to rush around looking for in an emergency.
Between these, at-home survival kits and disaster bug-out bags, you’ll be an extremely prepared home!
Life definitely doesn’t have to be a constant clutter and panic to find things. With a few hacks, you can run a tightly organized house and teach your kids about being prepared, too.
