Decluttering Tips for Kids

Do your kids keep everything? (Or, do you?) These decluttering tips are just for you!

RELATED: Best Organizing Tips, Best Cleaning Tips

We have a problem at my house. My children are little pack rats. They save anything and everything that they think is cool, pretty, or interesting. (Rocks, valentines, empty boxes, stickers, broken crayons . . . you get the picture!) They have little piles of "treasures" everywhere.

On Saturday, we started a massive dejunking initiative, and we were able to transform our favorite storage lockers back to their former glory. (Whew. It was rough!) I never want that much stuff in one place again!

We got one area down, but we still have lots to go. So, how do you get started, and how do you keep the junk from collecting again and again?

Decluttering Tips for Kids

1. Pick one area and stick with it. Don't try to do the whole house at once, or you'll all be frustrated. Baby steps. (Our locker area actually included three separate spots to dejunk -- the buckets on top, the hanging area, and the shoe baskets on the bottom. Tackling all three in one morning was almost too much. Thanks to Grandma for stepping in and helping out.
2. Use a 3 bucket system:  Keep It / Toss It / Donate It or Garage Sale It
3. Don't put things away as you go. The kids will get worn out running around the house, and you might just lose them to a distraction they find as they're traveling. Use buckets or baskets for the separate piles and a trash can for the trash. Sorting is actually kind of fun!
4. Use the buddy system. Most kids under 10 will need a buddy to keep them motivated and on task. Set aside some time to sit next to your child and help them go through their things.
5. Ask questions. As you and your child sort items, ask lots of questions to help them decide which pile is the right place for each item.
   • Do I still love it?
   • Is it broken?
   • Is it missing pieces?
   • Do I ever play with it?
   • Do I have a place to keep it?
6. Sort the keep pile again. Now that the kids are in the mood to dejunk, they might change their mind about much of what they decided to keep.
7. Put everything away. Make sure your child puts everything in the keep pile away in its proper place. (Guess what? They'll probably get rid of even more. Sometimes it's easier to trash it than to find a place for it.)
8. Don't pass it on! Resist the urge to let the kids pass junk that they want to throw away to their younger brothers and sisters. If possible, don't let the other kids even see what is being thrown out or given away. (My youngest has been known to dumpster dive in her sister's trash can to save treasures which then end up in her own junk pile down the road.)

Make a public area look tidy by moving messy items to a new home

What do you do about those things that the kids want and should keep, but that just never look neat? My 13-year-old daughter solved this problem on her own when she moved her messy items to a newly reorganized closet. Check out the difference!

First, she got rid of a lot of junk (you just can't skip that step). Then, she moved the messy items -- the jewelry and collections -- to a shelf in her closet. She hung the long necklaces over the hanging bar, which made her jewelry tree look much neater. An old bookshelf became a place for her collections. Isn't she brilliant? I love that she thought of it on her own.

Come back on Friday for Decluttering Tips for Kids, Part 2: Keeping Your Kids from becoming Pack Rats. {Once you get the kids to dejunk, how do you keep them from collecting more?}

Here's some more inspiration to get your home cleaned and decluttered for Spring:

#1: Decluttering Tips for Kids from One Creative Mommy

#2: My Process for Purging the Junk from Christina, Plain and Simple

#3: De-Junking Checklist Printables from The Princess and Her Cowboys

#4: Garage Sale Tips and Tricks from 4 You with Love

#5: A Busy Woman's Guide to the Best Cleaning Products from Occasionally Crafty

#6: Declutter Your Mind to Declutter Your Space {Book Review & Giveaway} from The Frugal Foodie Mama

#7: De-Junk Challenge: How to Organize your Closets from Juggling Act Mama

#8: Hats Off to Organization from Redo Mom

#9: Get Organized in the #SpringDeJunkChallenge from Fearlessly Creative Mammas

#10 Spring Clean All Year Round from Krystal's Kitsch

Thanks for stopping by today. Need more tips? Check out my best cleaning and organizing tips for spring:

 How Getting Rid of Toys Made Us a Happier Family

Printable and Editable Ten-Minute Tidy Lists

DIY Kids' Storage Lockers

Organize Kids' Drawers Part 1

How to Teach Children to Clean Their Rooms {free printable}

Organize Kids' Drawers Part 2

Tame the School Work with a DIY Duck Tape Art Portfolio

Dress Up Storage Ideas

DIY Bunk Bed Bookshelves

Have fun!